FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – On Tuesday, the City of Fort Wayne provided an update on solid waste management services. City officials say Fort Wayne is stepping up its own resources to help with missed Red River Waste Solutions pickups.
A statement from the mayor’s office says the company is unable to complete all pickups due to declining staff numbers as its bankruptcy process continues.
The City of Fort Wayne released the following:
As we navigate the ongoing bankruptcy process involving Red River, alongside the nationwide labor shortage, we are doing our best to maintain operational levels of solid waste collection and recycling. . We actively use City staff to help with routes and misses that Red River is unable to service with its low staff levels.
Currently, we have eight garbage trucks that the City operates during normal working hours as follows:
Two trucks belonging to the city’s solid waste department and driven by solid waste department employees
Two trucks belonging to the parks and recreation department and driven by parks and recreation employees
Four trucks rented by the Solid Waste Department and driven by staff from the Public Works Division’s Streets Department, Traffic Operations and Fleet
As often as possible, these employees also collect garbage and recyclables in the evenings and on weekends.
The top priority remains timely garbage collection. Collection of recyclables continues, but is the second priority behind garbage collection, in part due to staffing issues at Red River.
The City of Fort Wayne is in the process of hiring seasonal truck drivers to assist with garbage and recycling collection in case City staff we have removed from their regular duties must temporarily return to perform essential duties. which cannot be postponed.
Unfortunately, additional and temporary drivers are only part-time drivers who have not had the extensive training or experience that most garbage collectors receive and as a result their progression is slower.
We have enlisted the help of five other waste/recycling haulers in the area and are in constant communication with them. So far, only one vendor has been able to help for a short time before the snowstorm, as all vendors are facing the same labor shortages that Red River and the entire nation are facing. confronted.
More than anything, we would like to provide our residents with a pick-up schedule, but with the circumstances listed above, this is no easy task. Instead, we ask residents to continue
take out garbage and recycling materials the day before their regular collection day. We will do our best to provide the collection service as close to their usual day as possible.
We ask our residents to continue to be patient as we navigate this bankruptcy process. We expect to have a new carrier by July 1, 2022.
