THERE are still not enough HGV drivers to reinstate separate food waste collections in Chiltern and Wycombe areas, meaning the council has extended the temporary changes it put in place last month.

Residents in these areas have already been asked to throw away food waste with their general household waste for the last four weeks. That arrangement was due to end on September 13, but the council is having to extend it because of the ongoing national HGV driver shortage.

People living in Chiltern and Wycombe should carry on throwing their food waste away with their general rubbish in the black bin.

Brown food caddies will still be emptied if they’re put out on general rubbish week only, but this waste will not be recycled during this time. Collections in the rest of Buckinghamshire are unaffected.

Despite “best efforts” to recruit new bin lorry drivers and upskill existing staff, there are still not enough drivers to bring back separate food collections.

The council says its contractor Veolia is taking “proactive measures” to address their staff shortage, including incentivised recruitment packages and retention bonuses for staff.

There have been a number of complaints from residents about a lack of bin collections in recent months causing rubbish to pile up.

Cllr Peter Strachan, Buckinghamshire Council’s cabinet member for climate change and environment, said it was “regretful” they cannot yet bring back food waste collections.

He said: “We are being greatly hampered by the ongoing national HGV driver shortage and how it’s impacted driver staffing levels in Chiltern and Wycombe.

“We’ve taken this difficult decision so we can keep regular waste collections going while reducing the number of rounds we make given we have fewer drivers.

“We could have cut garden waste collections instead, but we didn’t want to do this during the growth season, and we could have put an embargo on driver’s holiday, but we didn’t want to penalise them for a situation not of their making, especially when our crews are already working very hard in a challenging climate of staff shortages.

“We are working hard with our contractor to get the food waste service back to normal as soon as possible; I apologise to residents in these areas for this ongoing disruption and thank them for their patience and understanding at this difficult time.

“Unfortunately, we are not in a position to put an end date to these arrangements at this time, but we ask you to bear with us and we will update as soon as the situation improves.”

Veolia is offering a £1,500 sign-on bonus to new HGV drivers in the county. Beth Whittaker, chief human resources officer at Veolia UK & Ireland, said: “We hope the incentive will encourage drivers to consider working with us.

“Our teams are doing something that matters to communities and delivering a service that makes a real difference for the environment every day.”

You can find out more at recruitment.great-careers.co.uk/veolia

It is not just Bucks Council that is feeling the effect of the lorry driver shortage. Three councils in Devon have urged immigration rules are relaxed to help ease disruption.