Copeland council has warned it will not be able to collect extra cardboard waste due to the service being "extremely stretched".

A spokesman for Copeland Council said: "Due to the current extreme pressures on our waste and recycling collection service, we are unfortunately unable to collect extra cardboard from residents’ kerbsides at this time.

"The service is extremely stretched at present due to staffing levels and changes introduced within our teams to allow for social distancing. Combined with the excess cardboard being generated at this time by more people ordering deliveries from home and/or having a clear-out, we must make this restriction.

"Accepting excess cardboard means our vehicles fill up much quicker and results in more trips to the depot to unload it, which we don’t have the capacity for in the current circumstances. Therefore we can only collect the cardboard that’s left in your bags, and not extra pieces that are left alongside it as we ordinarily would. We need to make this change for all households; it would not be fair to collect excess cardboard from residents on the start of a round, and then not have space to collect any cardboard by the end of it.

"Our advice is to cut up your cardboard so that more can fit in your bag. For the cardboard that still won’t fit, we ask that you store it until your next collection, or failing that, until normal service resumes, although we appreciate this might not be possible for all residents.

"Please note that the Government advice is that you should not be making unnecessary trips, and unfortunately a trip to our recycling banks would be seen as unnecessary, and those operated by Cumbria County Council are closed.

"We apologise for this necessary restriction and we look forward to collecting all your cardboard when normal services resumes."