Recycling officers are reporting increasing levels of pressure and stress in the workplace as dwindling budgets and increasing workloads take their toll.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com a number of recycling officers and those representing waste officials in local government raised concerns about the amount of pressure placed on them as budgets and positions are cut. This means many have had to take on additional responsibilities with no additional benefits.
The waste sector was hit particularly hard in the first round of cuts after the coalition government took charge in 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Officers said reduced budgets mean workloads have had to be prioritised with some campaigns being cut altogether.
Cuts
Joy Blizzard, chair of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC), which represents council officers on recycling and waste management issues, said officers were being affected by the pressure put on them.
She said: It can be a very pressurised role and also with budget cuts dealing with peoples expectations about what can and cant be done and what we can and cant provide causes problems.
There will be more stress where people have left and not been replaced or where no cover has been brought in for maternity leave. You just take up the slack in your own department and do your job and someone elses as well. This seems to be more common that people are not being replaced when they leave the role.
Shesaid that the communication with the public could sometimes make things more difficult but officers were rewarded when their hard work paid off and recycling rates increased. Ms Blizzard added that some of the comments from the government, such as those about bin police, were less than helpful and detracted from the valuable work recycling officers do.
“It can be a very pressurised role and also with budget cuts dealing with peoples expectations about what can and cant be done and what we can and cant provide causes problems.”
– Joy Blizzard, LARAC chair
Despite these difficulties, she said recycling officers should see the drive to save money as an opportunity to make sure the work they are carrying out is achieving the best possible results.
Stress
One recycling officer from North West England said the budget cuts have made things worse and those that feel the pressure have nowhere to turn.
He said: I think the job has got harder since the cuts have started and it does make it more stressful and it does for everybody. Things arent great at the moment.
This view was shared by Andrew Bird, LARACs West Midlands representative, who said: I think obviously people are a lot busier now so there is that side. In some cases the posts have been cut altogether Everybody has got to do more with less or undertake more roles and a lot of them have had to take on more responsibility as well. It is difficult.
Tom Lawrence, recycling manager for the London borough of Redbridge, said the increase in work and reduction in staff is taking its toll. He said: As there is more work and fewer people it is a case of having to take on additional responsibilities and apportioning your time effectively.
I think across the board you could say that things like this are increasing stress levels, although fortunately I am blessed with an excellent team. However it is the sort of thing that could take its toll.
Mr Lawrence added that recycling officers face further pressure as the methods needed to be implemented to save money often involved service changes which can be unpopular with both residents and councillors.
In addition to the budgetary pressures, one recycling officer said dealing with the public can cause more stress as they often dig their heels in. Another recycling officer said merging services with other councils had increased the amount of pressure he faced but the move proved to be beneficial in the end.
Tougher
According to the Health and Safety Executive, work related stress is a significant cause of illness and has been known to be linked with high levels of sickness absence and more errors in the workplace.
And, it is thought that the amount of stress facing recycling officers could get worse following an announcement by the government in November 2012 which will see further cuts to council budgets in April 2013.
Budget cuts affect many local authority departments, meaning recycling officers are not the only ones feeling the pressure.
However, Ian Hartley, waste client manager at Torbay council, said that areas such as waste were being impacted more than some others.
He said: The problem is things like education and social services are completely protected meaning most of it comes out of the service sector and we tend to take a bit of a hit.
I think it is tougher on waste. It seems to be most of the services such as highways and parks and waste have a bigger hit so we are always looking at achieving more and more savings which is becoming more difficult.
Uncertainty
The cuts are creating a level of uncertainty for people, including those in the waste and recycling sector, according to Martin Rayson, president of the Public Sector People Managers Association (PPMA) which serves the interests of members working across human resources in the public sector. Mr Rayson said work related stress levels were increasing. He said the the overarching factor to this was on-going budget reductions but local circumstances have a part to play as well.
“I think it does put people under more stress. I think that we have seen in some parts, levels of sickness starting to go up and levels of sickness related to stress increasing as well.”
– Martin Rayson, PPMA
Speaking to letsrecycle.com he said: I think it does put people under more stress. I think that we have seen in some parts, levels of sickness starting to go up and levels of sickness related to stress increasing as well. As employers we need to create a more realistic and positive view about the future and ensure we have a positive dialogue with the staff.
He added that employers needed to recognise the potential for stress even if there was no clear evidence for it in the workplace and make sure staff are aware of the options available to them.
Recycling
In spite of the difficult situation facing recycling officers, they are still pushing to increase recycling rates. However, some of the top performing councils in England are reporting that it is increasingly hard to push recycling rates up once all of the easy wins have been won. Officers have to be inventive to push the rates higher by implementing schemes to capture materials which have lower tonnages such as nappies, CDs and DVDs or certain types of plastics – meaning the payoff isnt as great.
Verity Heath, recycling officer for Surrey Heath Englands top council for dry recycling said: We are such a small team and because of that we have had to work out the quickest and most efficient ways of doing everything. It is probably going to get harder [to increase our recycling rate] because once you have done your quick wins and youre recycling 60% or more, those last few increments are harder to get.
Reduced budgets mean recycling officers have to justify their spending more than before, according to Paul Mocroft, recycling officer for the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership and LARACs recycling officer of the year 2012. However he said it was important to maintain the momentum and push recycling higher.
Mr Mocroft said: I think officers on the ground are coming under more pressure due to budget cuts. We tend to find more councils sharing services with less staff doing the same job. Here in Oxfordshire we are very high in recycling at 60% but it is important to maintain the pressure and momentum and recycle more. There have not been many if any pay increases. From a waste reduction perspective, we are also fighting with very small budgets against everyone else in society and the message that consumerism will get the economy going.
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