Waste services in Tameside have been further impacted this week due to a shortage of HGV drivers.
Residents in Denton were due to have their brown bins emptied earlier today (September 1) but local councillors have said the service could not be carried out due to a national driver shortage.
Labour councillors Brenda Warrington, Mike Smith and George Jones, for Denton West, posted on Facebook to warn that ‘all waste services across Greater Manchester are now being impacted’.
The UK is currently suffering from a shortage of 100,000 lorry drivers, blamed in part to the response to Brexit and coronavirus isolation guidelines.
Alongside causing disruption to bin services, it has also resulted in many supermarkets struggling to keep shelves stocked.
The supply chain shortage has also seen a number of Wetherspoons pubs across the country run out of beer.
To try and ease the shortage, Waitrose previously announced it is currently hiring lorry drivers with a salary of up to £53,780.
Denton residents have now been told by their local councillors that brown bin collections in the area will now be emptied next week as a priority.
The post, on the Team Denton West page, said: “You will already be aware that the national shortage of HGV drivers has started to impact our waste collection services.
“The national driver shortage means that all waste services across Greater Manchester are now being impacted.
“Due to driver shortage, Tameside waste services are unable to get all the brown bins emptied on each collection day. To minimise the impact, the service are rotating each week on which brown bins they are unable to empty.
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“As you are aware, the brown bins are emptied weekly, so hopefully this will cause minimal disruption to residents.
“Unfortunately, brown bin rounds in our area have been stood down today and will be emptied next week. These rounds will be given priority next week to ensure they get emptied.
“We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”
