NATCHEZ — Many Adams County residents have not had their garbage collected in several weeks.

County officials have said the county’s garbage collection service provider lost employees after the county awarded a new contract Metro Services Inc. earlier this year with the new contract starting Dec. 1.

After the announcement of the new contract to Metro, Waste Pro employees left for other employment, realizing their employment would soon end with Waste Pro when the contract is up Nov. 30, county officials said.

Today, Waste Pro officials issued the following apology for the lack of service in Adams County and said they will not be able to meet the terms of the original contract:

“Waste Pro would like to apologize to Adams County and its residents. Due to a lack of available drivers despite our best efforts, we are unable to adequately provide the last week of our contract services. We are working with the county and the new service provider, scheduled to start Monday, December 1, to mitigate this situation,” the email said signed by Chris Lockwood, Waste Pro Divisional vice president.

Adams County Supervisors had said Friday, Nov. 16, that Metro would begin garbage collection in the county a week early to help fill the need. That plan, however, did not happen.

Supervisors have a special called meeting 10 a.m. Wednesday to discuss garbage collection.