Councils have announced a number of key dates.
Scottish households will be hit with a four-week delay to bin collections at Christmas
- Who has announced changes to bin collections so far?: Glasgow City Council and West Lothian Council.
- What are the changes in Glasgow?: Residents Glasgow could be waiting up to four weeks for bin collections over the festive period. Council bosses have reportedly said they will prioritise lifting refuse from back courts of flats and tenements over the festive season. For households with front and back doors expecting kerbside collections on December 25 or 26, or January 1 and 2, could face a lengthy wait for their next pick-up. Those due collections on December 27 and January 3 will, however, escape disruption.
- What are the changes in West Lothian?: West Lothian residents are being advised over changes to bin collections over the festive period. There will be no grey, blue or green bin collections on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and New Year’s Day and January 2 due to the public holidays. Residents whose collections are due on these days should put them out on the following Monday, so either Monday, December 29, or Monday, January 5 instead. No brown bin collections will take place over the two-week festive period, with last collections on Christmas Eve and the service resuming on Thursday, January 8.
- What are unions saying?: Cleansing convenor at the GMB, Chris Mitchell, told the Glasgow Times: “If you live in a flat or tenement then your bins in the back court will be emptied, but if you live in a house and your collection days fall on the public holidays your bin won’t be lifted until the next collection date, which is well into January. I don’t see any reason why people in houses are being penalised because of where they live. For some people this will mean a delay of up to 28 days, which is just unacceptable. Christmas is a busy time for many people with household bins filling up quicker than at any other time of the year. The council basically want people to take their rubbish to the dump and dispose of it themselves.”
What did Glasgow City Council say?: Councillor Laura Doherty, City Convener for Neighbourhood Services and Assets, said: “Christmas and New Year is a very challenging time for our waste management team. The four days of public holidays means an estimated 250,000 bin go uncollected. Winter weather can also disrupt collections and households normally produce extra waste as part of the seasonal festivities. Residents sent us a clear message that the previous plan for waste services over the festive period wasn’t working as it should have done. We took that feedback on board and changes were brought in last Christmas, which made a positive difference. The focus of shared bin areas for flatted properties meant the overall service returned to normal earlier than before and more people were content with how the service operated. We will stick with this approach again this year but I know that residents who will miss collections due to the public holidays may be concerned how they will manage over Christmas and New Year. To help minimise these concerns, I urge them to use their recycling options as much as possible as this will ease pressure on your general waste bin. Also be assured we will lift extra waste at the next scheduled collection day.”
