Covid disrupts Caithness bin collections as staff member tests positive
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Highland Council admits there will be disruption to its waste bin collection services in Caithness after a staff member tested positive for coronavirus.
Yesterday afternoon, the owners of a chip van at John O'Groats said that the bins at the harbour front had not been emptied as expected that day and were in danger of overflowing.
Later in the day, an anonymous source contacted the paper to say that a council worker in the Wick area had tested positive for Covid-19 and that 20 of his colleagues had to undergo immediate testing.
Another source said today that three workers are currently self-isolating because of the incident.
A Highland Council spokesperson said this afternoon: “An employee has tested positive and all close contacts have been advised to self-isolate as per national guidance. The resulting disruption has meant that the Caithness Waste Team has prioritised collections to manage our statutory obligations. We are currently working at filling the employee gap and over the course of this week and into next week, we expect to catch up.”
Brown bin collections of garden refuse were not picked up as normal today in parts of Wick with a worker telling a resident to "just leave the bin on the street and it would be picked up in a few days".
The blue bins of recyclable material were picked up as normal.
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