Florida City Without Recycling as Driver Shortage Continues

Recycling has been sitting at people’s homes in Altamonte Springs, Fla. As a result of a driver shortage in the area.

For the past several weeks, recycling bins have been sitting at resident’s homes completely untouched by collection companies because the area lacks CDL drivers for their trucks.

Locals have noticed recently that their recycling is being collected by the same trucks that collect their regular waste. Mixing both containers together, ultimately taking their recycling to the landfills instead of the proper facilities.

“We were disappointed, we want to do our part and make sure we’re doing our part for the environment,” said Stacey Lewis, an Altamonte Springs resident who discovered her recycling was being taken and mixed with her garbage.

City officials have commented that they would like for their residents to continue recycling, however, the lack of commercially licensed drivers is making that difficult, and the city can’t keep up with its recycling needs.

“It’s hard work, it’s hot work, and its outside. We offered incentives, we offer high pay. We need people who can pass background checks, pass physical fitness tests, and pass drug tests,” said one city official.

Many residents in the area have several recycling bins that have been untouched for some time now as their recycling materials are piling up. The city hopes to have a solution to this issue in the next two or three weeks. In the meantime, officials are recommending residents take their recycling to the nearby transfer station.

Watch the full video here.