Bin calendar days now numbered
New notices will be sent to homes after councillor’s backlash on bins
Stirling Council has confirmed that residents will be issued with new waste collection calendars – having previously been criticised for a lack of communication over the issue.
Ross Oxburgh, councillor for Stirling North, hit out at the local authority earlier this week for failing to tell people how to get hold of information relating to new schedules when the old calendars expired at the end of last month.
It was initially believed that residents would have to acquire their own copies by going online or attending council offices.
The issue was raised when Mr Oxburgh attended a meeting of Cambuskenneth Community Council where several villagers spoke of their confusion and uncertainty.
And he said: “I can completely understand why this has annoyed people. Communicating when collections will take place is one of the fundamental tasks the council must get right.
“I appreciate circulating a printed calendar to every door will be expensive and may not be possible, but the council should have tried harder to get the information out to people.”
He added: “I hope the council will review their approach and make a better effort in future, while taking into account residents who may not be able to go out to find this information by themselves.”
However, councillor Jim Thomson, convener of the environment and housing committee, confirmed yesterday (Thursday) that new calendars will in fact be distributed in the coming weeks and committee members simply wanted to debate the matter before taking a final decision.
He added: “In the interim the waste calendars are available on the website at my.stirling.gov.uk/services/ waste-and-recycling, by selecting ‘My Bins’.
“Residents can input their postcode, select an address and they’ll see the next collection dates and be given the opportunity to download or print a pdf version.
“Before the last calendar ended we also made hard copies of these PDFs which are available within Customer First in Stirling and in local offices.”
Officers told the committee meeting yesterday (Thursday) that this would likely be the last time they would distribute physical copies but they would be available for pickup from libraries and other council premises.
Councillor Martin Earl also suggested that PDF copies should be distributed to groups such as community councils in the future to ensure people stay well informed of collection schedules.