Bin and gone
Refuse collectors finally turn up after elderly resort to storing rubbish in flats
Elderly tenants at Allan Park House have finally been able to remove the garbage from their flats after binmen made a longawaited appearance at the complex.
On Friday the Observer reported that residents had been keeping bags of recycled rubbish in their cupboards as bins hadn’t been emptied in five weeks and were full to the brim.
However, within hours of the paper hitting the streets, Stirling Council had sent out a team out to resolve the problem.
The local authority say that all bins have now been emptied and an officer is looking into whether the bins provision for the 27 flats at the complex is lacking.
Council officials said they made aware in mid-October that the complex’s grey bins had not been collected but learned only last week about problems with blue and green bins.
Tenant Mike Howe said those living at Allan Park were pleased that the bins have now been emptied but bemused by council claims that they weren’t aware before last week of their collection issues .
He said: “They were here at quarter past nine on Friday morning to pick them up – they even managed to get into the lock-up.
“We’re all pleased that the bins have been emptied but when we read the story in the Observer we were concerned that the council denied all knowledge of the problem.
“The complex manager has repeatedly been in touch and some other tenants have also written letters to the council.
“We all agree with the improvements the council want to make as it’s better for recycling. But if the bins weren’t emptied then how could we recycle. That was our frustration.
“To be fair, they were out here quickly on Friday morning. All seems to be sorted now but we hope things run smoothly from now on.”
A spokesperson for the local authority said: “Our Waste Services team were made aware that the grey bins at Allan Park House had not been collected on Thursday October 13.
“However, while previously these bins would have been picked up on a Wednesday, with the transition over to the new collection system the grey bins were not in fact due a collection on the October 12.
“The team received a further report on the October 17 that the blue and green bins had not been emptied for five weeks, however the team had received no communication or complaint to this effect until that point.
“All of the bins have now been emptied but we would like to take this opportunity to remind residents to check their collection calendars as we do not provide a weekly collection for all bins.
“We have also asked an officer to revisit this to ascertain whether or not the storage provision for the waste of these 27 flats is lacking, which is something we may have to discuss with the landlord.”