BROWN bins will be emptied by East Lothian Council on the first two weekends of May.

Garden waste collections had been halted throughout the county due to the coronavirus.

Many residents had taken to social media urging the council to reinstate the service, with collections now taking place on May 2 and 3, as well as May 9 and 10.

A spokeswoman for the local authority said: “During these weekends, residents should place their brown bin at the kerbside on the relevant Saturday morning no later than 7am and leave out until collected, which can be up to 4pm on the Sunday.

“We will collect from all properties however issues may arise outwith our control where we are unable to complete a collection given the scale of the operation being carried out or due to access issues.

“If this occurs, we apologise in advance to any residents who may miss this collection.

“If your bin is not collected by 4pm on the Sunday, please retrieve your brown bin and continue to store your garden waste until we have the resources available to attempt collections again.

“Although crews will try their hardest to reach every property, please be aware that due to difficulties posed by the current Covid-19 pandemic we will be unable to reschedule missed bins or bins that may not be fully emptied due to jammed contents.

“We are aware that many residents will have excess garden waste stored in bags or other containers.

“The collection crews cannot uplift additional containers/bags of garden waste as this will reduce the overall amount of properties that can have their brown bin emptied.”

Anyone who was due to have their brown bin emptied between April 20 and tomorrow (Friday, April 24) should put their bin out on May 2 for collection that weekend.

Anyone who is due to have their bin collected from April 27 to May 1 should put their bin out on May 9.

The council spokeswoman added: “Please follow these guidelines when presenting your garden waste for collection:

“Do not overfill/pack the bin – if the contents cannot slide out of the bin we cannot empty it.

“Make sure the bin is not too heavy – our staff have to be able to move the bin and our vehicles have to be able to lift the bin to empty it.

“Do not put general waste in the bin as it will not be collected.”