Joint Waste Solutions and its contractor Amey, who conduct refuse collection for Mole Valley District Council, presented their recruitment plans at a meeting on Tuesday. Amey hopes to train up refugees, ex-offenders and homeless persons in order to resolve its labour shortage.
Reports by the BBC and the local press state that 4 refugee groups are part of the project.
According to Lara White, Amey’s accounts manager, the new recruits would first need to complete 3 stages of theory tests before their driver training can begin.
White is quoted in Surrey Live as saying the following about the scheme:
“Some [refugees] have experience driving in their country of origin. However, we have to comply with the UK legislation and that starts with a UK car driving licence and then moving to the HGV courses.”
Amey is also responsible for bin collections in the Elmbridge, Surrey Heath and Woking councils.
Service update for #MoleValley: Full garden waste bins are scheduled to be emptied between Monday 6 December and Friday 17 December 2021. Find out more here https://t.co/h0ByYqbBmj pic.twitter.com/QMQL4Pi0KV
— JointWasteSolutions (@JointWasteSols) December 15, 2021
On Tuesday, Joint Waste Solutions said that the the suspension of its Mole Valley garden waste service due to the national shortage of HGV drivers remained in place. However, it has been able to arrange for full garden waste bins to be emptied on two dates this month.
The company added:
“We apologise for the inconvenience this unprecedented national issue is causing and have done everything possible to keep the garden waste service running. Alongside the collections mentioned above, we are continuing to work on ways to resume the service or offer additional alternatives for disposing of your garden waste.”