When it comes to finding and keeping good truck drivers, recyclers can face a rough road. For starters, there's often stiff competition for drivers from other industries with deeper financial pockets, such as long-haul firms and the waste industry. Recyclers also must deal with drivers' misperceptions of what the modern scrap industry is like and what it needs. The nationwide shortage of qualified truck drivers is a well-known story, with long-haul trucking firms in particular facing a shortfall that one study puts at 20,000 drivers. What's more, that shortfall could grow to 111,000 by 2014, according to the American Trucking Associations (Alexandria, Va.). To keep their trucks on the road, then, recyclers often must rely on their business savvy and creativity in terms of incentives, training, employee empowerment, and even the industry's family-oriented traditions.
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