Waste Management expects to be fully staffed by the end of the month, general manager of infrastructure Remko Rosenboom said at a Sept. 9 Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) meeting.
While Waste Management’s Gary Chittim told Coast Reporter on Sept. 13 that the company is still actively recruiting, he said they are making progress and have hired three new drivers who are currently being trained. On the WM website, four job postings for the Sunshine Coast were available as of Sept. 15. Two were for residential helpers and two for drivers.
“Waste Management has confirmed to the SCRD that they are expecting to have a full complement of drivers by September 30. Waste Management will continue to use subcontractors to assist with curbside collection until then,” Rosenboom told Coast Reporter via email on Sept. 14.
Rosenboom said the SCRD is in continued communications with Waste Management, including over this past weekend, to make them aware of how curbside collection disruptions are affecting residents.
According to service alerts from the District of Sechelt and SCRD, curbside collection service was impacted around eight times since the beginning of September.
A new driver who began collection on Sept. 14 was unable to complete a route in West Sechelt, and garbage collection was expected to resume on Saturday, Sept. 18. In Davis Bay, the scheduled Friday, Sept. 17 garbage collection was moved to Sept. 18, and residents were asked to place their bins out by 8 a.m. This was the second week in a row garbage collection was impacted for Davis Bay. Green bin pickup was impacted three times, and recycling collection was rescheduled twice.
“The SCRD is hopeful that once these new Waste Management staff have become familiar with the pickup routes they will resolve the curbside collection issues being experienced by residents,” Rosenboom said.
Since the driver shortage began interrupting curbside service earlier this summer, the SCRD has also reassigned staff members to help address concerns of residents who have experienced disruptions.
“This has impacted other important areas of service delivery for the SCRD and we look forward to once again having these valuable staff members available to work on other operational priorities,” Rosenboom added.
