Waipā District Council contractor Metallic Sweeping looks south for help

Mark Forbes filling in for Waipa's recycling service. Photo/Supplied

Waipā District Council recycling services have been hammered by contractors suffering from the ongoing impacts of Covid-19, winter flu and staffing shortages.

So to help out, council's contractor Metallic Sweeping has brought up a specialised truck driver from the deep south to help address the backlog.

Waimate-based Mark Forbes has been in Waipā for two weeks to help cover the gaps caused by drivers being off sick.

"I had worked for Metallic Sweeping down south for 18 months before retiring and then got a call in April that they needed me urgently in Waipā," Mark said.

"This is my third time coming up to Waipā to help out with the kerbside collections. It is a beautiful district and I am enjoying the warmer climate."

Over the past six weeks, sick drivers have delayed the district's recycling service multiple times. A nationwide shortage of truck drivers means replacement staff are almost impossible to find – forcing Metallic to take drastic action to help the district out. Metallic has covered the costs for the replacement driver to come up from Waimate.

Council's transportation manager Bryan Hudson said driving the recycling routes is specialised work.

"It requires real skill to manoeuvre a large recycling truck around narrow streets, and parked cars and to position the truck just right to lift every bin.

"I take my hat off to our contractors for bringing Mark up, it shows real commitment. They have been going the extra mile for weeks now, working through the weekends and all hours to catch up on kerbside collections.

"While some collections have been delayed for several days, they are doing amazingly well to keep the service operating. We're grateful for their hard-working team and customers who have been incredibly patient."

Council has advised residents to leave their bins on the kerbside until they are collected if they have not been collected on the scheduled day.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the recycling service, the recycling sorting team has also been caught short by winter illnesses. It's making a difficult job harder and council is imploring residents to continue taking extra care to keep incorrect materials out of recycling bins.

Recently a piece of steel bar that someone put in their recycling became tangled in the sorting conveyor belt, doing significant damage and delaying the whole operation for several days.