BATON ROUGE - Republic Services has laid out a plan for improving its often-criticized garbage pick-up services.

Residents and an employee have come forward expressing their concerns and frustrations with the garbage contractor. One Republic Services employee told WBRZ there were two reasons why trash pickup has become so inconsistent across the city-parish in recent months — staffing and the company's equipment.

In a news conference hosted by East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, the company detailed some of the issues plaguing its services.

"It really was a confluence of many events," Republic spokesperson Karla Swacker said. "Whether it's the spring heavy yard waste season, it was traffic problems, it was a shortage in drivers for us..."

Swacker says one of the steps it's taking to rectify the problems hiring a pool of new workers and managers to help fill vacancies. The company says it also plans to re-evaluate all of its drivers and is in the process of buying new equipment like trucks.

Additionally, Republic has hired a subcontractor to help pick up trash from areas still disposing of debris from recent storm damage.

#ThePlan for Republic Services to improve garbage and recycling services in East Baton Rouge Parish. pic.twitter.com/QLsgRaNqBU

— Brittany Weiss WBRZ (@MsBWeiss) June 19, 2019

Last week Broome called on the company to right previous wrongs and figure out how to improve service in the future. 

The inconsistency with garbage collections has grabbed the attention of several council members who say they are constantly getting phone calls from homeowners whose trash cans are filling up and remaining untouched.