There are still not enough truckers to reintroduce segregated food waste collection in the Chiltern and Wycombe areas, which means the council has extended the temporary changes it introduced last month.
Residents in these areas have been asked for four weeks to dispose of food waste with their general household waste. This agreement was supposed to expire on September 13, but the Council has to renew it due to the continuing national shortage of truck drivers.
People who live in Chiltern and Wycombe should continue to throw their food waste in the black bin with their household trash.
Brown food bins will continue to be emptied if only given out during General Garbage Week, but this garbage will not be recycled during that time. Collections in the rest of Buckinghamshire are not affected.
Despite “best efforts” to recruit new garbage truck drivers and train existing staff, there are still not enough drivers to bring back separate food collections.
The council says its contractor Veolia is taking “proactive steps” to address the staffing shortage, including hiring incentive packages and employee loyalty bonuses.
In the past few months there have been a number of complaints from local residents about a lack of garbage collection, which has resulted in garbage piling up.
Cllr Peter Strachan, Buckinghamshire Council Cabinet Member on Climate Change and the Environment, said it was “regrettable” that they have not yet been able to bring back the food waste collections.
He said: “We are severely handicapped by the ongoing national truck driver shortage and its impact on the driver workforce in Chiltern and Wycombe.
“We made this difficult decision to keep the waste collection regular while reducing the number of laps we do because we have fewer drivers.
“We could have cut garden waste collections instead, but we didn’t want to do this during the growing season and we could have embargoed the driver’s vacation, but we didn’t want to punish him for a situation that wasn’t his, especially when our crews are already working very hard in a difficult climate of staff shortages.
“We are working hard with our contractor to get the food waste service back to normal as soon as possible. I apologize to the residents of these areas for this ongoing disturbance and thank them for their patience and understanding during this difficult time.
“Unfortunately we are currently unable to set an end date for these agreements, but we ask for your understanding and we will update as soon as the situation improves.”
Veolia is offering new truck drivers in the county a sign up bonus of £ 1,500. Beth Whittaker, Veolia UK & Ireland’s Chief Human Resources Officer, said: “We hope the incentive will encourage drivers to consider working with us.
“Our teams are doing something that matters to the communities and providing a service that makes a real difference to the environment every day.”
More information is available at www.recruitment.great-careers.co.uk/veolia
It’s not just Bucks Council that is feeling the effects of the truck driver shortage. Three councils in Devon have urged relaxation of immigration rules to alleviate disruption.