Public Works Minister Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch announced today, the 12-week once-a-week garbage collection test run, due to end this Friday, will continue until the end of the year.
Speaking at a news conference held this afternoon, he said: “The reality is we cannot contemplate a return to twice-a-week collection any time soon.
Staff were said to be “adequately coping” with the new schedule in spite of the limited number of garbage trucks.
On any given day he said there’s an average of eight trucks in service daily.
And on top of that he said: “We will not be hiring additional staff at this time.”
Five new trash trucks are due to arrive in Bermuda in November.
But he said: “There are continuing maintenance issues being faced with some of the trucks in the fleet, however these are being addressed by the Ministry personnel.”
Since the once-a-week garbage collection plan was initially implemented to 12 weeks, he said: “I can report that we have seen a levelling off in the amount of household waste collected when compared to last year’s twice a week schedule.
“Concurrently we have seen a steady increase in those using the public drop off (at Tynes Bay) since the extension of operating hours on Saturday,” he added.
“One of the significant benefits of this new scheduling is the reliability factor and consistent collection of waste on the day scheduled.”
Added benefits include “a significant budgetary savings and less wear and tear on the vehicles”.
In closing, he finished up his prepared statement to the media today on the two-day Cup Match holiday.
“There will be some adjustments to areas of trash collection, which will see some areas extended on the collection map.”
