By Richard Evans

Copyright dailypost

Sickness levels among Denbighshire’s refuse and recycling workers have skyrocketed since the rollout of a controversial new recycling system in the county. The new Trolibocs system was rolled out in June 2024, and figures show a sharp increase in sickness absence and stress since then.

According to figures obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service through a Freedom of Information request, the council’s refuse and recycling department has been badly affected by an increase in sickness levels.

Between June 2023 and May 2024, the council employed an average of 98 refuse and recycling staff, who collectively took 1,540 days off sick — around 16 days per staff member. In the following year, June 2024 to May 2025, staffing increased to an average of 116, but sick days nearly doubled to 2,870 — roughly 25 days per staff member.

The trend has continued into 2025. From June to July, the service averaged 128 staff, with 503 days lost to sickness in just two months. Denbighshire Council said it did not have figures recording the cost of these sick days.

The council were advertising for 15 recycling and refuse collector jobs at the time the FOI was submitted. Sign up for the North Wales Live newslettersent twice daily to your inbox.

But the figures also show that refuse and recycling staff took 165 days off with stress between June 2023 and the end of May 2024. This figure increased to 1,243 days off with stress between June 2024 – when the new Trolibocs service was launched – and May 2025.

In June, July, and the first week of August of 2025, a further 283.12 days off sick were taken due to stress. The launch of the “Trolibocs” recycling scheme in June 2024 was beset with reports of missed collections and claims of rubbish piling up on the streets.

With millions of pounds spent, this led to the council’s leader Cllr Jason McLellan and chief executive Graham Boase apologising, as some residents complained of repeated missed collections. According to the FOI, the council employed agency workers in the department for 80,365 hours between 1 June 2024 and 31 May 2025, with an additional 15,535 agency hours worked between 1 June 2025 and 8 August 2025.

The council claimed it did not hold the cost of this agency work in its records. Denbighshire said agency staff sickness is not recorded and claimed the financial costs of absences are not held by the council. Backbench Rhyl councillor Brian Jones said: “Having heard these figures, it appears extremely alarming that Denbighshire could be operating with these levels of sickness.

“If these figures prove to be correct, it obviously points to a fundamental problem in the new recycling service and stress levels amongst the operators. It should be something that is seriously considered by the upper management to rectify and understand the situation clearly. I would imagine it is classed as a duty of care in the employment arena.

“I will be asking questions within Denbighshire County Council within the waste (department) to gain clarification and an explanation about these numbers.”

He added: “There are residents where collections can take three weeks. In respect of green waste, there are longer collection times. I am alarmed to keep hearing these reports about the waste model still not being to the standard residents would expect. Yes, it is alarming especially with the extra funding we are supposedly putting in, but it hasn’t solved anything, and matters are still ongoing.”

A Denbighshire County Council spokesman said: “Staff welfare and wellbeing is of the utmost importance for us at Denbighshire County Council, and our Occupational Health team provide specialist services for the authority. Each employee’s wellbeing is assessed on a case-by-case basis based on their specific needs.”

He added: “If residents experience any waste-related issues, they are to report them through the correct channels. However, without specific information being submitted through the proper channels, it is difficult to rectify these issues effectively.”

Public notices in your area