Belfast City Council has re-instated some of the bin collections it suspended last week as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak.

The council was warned on Friday by Environment Minister Edwin Poots that it had a legal responsibility to ensure waste was collected.

On Sunday, the council changed its plans and announced it would re-introduce the collection of brown bins, which are mainly for garden and food waste.

A total of 155,000 bins are collected in Belfast each week.

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Under the council’s new plan:

black general-waste bins will continue to be collected

brown bins will also now be collected

blue recycling-bin collection remains suspended

The move came 48 hours after Minister Edwin Poots put pressure on the council.

He said: “Ten of the 11 councils are carrying out all of their services in terms of waste collection so I would say to Belfast City Council – they need to do the same. That is a legal responsibility for that council.”