Bagwatch is a waste of money

Anger over libraries’role

People who attend Stirling Council offices to collect food waste bags are now having their details taken by staff.

The Observer reported earlier this month that the bags were no longer being delivered to households in the Stirling area, and those who wished to get their hands on the ‘caddy liners’ were required to pick them up from libraries and Customer First buildings.

It has now emerged that those who attend to collect the bags are being asked to give their name and address before being handed the liners.

The local authority say this is to help with stock control.

However Stirling West Tory councillor Neil Benny believes this is a waste of time and the previous system of delivering the bags to households worked better.

He said: “This is far too bureaucratic. Our librarians have far better things to be doing than be forced to become food waste bag monitors.

“It will probably cost more to administer than the few bags it might save. What was so wrong with the old system and we should be making it as easy for people to recycle as possible.”

What a time consuming exercise for the library staff when the old simple system worked perfectly.

A spokesperson for Stirling Council said that, while the bags are no longer needed to recycle food waste as this can be done by wrapping it in newspaper or placing it directly into the brown bin, they are still available for collection.

Households are limited to six rolls of bags for the year – and there are 30 bags in a roll which allocates an average of one for every two days.

They add that in order to help with stock control they require residents’ details to be recorded on collection.

The average household is said to use around two to three of the biodegradable green bags each week.

Further information can be found by visiting the ‘myBins’ section of the Stirling Council website.