News

Waste collections during freezing weather

11 February 2021
Following snow and freezing conditions this week (8-12 February), there has been disruption to household refuse collections which has meant that bins and waste has not been collected from many homes in Thurrock.
Cllr Aaron Watkins, Cabinet member for environment, said: "The conditions this week have meant we needed to take a tough decision to temporarily suspend waste collections to prioritise staff safety. Attempts which were made were not possible, with instances of the lorries skidding over ice.

Households benefit from flats recycling scheme

10 November 2020
More than 2,000 households in blocks of flats across Thurrock now have access to recycling facilities.
During September and October, 222 new recycling Eurobins or wheeled bins were rolled-out in 47 high-rise and low-rise blocks across the borough, including South Ockendon, Grays, Purfleet-on-Thames, Corringham and Tilbury.
Residents in these blocks also received recycling packs, including advice and guidance and a new recycling waste bag to help them sort recycling from general waste.

Changes to boost borough recycling rates

6 October 2020
Proposed changes to waste collections in Thurrock will help boost recycling rates while ensuring that weekly collections of food waste and dry recycling are maintained.
The changes have been recommended by the cross-party Waste Management Working Group and form part of a comprehensive Municipal Waste Strategy for Thurrock, which sets the agenda to boost recycling in the next decade.
Proposals include:

Recycling scheme rolls out in flats

14 September 2020
Plans to offer recycling facilities to residents living in blocks of flats across Thurrock will commence this month under a new initiative to boost recycling rates, which has been ongoing over the previous 2 years.
From Tuesday 15 September, Thurrock Council will roll out recycling facilities to high-rise and low-rise blocks throughout 2020 and 2021, a project approved within the capital plans 2020.

Improvements to garden waste collections

23 July 2020
From Monday 27 July, brown bins will continue to follow a 2-weekly schedule but will be collected on the same day of residents’ normal blue and green/grey bin collection.
Cllr Aaron Watkins, Cabinet member for environment, said: "I know residents have experienced missed bin collections where the service has had difficulties and there has been confusion over the previous weeks, especially regarding brown bin collections.

Waste crews working hard in tough circumstances

8 July 2020
As more people understandably work from home, Thurrock is experiencing the nation-wide trend of increasing waste tonnage, which has impacted household waste collections in the borough.
Cllr Aaron Watkins, Cabinet member for environment, said: "Extra pressures created by coronavirus mean that our waste collections are not operating as they normally would. With residents working from home, or furloughed, we are seeing a significant rise in the amount of waste households are producing.

Frequency of garden waste collections increases

15 May 2020
Thurrock Council is pleased to announce that it is re-introducing a fortnightly garden waste service for all avid gardeners in the borough.
The council's reintroduced garden waste collections will increase in frequency from monthly to a 2-weekly schedule, ensuring that every home in the borough has garden waste collected fortnightly. This will help residents who are enjoying their gardens and gardening at this time of year and especially when even more time is being spent at home.

Council rolls out four-weekly garden waste collections

15 April 2020
Following a 2-week suspension, Thurrock council is re-introducing regular brown bin collections.
Cllr Aaron Watkins, Cabinet member for environment said: "I am pleased to announce that we are able to introduce a limited return to garden waste collections.
"Our current resources have allowed us to bring this service back following a brief two-week suspension. We ask residents to try to minimise garden waste at this time and compact what they have to dispose of as much as possible to ensure it will fit in the bin.

Sign-up for Thurrock News – our monthly email newsletter.

Media enquiries

Journalists and media professionals can make enquiries from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, 01375 652 017 or at communicationsteam@thurrock.gov.uk.

For emergency media enquiries outside of these times, phone 07912 782 470.

The communications team email inbox is not monitored outside of office hours, so email media enquiries received out-of-hours may not be answered until the next working weekday.

We advise our staff, when approached directly by a member of the media, not to answer questions themselves but to refer you to the communications team who will provide our response.

We do not normally comment on individual cases or enquiries relating to council staff.