Bin strike threat amid claims recycling is going to landfill

Fife’s binmen are threatening strike action amid claims they’ve been told to throw recycling into landfill.

Unions have planned a mass protest next month following instructions to mix clean cardboard, paper and plastics with general waste destined for landfill sites.

And if the practice continues, the next stage will be to ballot members on possible industrial action.

The strike would involve recycling centre staff and drivers across Fife rather than household bin collections. However, it could affect kerbside collections if unions instruct binmen not to cross picket lines at waste transfer stations.

Unite the Union convener John Gillespie said it had been happening for 18 months and workers had had enough: “We’re in dispute with management. Our members are up in arms. Fife Council has declared a climate emergency and tells people to recycle as much as possible. But people don’t know what’s happening behind their backs.

“Our members have a conscience and don’t want to do it but they’re under a lot of pressure.”

Fife’s recycling centres are run on behalf of the council by arms-length company Cireco, previously known as Fife Resource Solutions.

It says it is committed to recycling and only mixes loads if the public puts non-recyclable materials into recycling points. However, this has been rubbished by outraged binmen.

According to unions, the argument centres on paper and plastics deposited at some of the region’s smaller recycling centres and recycling points.

One staff member said: “We’re getting told to mix recycling with waste and dump it in landfill. The management team are saying it’s all right because it’s small loads. No, it’s not. The people of Fife are doing their bit and doing it in the right way.”

He said the instruction has included materials left at centres in Dalgety Bay, Dunfermline and the East Neuk. But it doesn’t involve grey and green household recycling bins collected from kerbsides.

The worker added: “They’ve put in more bins at recycling points instead of increasing the number of pick-ups we do.

“What’s supposed to happen is we pick up landfill, drop it off then clean the lorries before going back to pick up the clean recyclables.

“But they’re saying that’s taking too long so just to collect it all at the same time.”

Another binman said refuse from paying business customers was also affected.

Fife MSPs Alex Rowley and Willie Rennie said refuse staff had been under huge pressure during the pandemic and both now plan to raise the allegations with management.

Mr Rowley, Mid Scotland and Fife Labour MSP, said: “If it’s right what they’re saying about recycling being dumped, there are serious questions to answer by managers at Fife Council.”

Meanwhile, Mr Rennie called for a practical way forward. The North East Fife Liberal Democrat MSP said: “I am meeting operators Cireco and will be raising this. The last thing we need is a strike so I hope that a practical way forward can be found between management and unions.”

Cireco chief executive Robin Baird said the company was short of “multiple” drivers but still clear on its commitment to recycling.

“Where we can, we will always recycle materials that are collected at the recycling points,” he said.