At least 18 councils across the UK confirmed on Thursday that they are experiencing ongoing disruptions to their bin collection services. 

It is due to staff self-isolating and a lack of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers for bin lorries.

The Local Government Association (LGA) told the BBC that the delays were primarily affecting garden waste.

However, some councils are also delaying recycling collections in order to prioritise general waste. 

It comes as three councils in Devon wrote to Home Secretary Priti Patel on Thursday, asking for the government to grant temporary visas for trained European HGV drivers to ease the shortage.

“At the time of writing, North Devon Council are attempting to fill seven [bin lorry driver] vacancies, Torbay Council eight vacancies, and Teignbridge Council 10 vacancies,” wrote councillors Steve Darling, David Worden and Alistair Dewhirst. 

“This equates to approximately 20% of the HGV workforce in driver vacancies and it is proving very challenging to fill this resourcing gap given the dynamics of this labour market.” 

The UK currently has a shortfall of about 100,000 HGV drivers, after many EU workers returned home following Brexit and during the pandemic. 

Ministers say UK employers should hire locally to fill the gap, but the councils said it would take time to train the next generation of drivers. 

The average residual waste per person has reduced by 76kg in 2006/07 to 275kg/person/year in 2011; and 55% of municipal waste generated in the UK is sent to landfill, compared to an EU-27 average of 40%. These figures sit alongside the Government’s Review of Waste Policy which has just been published.

Interestingly, whereas Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, had pledged to bring back to weekly rubbish collections in councils that currently have fortnightly pick-ups, in the Waste Review this commitment appears to be faltering. Whilst Eric Pickles described how “Whitehall and the town hall need to raise their game to deliver more frequent and better rubbish and recycling collections” the Review itself contains no mention of financial incentives to bring back weekly collections.

According to Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman: “People want to do the right thing by reducing waste and recycling at home or out and about and we want to help them. This means making sure communities are getting the collection services they want and not penalising hard-working households who make minor mistakes by putting bins out on the wrong day or leaving a plastic tub in the wrong recycling box”.

In addition to criticisms around the frequency of collections, many organisations (including CPRE) have described the policy document as a missed opportunity – lacking long-term recycling targets, and focusing on some areas such as food waste at the expense of other areas including packaging and materials.

More information about the Waste Review is available on the Defra website.