ANGER AS REDUCED BIN PICK-UP ROLLED OUT
Campaigners call for reversal of three-weekly kerbside collections
CRITICS of the controversial three-weekly bin collection have slammed the project’s roll-out into the north west of the city. From yesterday, all main door properties in the area, who use kerbside collections, would join those in the north east with a new reduced pick-up service for their green bins.
It comes after multiple petitions were launched to halt the move and a scathing GMB union survey revealed around 97% of 4,000 were against the change.
David Hume, GMB Scotland organiser, said: “Glasgow has a waste crisis. This was understood before Covid-19 and the pandemic has made a bad situation worse, both for our key workers and our communities.
“Workers and the public are on the same page. They are against three-weekly collections, they feel disenfranchised by the council’s decision-making processes, and they want investment in the cleansing service to tackle this crisis.
“But the council sounds out of touch with the needs of Glaswegians. You can’t cut your way out of a crisis and demand households recycle more when there isn’t a properly resourced support it.”
He added: “The council has to take responsibility and unless it opens its eyes to the grim reality of what’s happening in our communities, this crisis will become a catastrophe.”
Glasgow City Council insists the policy change is an effort to curb the city’s landfill rate while encouraging residents to recycle – an area which the city is current trailing behind others in the UK.
It was approved in 2019 as part of the Household Recycling Charter, which stated homes who presented their bins for kerbside collections would move to “a maximum of the equivalent of 80 litres per week per property for non-recyclable waste”.
Council documents state the goal could be achieved by “either reducing the bin or varying the frequency of collection” dependent on what the local authority found most appropriate.
However, those against the move remain adamant a reduced collection is not the answer to improving the city’s recycling woes.
Councillor Paul Carey, service to who represents the Drumchapel/Anniesland ward, has called for the move to be reversed.
He said: “It is quite clear that this administration are not listening to the people of my ward and to the rest of Glasgow.” Conservative councillor Ade Aibinu added: “I fail to see how the SNP administration believe changing to a three-weekly bin collection will help residents in this part of the city. “Improving the rate of recycling should be a day-to-day priority but instead of forcing these changes on residents who don’t want them, the SNP council leader should be fighting for a better funding deal for Glasgow.
“That would then help guarantee the basic duty of keeping our city’s streets clean.”
Depute Glasgow Labour leader councillor Eva Murray, whose ward of Garscadden/Scotstounhill will also be subject to the change, has blasted the move as a “political decision”.
She said: “Pushing through this proposal in the middle of a pandemic where we continue to see fly tipping, rat infestations and rubbish filled streets on the rise is reckless and irresponsible.
“It’s time this administration started listening to workers on the ground and the communities who are being impacted by this move.
“This is a political decision being made due to the year-on-year budget cuts passed down to our city from those in Edinburgh, it has nothing to do with a passion for sustainability.”
As previously reported, the council has faced fierce criticism of its decision to transition to a three-weekly bin pickup for main door properties from its current fortnightly collection.
Residents in the north east, where the programme has been in place since October, told the Glasgow Times gardens where becoming “refuse tips”, while others said they hoped the local authority could find another solution to improve recycling.
However, councillor Chris Cunningham, who serves on the Environment, Sustainability and Carbon Reduction Committee, has warned the city’s refuse habits must change if the detrimental effects of climate change are to be halted.
He said: “All of the this seeks to
address the challenge change and recycling.
“If we are to address climate change we have to change the way things are done. We have to ‘will the means’ as well as ‘will the end’.
“If we regard the COP 26 conference in Glasgow in November this year as the very pinnacle of addressing climate change, we should recognise that dealing with issues like recycling and bins are at the other, practical, end of the scale but they are just as important.”
The reduced collection is expected to be rolled out to the south side later this year, however, no date has been confirmed.
Councillor Anna Richardson, city convener for sustainability and carbon reduction, said: “As a city we put far too much into the general bin that could easily be recycled.
“Three-weekly kerbside collections for general waste are about motivating households to make better use of the recycling bins that are available to them.
“But if a household finds they need an extra recycling bin then we will provide that free of charge.
“Three-weekly kerbside collections for general waste have worked for other local authorities and the of climate new approach actually burden on staff doing
“This change to kerbside collections for general waste is directly derived from the Household Recycling Charter that councillors of all parties freely agreed that the council should sign up to.”
She added: “The charter makes it plain we should aim to increase recycling and reduce the amount of waste that cannot be recycled, but also explicitly puts a limit on how much general waste a household should expect to generate over the course of a collection cycle.
“At the moment only a quarter of our 250 thousand tonnes of household waste is recycled each year, which means the city’s rubbish creates a climate impact of 774,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
“All councillors also agree the city is facing a climate crisis and that we must aim to be carbon neutral by 2030.
“Three-weekly kerbside collections for general waste is an important step in the right direction as part of a much bigger battle and so it’s a surprise to see some councillors struggle to live up to their commitments on the environment.” eases the the collections.
You can’t cut your way out of a crisis