A council will suspend its green waste collection because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Watford Borough Council says the suspension, which is coming into force from Monday, April 20, is set to ensure core waste and recycling services continue to be delivered during the lockdown.

It means that once people in Watford have had their final green bin collection, they should put all food waste into black bins until restrictions are lifted - and the council says that any garden waste could be home composted or left until the service is resumed.

In view of the suspension, the council will also be delaying the introduction of green bin charges.

Mayor of Watford Peter Taylor said on facebook: "Since the start of the pandemic, Veolia ( the council's waste management contractor) has done an outstanding job in maintaining household waste collections and we are all really grateful to them for all their hard work and effort.

"To ensure we can continue to deliver essential services we have had to focus Veolia’s available staff on making sure the black bin and blue lidded bins are collected as usual.

"I know people will understand the real difficulties frontline services are now facing and will continue to support Watford waste and recycling crews as they have done so far."