The effects of the national HGV driver shortage, coupled with the continuing impact of the pandemic, are starting to be felt across Dorset Council’s waste services as collection rounds feel the strain.
As recently reported in the national press, the impact of the driver shortage is being felt by councils across the country. In Dorset, some crews are regularly having to work overtime and often at weekends, which is not sustainable. These pressures also come on the back of a year of increased household waste amounts as more people stay and work from home.
Dorset Council senior officers recently briefed local MPs on the issues currently impacting waste collections, street cleansing and bin deliveries, in the hope that a long-term solution can be found.
Recruitment of drivers in Dorset has always been challenging, particularly due to high local housing costs, but the current widescale staff shortages across all depots are unprecedented. The Council currently has multiple vacancies for drivers and loaders across their waste services team, along with some absence due to sickness and others on planned annual leave.
All employees across waste services are working hard to ensure that key waste services continue to run throughout this challenging time. We are having to temporarily suspend or delay some garden waste collections so that crews can be redeployed to support vital rubbish, food and recycling collections. Litter bins are also being emptied less frequently in some areas of the county, and new bin deliveries are also being delayed.
While we continue to work on tackling the problem, residents are being kindly asked to note the following: –
- Always report your missed collection, even if your whole street is affected. Our website has an automated system that will inform you what’s happening with your bins and provide guidance on what to do next
- Please ensure your bins are out by 6am on your collection day. Some rounds are being carried out differently, meaning that we might turn up earlier or later in the day than usual
- If you find a litter bin is full, do not try to leave your litter on top/next to it or on the floor nearby – please take it home and place in your household bin. We also encourage people to report over-filled bins on the Dorset Council website
- If any garden waste collections have to be cancelled/stood down we will contact customers directly to advise them. As compensation for any garden waste collections you did not receive, we will automatically apply a discount to next year’s subscription fee.
- Rubbish, recycling, garden and food waste can be dropped off free of charge at any of Dorset’s household recycling centres, which are operating as normal.
Cllr Jill Haynes, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Customer and Community Services, said:
“Emptying the bins for almost 380,000 Dorset residents will obviously present challenges from time to time, and we are proud to provide one of the best kerbside collection services in the country under normal circumstances. But I’m afraid the current situation is both unprecedented and unsustainable.
While we will continue to ensure that Dorset’s waste is dealt with as best we can and do whatever is necessary to address local concerns, we need action to be taken by central government to address the national driver shortage and help to mitigate the continuing effects of the pandemic.
I want to thank the hard-working waste services crews and admin staff, who are doing a brilliant job under very difficult circumstances, and assure them we are doing all we can to support our frontline staff while these problems persist.
I also want to thank the people of Dorset for their patience and understanding as we tackle the issues at hand, most of which are outside of our control. We will continue to provide updates as the situation changes and ask that people report any missed bins so they can be kept up to date with what’s happening with their collections.”
It would be good to know if the collection changes from single vehicle collection, to multi vehicle collection has had a detrimental impact. It would certainly appear that more vehicles are on the road than were apparent before, thereby requiring more drivers?
It’s a good question Don. We’ve changed the vehicle configurations for waste collections in the East and North of the county, primarily to collect food waste separately. This new system, while needing more drivers, is a more flexible/effective/efficient/environmentally-friendly way to deliver the service. It was rolled out correctly and with the correct amount of trained drivers/crews at the time – it is only in the last few months where the driver shortage has become more severe that we’ve started to struggle. Even if we had foreseen the current issues, sticking with the old system in these areas most likely wouldn’t have helped, as vehicle breakdowns, a lack of flexibility and reduced capacity were creating delays and disruption anyway – James
It begs the question why are these new and modern vehicles breaking down?
To clarify, it was the old “Tri-stream” vehicles that kept breaking down. The new dual-stream vehicles we replaced them with, coupled with the separate food waste collection trucks, are far more reliable and are performing well, provided we have available staff to drive them of course – James
I fail to see how having 2 vehicles on the road each week can be more efficient, effective, economical or environmentally friendly than just the 1 we had before.
It’s about the distance the waste has to travel Caroline. Previously, one “tri-stream” vehicle would collect all the waste types and take them to a waste transfer barn, where another set of vehicles would arrive to bulk them up and take them to the recycling facilities. These vehicles were also notoriously unreliable, mainly due to the food waste leeching and causing breakdowns. Separate food waste vehicles take the waste directly to the recycling facility (in Piddlehinton), meaning fewer crew are required for the process and less journeys. The food waste vehicles are also smaller, meaning they can be used in areas where HGVs can’t access – James
If there is a driver shortage across the region why are you not advertising for drivers. My son has been made redundant because of the covid pandemic and is currently looking for full time work.
