More than 51,000 bin collections have been missed or delayed across Fife this year as staff sickness and vehicle breakdowns cripple the service.
Around 27,000 household bins were missed completely in just two weeks.
And a further 24,500 were uplifted late as refuse collectors struggled to complete their rounds.
Council leaders have revealed a series of measures to relieve the pressure but warned further disruption is possible.
Hundreds of household collections were missed in all but six of the last 20 weeks.
And numbers ranged from 500 in one week to 22,000 in another.
Some five million bins were collected during the same period.
Environment spokeswoman Jan Wincott said refuse collectors managed to catch up in all but two of those weeks thanks to overtime shifts.
The Labour councillor said officers were working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
But she conceded: “It’s a bad situation we find ourselves in.”
New bin lorries and extra staff
Fife Council leader David Ross told The Courier at the end of May that one of his immediate priorities was to “get a grip” of the bin collection issue.
Covid-related absences have led to sickness rates of up to 30% among staff.
In addition, an ageing fleet of bin lorries means frequent breakdowns.
Mrs Wincott said 13 new refuse vehicles were ordered at the start of the year.
But similar issues across the country means a wait of six to nine months for delivery.
“We hope to get those delivered by the end of the year, hopefully the autumn, but I can’t promise,” she said.
“Delivery of the vehicles will alleviate the situation but right now we have to support all our staff in doing the best job they can in difficult circumstances.”
Fife Council also hopes to bring in more bodies as quickly as possible.
Mrs Wincott said: “One of the actions that can be taken by the service is to recruit more operatives.
“The service is carrying out more in-house training.
“And the recruitment team is working with HR colleagues on a fast track programme to get more people on board.
“Overtime is also offered to catch up on most routes.”
National driver shortage hampering Fife bin collections
A national shortage of HGV drivers is hampering recruitment efforts, however.
“To train an HGV driver takes around 12 months,” Mrs Wincott said.
“Agency staff, who we would normally ask to cover staff shortages, just aren’t available because everybody is trying to recruit.
“There are high sickness levels of between 20% and 30% and this cripples the service because cover can’t be arranged at short notice.
“We’re getting more bodies on the ground as quickly as we can.
“We’re also offering overtime as often as we can. We’ve been doing that for many months.
“We haven’t been sitting on our hands.”
Conversation