Cardiff residents are experiencing delays in waste collections due to a shortage of HGV drivers and the extreme heat. Cardiff Council issued a statement on social media on Wednesday warning residents of delays to collections, especially garden waste.
"If your garden waste or recycling isn’t collected, please leave it on the kerbside and it will be collected as soon as possible. The collection calendar is being updated to show the latest information available. Thank you for your patience," the statement read.
The authority also issued announcements on July 21 and July 29 informing residents their collections would be delayed due to "extreme heat" and "a shortage of drivers". Cardiff Council confirmed the latest announcement is also due to the same issues, and has urged residents to look out for updates on its social media channels.
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It comes after the Met Office issued an amber "extreme heat" weather warning for Wales from Thursday to Sunday. Cardiff residents have praised the refuse collectors for continuing to work in the scorching conditions.
"Please look after the men. It is extremely hot out there for the men. I really don't [know] how they do it, hope they get plenty of water. I just want to say thank you for your hard work," one person commented under the council's statement. Another said they were "doing a fantastic job in such hot weather".
However, some aired their frustration with the delays. "This has been a problem for weeks," one said, while another added: "My food waste bin wasn’t collected last week. It’s absolutely disgusting after being in the sun for almost two weeks."
A spokesperson for Cardiff Council said: “The council has been engaging with the public through our social media channels on the current delays to waste collections, which are outside of the council’s control. Firstly, there is a national shortage of HGV drivers, which means that agencies are unable to backfill the demand based on the current supply.
"Secondly is the extreme weather, which was posted on Facebook yesterday, as staff need to take additional breaks to ensure they can do their job safely. When there are delays, priority is always given to remove black bag waste and food waste.
“The council carries out 515,000 collections each week, and every effort is made to ensure that these collections are carried out on schedule. We thank the public for their patience in these difficult circumstances, and we will continue to inform residents with any updates through our social media channels."
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