Online shopping contributes to increased rubbish collections in Blackpool

At its peak the resort’s bin crews saw a 40 per cent increase in the total tonnage of domestic waste collected compared to last year, averaging out at a 29 per cent increase between April and August, with the figure now around 23 per cent up.

John Hawkins, managing director of Blackpool Waste Services Ltd, the council owned company which runs bin collections, told a meeting of the Shareholders Advisory Board the figures were in line with other local authorities nationally.

He said: “It’s not surprising as a considerable number of people are working from home and people have changed their habits, for example a lot more shopping online brings a lot more packaging to be disposed of.”

Updating councillors on progress by the arms length company formed in July 2019, he said crews’ efforts in keeping collections going through most of lockdown had been appreciated by residents.

Mr Hawkins said: “We had a really positive response to revised collections. Crews said people stopped them and thanked them, so it was nice to see the reception they got for the essential work they conducted.”

Future plans include increasing the number of people using wheelie bins in the town, where around 6,000 people still use plastic bin bags mainly due to access and storage issues.

Mr Hawkins told councillors they were working alongside the street cleaning service to tidy up alleyways enabling the storage of more wheelie bins.

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