Hertfordshire recycling centres struggling with high turnover of staff and sicknesses

Herts County Council’s environment committee has received a performance report of its recycling centres, now in their fourth year of being managed by the council. Under the law, Herts County Council has a duty to act as waste disposal authority for the county.

The local authority runs 16 recycling centres – in Berkhamsted, Bishops Stortford, Elstree, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, Hoddesdon, Letchworth, Potters Bar, Rickmansworth, Royston, St Albans, Stevenage, Turnford, Ware, Waterdale (Garston) and Welwyn Garden City.

According to the performance report written by Andrew McGinn, team leader of the recycling centres, the 16 sites handle an estimated 80,000 tonnes of waste from approximately 1.5 million visits each year. The service separates waste into 33 different materials for recycling, reuse or recovery.

Since October 1, 2020, the recycling centres have been directly managed by Herts County Council.

The report states: “The most significant challenge that the service continues to deal with is the consistent provision of front-line staffing. Recruitment is a continuous process due to high levels of staff turnover. When combined with increasing levels of sickness absence, the service has become reliant on the provision of temporary agency staff.”

The report goes on: “Front line staffing continues to be challenging with comparatively high staff turnover in the context of the size of the recycling centre service. Progress continues to be made and between October 2023 and September 2024, the service has appointed 17 new full-time employees with 14 leaving the service. At the time of writing there are 10 front-line vacancies with four of these posts due to be filled post pre-employment check completion.

“Historic and ongoing high levels of front-line staff sickness absence have created challenges in service continuity. In order to ensure a consistent service delivery, agency staff temporarily fill vacancies and provide support to prevent short notice closures. Initially employed to monitor and enforce the cross-border policy introduced in May 2023, these staff have become vital in ensuring continued service delivery learning the skills required to work as a site operative.

“Moving agency staff from temporary to permanent positions has been the most effective way to recruit to service vacancies with eight employees having been recruited this way between October 2023 and September 2024.

“The total number of days of sickness absence fell in the last 12 months after five members of staff, who between them accrued 426 days absence in 2022/23, have left the employment of the council.”

The report cites a number of successes, including arrangements with Essex and Cambridgeshire County Councils allowing local residents to use recycling centres across county borders. Investment in waste compactors has increased the average tonnes of waste removed by recycling centres, helping to reduce the county’s carbon impact.