Recycling services have been hit by a recruitment crisis says Powys County Council.
It has been struggling to recruit staff and cover absences due to illness and continued cases of covid 19.
Vacancies have been advertised and several agency staff are now permanent while current staff can upskill and train as HGV drivers, but all this takes time.
In the meantime, crews have been working very hard to collect the waste and recycling from residents through working additional hours, catching up on rounds and collecting extra recycling where weeks have been missed.
They have had to be adaptable in the recent extreme heat and have gone above and beyond to keep the collections going.
Cllr Jackie Charlton, cabinet member for a Greener Powys, says: “We make every effort to get our workforce up to full capacity. However, the struggle to provide a normal waste and recycling collection service across the county will continue to be a challenge in the short term. Please continue to put your bins and boxes out for collection on normal day.’
‘’If a collection cannot be completed, we ask that black wheeled bins remain out (we will be back to empty asap), but recycling boxes are taken back in again for another week. If you have not received a collection by 5pm, please check online for details of when we will be returning to collect: https://en.powys.gov.uk/binday
“All our staff continue to do their best to ensure that recycling boxes do not go longer than a fortnight without being emptied, and additional separated recycling left in bags alongside the boxes will be accepted.
“Please be assured that we are giving this our full attention and hope that things settle down and we can resume our normal service soon. We would like to thank the people of Powys for their patience during these challenging times.”
If you would be interested in working in a rewarding role that really makes a difference, not only to the people of Powys, but also to helping combat the climate crisis, please go to our website and apply: https://en.powys.gov.uk/jobs