Recruitment and repairs are underway to restore full service

Staff shortages, vehicle issues and sickness impacting waste services - recruitment and repairs are underway to restore full service

Southampton City Council is aware that some residents have experienced disruption to their bin collections in recent weeks. We recognise how frustrating this can be and would like to reassure residents that we are doing everything we can to get services back on track as quickly as possible.

Like many councils across the country, we are currently facing a number of operational challenges. These include a shortage of HGV drivers, limited availability of agency staff, and an ageing fleet of waste collection vehicles. These issues have placed considerable pressure on our teams, particularly during the busy summer period.

We’re expanding our team to improve the resilience of our waste and recycling service. Recruitment for new drivers is already underway, with interviews taking place this week, and we’re moving quickly to bring in additional support where it’s needed most. We are also working to replace some of our older and waste vehicles.

Unfortunately, this is not an issue that can be fixed overnight. While we are doing everything we can to stabilise the service, we do expect disruption to continue over the next few weeks.

Our priority is always to collect general waste and recycling as scheduled. When pressures arise, we may need to pause glass collections temporarily, as this has the least environmental impact.

Unfortunately, some garden waste collections have also been affected this week. We know this is a paid-for service, and while we do our best to minimise disruption, delays can occasionally occur. We appreciate residents’ continued patience and understanding.

We would like to thank our collection crews and transport teams, who are working exceptionally hard to deliver services under difficult circumstances. We’re committed to restoring full service as soon as possible.