Households in the borough that missed out on waste collection this week will see their rubbish collected this weekend, according to Richmond Council.

The new contractor for waste collection, Serco, had undertaken its first round of collections this week, starting March 30.

But despite the challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, collections went ahead this week - but some roads were missed out, reportedly because of vehicle breakdowns.

In a statement, the council underlined the hard work put in by Serco to get the new service up and running despite the coronavirus outbreak, but admitted there had been "teething problems, due mainly to problems with the hire fleet of waste trucks".

Chair of the environment and sustainability committee, Cllr Martin Elengorn, said: "There are pressures on staff sickness due to Coronavirus, households may be generating more waste than in usual circumstances, a number of our services have had to stop and unfortunately some of the fleet of hire vehicles the contractor is using broke down in service and required repairs.

“During this week the latter has caused significant problems. Serco have reassured us that they have put in place steps to make sure that any repairs can be carried out swiftly at our depot. However, there may still be a few days affected whilst this takes place."

A new fleet of "state of the art" waste vehicles is expected to be delivered in Autumn.

Meanwhile, residents have been reminded that the garden waste service is currently suspended and are encouraged to compost any waste until the service recommences.

With most residents now staying at home, there is a danger that there will be more household waste and recycling to pick up, putting additional pressure on the borough’s collection services with increased trips to the disposal points required.

Therefore, Richmond Council is asking residents to:

• Leave waste and recycling ready for collection from 8pm the night before and no later than 6am on your collection day.

• Leave waste and recycling within the front boundary of your property i.e. where your front path or drive meets the road or pavement. If you have sufficient outside space, please store and present your black bag within a dustbin.

• Please separate food waste and close the food caddy securely

• Avoid big clear-outs which create more rubbish and recycling for crews to collect. Please hold onto larger items like furniture or mattresses until the outbreak has subsided and do not dispose of any type of waste on a bonfire as the smoke causes air pollution and can have negative health effects for people living nearby.

• If you’re self-isolating and feeling ill, putting any potentially infected items like used tissues or cleaning cloths into separate plastic bags and double-bagging them. These bags should then be put aside for at least 72 hours before they are put in external bins. If using a street litter bin, please make sure tissues are securely bagged up.

• Try to minimise the amount of rubbish, recycling and food waste you produce.

• Don’t take any waste or recycling to Townmead Road recycling centre in Kew. This centre is closed.

• Continue to wash your hands regularly, maintaining good hygiene when handling your rubbish and recycling and keeping your distance when the workers are doing their collections.

• Check carefully about what can and can’t be recycled in your collections.

• Regularly check the council’s website or social media channels like Twitter and Facebook for updates on waste and recycling collections.