We are advertising for drivers Gillian – please visit https://jobs.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/SearchResults.aspx?ocg=33
From a constituent in Marnhull:
The Council has apologised by email, at the end saying please email any queries. Only prob with that is that you get a long automated ‘spiel’ which only explains the reasons for collections not happening + suggesting we take (esp green waste) to the tip – not very practical when the bin is full to the brim & too heavy to move. Also not practical for older folk incl me. Moreover, they haven’t bothered to look at the email properly to reply to questions. Reiterating them in another mail results first in the same long ‘spiel’, then – possibly – a response. Similarly, if you have further queries because of their reply! Definitely not helpful. Graham, if you can mention to Dorset waste partnership that this process doesn’t work, I’d be very grateful. Thank-you.
Thank you Graham – have passed these comments on to the admin team.
If the expected collection date is missed, should bins be left outside or taken in to await the next scheduled date.
You’ll get a message with instructions when you report the missed collection – https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/bins-recycling-and-litter/report-a-bin-problem/missed-bin-collection
It would be good to offer a paid training scheme for new HGV drivers
I would love to do my HGV license but it’s so expensive…
Considering there are only 1% female HGV drivers
I am a male lgv driver aged 68 my licence is renewed yearly but because of my age these people would not employ me no matter what they say there policy is they as so many other employers they do not want to know us because of our age
Very good point, Sandy.
That sounds like a good idea. I wonder if any retired HGV drivers would be willing and able to help new HGV drivers to get started with training. I know how expensive driving lessons are nowadays. When I learnt to drive it was only about £3 an hour – happy days!
Last week I was in the traffic queue behind the recycling lorry in West Allington, Bridport. Some people might have considered that a misfortune, but it was an opportunity to observe the team work and choreography of a very good crew as they emptied the various containers swiftly and efficiently. They were a credit to the council.
Thank you Sheila. I agree, our collection crews are brilliant. Will pass your kind words to the depot – James
Where you mention full litter bins the implication is for bins elsewhere, since you say take rubbish home . What about when it’s the home one full due to shortages? One elderly person went several weeks without their bin taken. Under those circumstances is it reasonable to, on the supposed day of collection, add bags that would have been placed in their bin – if it had been emptied on time? They don’t drive so can’t take rubbish/ gardening to their local landfill, are not online, find telephone calls go unanswered for longer than they can wait as disability affects them… and are left in limbo as to when they might expect a collection. This is an example of what has happened and is not current. But am asking so I can inform them whether right or not for potential future instances. They do not know I’m asking so please don’t ask me for their details to contact them.
I’m sure there are many others like them, without family or kind neighbours, who would appreciate ‘old fashioned’ notification via post. Partially so have something official to refer to if forget. I fully understand that, where possible, paper is not used, but some people’s circumstances mean a consideration of their needs and necessitating a short list of postal notifications.
So, 1) can extra bags be put out, on collection day, if bin collection missed for several weeks if resident is unable to dispose of them?
2) could a limited list of those with no internet access, struggle Re telephone, and therefore potentially vulnerable and lacking in information, be maintained for them to receive postal information?
i too would love to train as hgv driver but cannot afford the costs.i have driven Iveco for another council years ago.I have a clean license too.
I agree with Graham. My son and I both have disabilities. We have no transport. As the result of no garden waste being collected, the grass in the bins is turning to liquid and smells horrible. Are the Council going to clean the bins ? Maybe if I attach them to the mobility scooter…
As customers for green waste are being compensated for non collection will the same criteria be used when recycling is not collected for a week?
No, as extra recycling materials will always be collected on the next recycling collection day. This does not apply to garden waste, which is also an optional subscription service – James
I made a complaint about the council not emptying the overflowing LITTER BINS often enough on the footpath between North Bridge and Causeway Close. Also that, in spite of reporting the same problem several times, nothing seems to have been done about it; the LITTER BINS still overflow regularly,
The reply I got was about my DOMESTIC WASTE BINS not being emptied. The council don’t seem to read the complaint properly; and respond quickly enough to avoid rubbish blowing all over the place.
Sorry to hear that Michael. Overflowing bins can be reported at https://dorset-self.achieveservice.com/service/DWP_Report_a_public_litter_bin_problem – thank you, James