HWRC and Plant Operative

Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership; Wombourne; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

Staffordshire County Council is seeking a reliable, safety‑mocused team member for the Household Waste Recycling Centre in Wombourne. You will assist the public with waste disposal, promote recycling, and help run the site safely and efficiently.

The role involves outdoor work, manual handling, and good customer service to ensure a positive community impact. Interview dates are scheduled for week commencing 23 November 2026.

Qualifications

• Experience in waste, recycling, or similar operational environments.
• Frontline customer service experience.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to follow procedures and work in a team.
• Physically capable of manual handling and operating equipment safely.
• Ability to work on own initiative.
• Full UK driving licence; adaptable to outdoor work and varied hours.

Responsibilities

• Provide friendly, professional support to the public and promote correct waste segregation.
• Encourage recycling and reuse through guidance to site users.
• Ensure waste handling complies with Environmental Permits and council procedures.
• Carry out site inspections, monitor container capacity, and coordinate haulage.
• Maintain a clean, safe, well-organised site with traffic management.
• Follow Health and Safety procedures, report incidents, document, process payments, and support contractors.

Skills

Waste experience

Customer service

Communication

Teamwork

Manual handling

Driving licence

Outdoor work

Job description

The following content displays a map of the jobs location - Wombourne HWRC

Staffordshire County Council 1.69K subscribers

Are you passionate about customer service and the environment?

We're looking for a reliable, safety‑focused team player to join our Household Waste Recycling Centre team. In this hands‑on role, you’ll help the public dispose of waste safely, support recycling and reuse, and ensure the site operates smoothly and responsibly.

If you enjoy working outdoors, providing great service, and making a positive impact on your community, we’d love to hear from you.

Main Responsibilities

You’ll:

• Provide friendly, professional support to the public while promoting correct waste segregation.
• Encourage recycling and reuse through clear guidance and engagement with site users.
• Ensure all waste handling complies with Environmental Permits, Planning Permission, and council procedures.
• Carry out site inspections, monitor container capacity, and coordinate haulage requirements.
• Maintain a clean, safe, and well‑organised site, including effective traffic management and supervision.
• Follow Health and Safety procedures, report incidents, monitor recyclable quality, complete documentation, process payments, and support contractors and haulage teams.

The Ideal Candidate

The minimum criteria that will be used to shortlist for this role will be:

• experience in waste, recycling, or similar operational environments.
• experience of utilising customer service skills in a frontline service and dealing with people
• have strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage effectively with the public and colleagues.
• be able to follow procedures accurately and work efficiently as part of a team.
• be physically capable of manual handling tasks and operating equipment safely.
• ability to work under own initiative
• hold a full UK driving licence, be adaptable to outdoor work and varied hours, and demonstrate a positive, professional approach to sustainability.

Ideally it would be useful for you to have basic IT skills for record‑keeping, with knowledge of waste segregation, Health and Safety practices, and Duty of Care, however training can be provided.

Interview dates are scheduled to take place week commencing 23rd November 2026

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too.

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as yourapplication meets the minimum criteria for the post.