Missed collections

A missed collection is as a household’s or business's black wheelie bin, green wheelie bin, trade waste bin, food waste caddy or recycling box/bag(s) having been placed on the pavement or collection point by the householder or business no later than 6am on the day of collection, yet notified to us by the householder or business as not collected the end of the day or when crews have reported a that they have completed their collections on the street via the in-cab system.

The householder or business must report a missed collection to us within two working days of the missed collection if they want a collection prior to their next scheduled collection. No missed collections will be logged after two working days.  

If a householder or business fails to make the bin available by 6am on the scheduled day of collection, we will not return to collect it, as we do not consider it as a missed collection. The collection will have to wait until the next scheduled collection. A householder can make arrangements at the Devon County Council civic amenity site at Seven Brethren, Barnstaple, which allows up to eight bags of domestic waste per year subject to their approval.

If we miss a collection as a result of an error by our collection crews, or for any other exceptional circumstance, like a vehicle breakdown, we will make a return trip to empty the bin as soon as possible, ideally within five working days.

Blocked access

Where our collection vehicle is unable to gain access to a road, for example, due to parked vehicles, we will make up to two attempts to collect on that day. If access is still not possible, we will be unable to return until the next collection. We will give priority where we have missed an entire street.

Our collection crews will call 101 to report any vehicles which are parked illegally and have prevented them from carrying out their normal collection rounds.

If our access is blocked due to road works, we will make arrangements to revisit the household to collect waste once the road works have been cleared. If the road works are lengthy, we will make alternative arrangements to collect the waste.

Inclement weather

Inclement weather is snow, ice, fog, floods, storms, gale force winds or severe flooding which can result in extremely hazardous journeys by road for public and private transport. 

During inclement weather we will make two attempts to return that day if practicable to do so. If access is still not possible, we will be unable to return until the next collection. We will give priority where we have missed an entire street.

Where we consider conditions as hazardous (putting the public and/or our employees at risk) we will suspend our service in full or in part until we consider it safe to travel again with a heavy goods vehicle.

Should the decision be made to suspend our service, our website and social media platforms will be updated to reflect this.

We empty all wheelie bins mechanically into our refuse collection vehicles and ask householders to loosen any refuse frozen in the wheelie bin that does not fall out.  Our refuse collection crew will empty this at the next scheduled collection.