Australia’s biggest waste management company, Cleanaway, is hurting from a labour shortage where it has 672 positions vacant across garbage truck drivers and waste plant employees, forcing managers and supervisors to get behind the wheel.

Chief executive Mark Schubert said the situation had improved slightly in the past few months from the 773 spots that were unfilled in June, but across the group’s 300 branches there were many occasions where a local management supervisor would have no choice but to fill in for a driver.