Glass recycling suspended again

It follows recruitment issues in East Hampshire

Published 2nd Sep 2022

Problems continue with rubbish collections in East Hampshire as glass recycling is suspended for another month.

The district council says more time's need to recruit staff.

Pay's also been increased.

In a statement, East Hampshire District Council said: "We wanted to let you know as soon as possible that we've decided not to reinstate the kerbside glass collection service just yet - but that this will be the last time that it's suspended.

"We initially took the decision to suspend it for a month because we wanted to prioritise collecting your waste, recycling and garden waste during the ongoing national driver shortage. But despite a recruitment campaign for drivers and loaders, Norse SE needs more time to get its teams up to full capacity.

"To help Norse SE further we have today instructed them to increase driver pay once again (the second time in just over a month) - so it will be £16 an hour and loader pay will now be £12.50 an hour - which shows that we are pulling out all the stops to ensure this service gets back on track as soon as possible.

"Although we're planning to suspend the service for another month (from 10 September) - if Norse SE can recruit to the roles (because of this increased pay incentive) then we will reinstate kerbside glass collections as soon as possible.

"We are really sorry for the inconvenience this is causing and thank you so much for your ongoing patience - we really are doing everything we possibly can to help Norse SE recruit."

You can hear all the latest news on the hour, every hour.