Many more residents have contacted us over recent days about the problem is missed waste and recycling collections.

We have now received a full briefing on this and it is clear the problem is an acute lack of HGV drivers which is causing major delays across the city.

Here is the update we received.

WASTE & RECYCLING COLLECTION UPDATE
Waste and Recycling collections are currently experiencing delays in parts of the city. Garden waste collections are running three days behind schedule. There are also some delays of between one and two days for some food and glass collections.

The main issue causing the delays is a shortage of available LGV (HGV) drivers.

A recent recruitment exercise resulted in 10 appointments. However, a mix of both agency and permanent staff have subsequently left the service for work elsewhere. Our agency provider is assisting in trying to source drivers but has so far been unable to cover all vacancies. This shortage is not an Edinburgh specific problem (as several other Scottish councils have confirmed to officers recently). Both the public and private sectors are citing issues in securing and retaining HGV drivers.

As of the start of the week commencing 10th July the service was 10 drivers short; eight at Russell Road Depot and two at Seafield Depot. All of the driver vacancies are on kerbside services – individual household bins for garden, landfill, mixed recycling, food and glass services.

The actions being taken to eliminate the delays on services are:
1) The hourly rate being offered to agency drivers has been increased and adverts have been placed on social media sites, via our agency partner.
2) LGV drivers from the Cleansing service will undertake driving duties in waste collection for the remainder of the week, including the weekend. This will be reviewed for the following week subject to progress against delayed collections whilst ensuring that cleansing requirements are not compromised.
3) Other employment agencies are being contacted and invited to supply drivers. Two drivers have been sourced and are being assessed on the 11th July with a view to an immediate start.
4) Supervisors with appropriate licences have been employed on driving duties.
5) Extra collection routes are being serviced on a Saturday and Sunday to reduce the number of collection rounds running behind at the start of next week.
6) Given the national shortage of drivers the service is looking at upskilling existing staff through a learning contract. This is not an immediate solution but is more sustainable in the long term than reliance on agency and will avoid future recurrences.

It is also recognised that changes to the way in which customers can contact the Council to report a missed collection has caused frustration due to the number of options available to the customer.

Resulting from recent customer feedback a dedicated line for waste enquiries is anticipated to be operational by the end of July. This will make it more straightforward for residents to log missed collections.