Garden waste collection has been suspended during the coronavirus outbreak.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) announced the pause to the service on Friday, to focus limited resources on the collection of household waste and recycling.

The need to suspend the service is primarily due to staff shortages related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

READ MORE:Coronavirus price hike: Anger at shops upping cost of basics

As there is only one week left of the 2019-20 garden waste collection service, refunds will not be issued, but the council is delaying the renewal of subscription for the 2020-21 service, which was due to begin on April 1.

This means residents will still receive the full year’s collection of garden waste they have paid when the service is resumed.

All new garden waste subscription renewals have been suspended until further notice, as have the delivery of new garden waste and recycling containers/bins.

Residents are being advised to consider storing garden waste at home by cutting it up and leaving it in a corner of the garden or making a compost heap if gardening is needed.

The household waste and recycling centre in Reading remains closed.

READ MORE: Reading Borough Council chief exec and leader take charge of key decisions

All councils have a statutory duty to provide the collection of residual and recyclable waste, and a clinical/healthcare waste collection if requested.

Garden waste collections, on the other hand, are an optional service that councils can provide.

Advice for people with excess waste

The council is asking people to try and avoid putting out extra waste with their black bins.

Bulky waste collections were suspended by the council earlier this week.

RBC spokesman said: "If you have no choice but put out excess waste, residents are asked to put a refuse sack next to your black bin the morning of your collection, rather than the night before.

"If you have neighbours who won’t fill their grey or red bins, please ask if you can put any excess waste in their bin to avoid it being in a bag, whilst adhering to social distancing guidelines."

Reading is one of the most expensive place in the UK to get started with a garden bin, we revealed last year.