Yard debris is piling up in Virginia Beach as city tries to recruit workers

VIRGINIA BEACH — Yard debris has been piling up in Virginia Beach neighborhoods this summer, and it will likely be awhile before the city can remove it.

A shortage of trash truck drivers is causing the problem, Virginia Beach Director of Public Works L.J. Hansen told the City Council recently.

The city’s waste management division is throwing all of its limited resources into emptying residents’ trash cans and doesn’t have enough workers to pick up bags of grass and piles of sticks.

“The black can will be picked up and prioritized before everything else,” City Manager Patrick Duhaney said at the meeting July 18.

As of this week, the division has 26 vacancies and 15 employees who are injured and assigned to light-duty work. Fully staffed, waste management would have 110 employees.

To attract new employees, Virginia Beach recently increased waste management operator salaries by 10% and is offering a $4,000 hiring bonus for new hires with a commercial driver’s license. The annual starting salary for operators ranges from $37,000 to $49,000.

“Working around garbage is not always the most glamorous thing in the world,” Hansen said by phone Monday. “We have to find the people, and we have to lure them here.”

Drivers from other departments — public utilities and parks and recreation — helped out last weekend in an effort to catch up, but only so much could be done in those extra days.

“Even with that we’re still well behind,” Hansen said.

Summer is the busiest time for yard debris collection, and some neighborhoods have been waiting nearly three weeks for service.

In the meantime, the city is encouraging residents to use grass clippings to mulch their yards and to top off their black trash cans with yard debris. Landscaping companies are supposed to dispose of their own bags, Hansen said.

When asked what the plan is if there’s a significant storm or hurricane, Hansen said the city will hire a contractor to help pick up debris. Such was the case after a tornado damaged neighborhoods off Great Neck Road at the end of April, he said.

Hansen couldn’t pinpoint when yard debris collections will be back on a regular schedule.

“We recognize that this is an inconvenience,” he said. “We need a couple more weeks of patience.”

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com