Garden waste will not be collected from houses in Torfaen from Monday 29 August until Friday 9 September.

Torfaen Council has suspended garden waste to allow the garden waste vehicles and crews to be used to help the short-term recovery of disrupted food and cardboard collections.

Over the next two weeks the council will hire eight small additional vehicles specifically for food and cardboard and recruit three drivers and six loaders to start work from Monday 12 September.

Cllr Mandy Owen, executive member for the environment, said: “Our food and card collections have been badly disrupted for some time due to unreliable vehicles. The age of the fleet has resulted in lorries frequently breaking down and being off the road as our mechanics struggle to source parts and repair.

“The existing fleet was due to be decommissioned during 2023 but the vehicles are now failing so frequently it is having an adverse effect on a service residents rely on. It is also incurring extra cost to fix the vehicles and affecting staff morale who are working exceptionally hard to play catch up on a daily basis.

“The council apologises to all our residents who will miss just 1 green been collection but action is needed now. The prolonged dry weather has also seen a significant drop in the amount of garden waste collected so these 2 weeks present a window of opportunity to put the whole service back on an even keel.”

Garden waste collections will restart on Monday 12 September.