CHESHIRE East residents are being thanked for making a dramatic reduction on the volume of green waste accumulated over the winter period.

Winter collections were suspended over the winter and resumed from February 16.

The first collection after the break saw 540 tonnes of green waste was collected, followed by 492 tonnes the following week and 383 tonnes in the week of March 2.

The council is pleased with the reduced number after March last saw more than 3,000 tonnes of green waste collected by the Council’s household collection service after a 17-week halt.

And in 2012/13 collections were only suspended for six weeks and more than 1,500 tonnes of green waste was collected on the resumption of services in March 2013.

Kevin Melling, head of ANSA, the council’s waste collection service, said: “We would like to express our thanks to Cheshire East residents for their understanding during the period of suspension and for playing their part in minimising the volume of garden waste to be collected by our teams when collections resumed.”

The council expects to save more than £1million over a four-year period by suspending winter collections of garden refuse.

A consultation exercise was carried out to find out the public’s views and suggestions for a longer suspension period of green waste collections in the winter months.