WORK starts for York's waste collection teams at about 6.15am when they arrive at Hazel Court.

City of York Council's waste services crew has about 150 staff covering 29 rounds.

The day begins with vehicle checks including examining all the lights, reflectors, hydraulics, number plates and bin lifts and filling our paperwork. Angeline Hill, waste operations manager, says lorries range from 3.5 tonne to 32 tonne vehicles depending on the size of the streets on route and what type of waste is being collected.

She said: "If they find a fault, the vehicle goes to fleet services. If they find a fault while they are out and about, fleet services can come out to have a look.

"The vehicles take a lot of hard work."

Drivers and waste handlers usually travel in the same lorry, but due to social distancing half the team has to follow the lorry in a separate car and park on each street before catching up with the crew to help.

Angeline said: “It isn’t an easy job. I started at the bottom, I used to drive wagons myself and it’s not an easy job. They walk 10 to 15 miles a day. They need to know the round, where they can collect with schools and the traffic."

Tony Holding has worked in waste collection for 12 years and said he enjoys the job - particularly in the summer when the weather is better. He said: "We do have regulars who we speak to and give them a wave. For some people it was the only contact they had during the lockdown."

“There were a lot of children waving to us from their windows.

“It’s a vital service."

They said one thing residents could do to make the job easier is cut up their cardboard as it can be bulky to fit into the bin lefts.

After the round is complete, the team go to the tip at Rufforth to drop off waste or recycling in different bays. He said it takes about 40 minutes and the team then head back to Hazel Court to finish paperwork.

Depending of the route, she said some teams get back at 1.30pm and some get back later at around 3pm, Angeline said.

“They support each other. If you have a round that’s going to come in earlier there’s a lot of team work. We look at what’s best for the service and the customers."

The teams work from Monday to Saturday and are also responsible for commercial waste, bin deliveries, garden waste and medical waste collections.