AUSTIN (KXAN) — After suspending its recycling curbside pickups due to an ice storm Feb. 3-4, Austin Resource Recovery still hasn’t caught up completely with the customers it was forced to miss.

ARR does its recycling pickups every other week, and on top of having to skip that Thursday and Friday due to poor driving conditions, the city agency doesn’t have enough drivers and couldn’t make up for the missed pickups sooner than the next scheduled time — two weeks later.

“We’ve been working hard to try to get caught up,” said ARR Director Ken Snipes. “But it’s a bit problematic right now because of the staffing shortage.” He added normal pickup will resume Thursday and Friday.

Snipes said the department is doing everything it can to address the staff shortage and hire new drivers. Eight new drivers have been hired since the beginning of the year.

Customers could have a month’s worth of recycling in their carts by the time ARR re-establishes its regular pickup schedule.

If you don’t have enough room in your recycle bin, ARR said you can put your recyclables in another container, and drivers will pick it up — as long as it’s marked as recycling.

ARR already suspended its bulk collection service starting Feb. 21 “until further notice” due to its staff shortage. It is in the midst of hiring both entry level and experienced drivers to help fill roles, and it has increased pay for starting drivers to $17/hour.

Anyone interested in applying to be a driver can click here.