Staffing issues hit waste collections across the country

The situation is thought to have been worsened by the upcoming bank holiday, with many agency staff filling in gaps not available or having time booked off.

Brighton and Hove council, South Derbyshire council and City of York district council have all reported that they couldn’t carry out collections as normal due to staffing issues in the last few days.

Local media in Brighton have been reporting that waste is “piling up” in the city centre.

This comes after earlier this month North East Lincolnshire also had ongoing issues with its recycling collections due to staffing issues (see letsrecycle.com story).

Brighton and Hove city council issued a formal apology to residents earlier this week, and looked to reassure residents that it is “working hard” to increase staffing cover to catch up all missed collections as soon as possible.

South Derbyshire council has also reported disruption to waste collection services throughout the week, citing “staff shortages”, a line replicated by City of York council and Uttlesford in Essex.

Issues

According to Matt Spaul, managing director of Smart Solutions, an agency which provides staff to multiple councils nationwide, the issue is thought to be down to the upcoming bank holiday, while the impact of staff seeking higher wages elsewhere in a cost of living crisis is also hitting collections.

He explained: “We haven’t seen a particular decline [of labour] in the past month but its holiday season and where labour is already tight having 10% to 20% of the workforce absent throughout July / August is creating challenges.”

He added “The cost-of-living crisis is still making individuals chase higher incomes which is meaning many of the low paid roles in waste aren’t that attractive. This affects all levels of operations in some form as the industry generally isn’t that well paid.”

Resolution

Councils have been battling staff shortages on many occasions, especially since the pandemic, with HGV drivers needed for refuse collection vehicles in high demand.

Many have turned to agency stuff to plug gaps, which means near bank holiday season disruption to services can occur if people are away. The situation however is not nearly as severe as seen in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic.