Bins collections remain in ‘chaos’
A MOUND of bin bags has been piled up next to a community centre and nursery in Soroba as the communal bins are again full to capacity.
The overflowing bins at Scalpay Terrace have already been ransacked by seagulls.
The Oban Times spoke to Scalpay resident John Hutchison on Monday, who said: ‘The state of the place is terrible.
‘It is ridiculous and it is not getting picked up until Wednesday. I have to sit and look at this – seagulls ripping apart bags.
‘To be honest, I saw a rat at Christmas, but was not quick enough to get the camera so I can’t prove it. It is getting beyond a joke.’
Mr Hutchison, who shares three grey bins and one blue bin with eight other households, added: ‘ How do they expect folk to live like that? It’s doing my head in.
‘I have got a wee boy who is meant to be able to play in the garden, but there are seagulls everywhere.
‘I’m sick of looking out my window at it.’
Another Soroba resident, George Berry, wants Argyll and Bute Council’s chief executive to resign.
‘I am absolutely disgusted,’ he said. ‘I spent yesterday afternoon out in the car park picking up litter.
‘All over the place seagulls are bursting the bags. I have had it. I would see the point if they were providing extra bins. I would ask for the chief executive to resign.
‘For him to put this into motion without providing extra facilities is outrageous.
‘ What is the point in taking pride in the estate when they take that away?’
However, Soroba isn’t the only place that is encountering problems with the three-weekly uplift schedule that was implemented in November.
Residents in Lerags say that the bin uplift dates are in ‘chaos’ and will lead to more fly-tipping.
One resident said that they should be paying council tax to their neighbours for emptying their bins, rather than to Argyll and Bute Council.
Michelle McAnally of Lerags said: ‘Our bins haven’t been lifted in weeks.
‘Each week we fill out a missed bin report on the council website, and get a reply email apologising for the poor service, but no solution has been forthcoming.
‘ We are told to leave our bins out for a few more days, but they still are not collected. We are lucky that a good neighbour has been taking our bins to the dump on his trailer, otherwise it would be difficult for us to find the time to do this, as well as not wanting to haul rubbish in our car.
‘I have joked that we should start paying taxes to our neighbour instead of the council, but it’s not very funny. Other residents don’t have the luxury of a friend with a trailer, and I don’t know how they are dealing with what can only be called a rubbish crisis.’
Another Lerags resident, Liam Griffin, added: ‘My concern is for the young mother with a wean at her feet, or the arthritic senior citizen who lives in an upstairs tenement flat.
‘How motivated to recycle will such folk remain if the uplift dates are in chaos?
‘Systems management teaches that you need to put the path where people will walk: otherwise they just take the easiest route.
‘The easiest route, if the current uplift chaos continues, is likely to be bags of rubbish turning up behind hedges or dumped in farmers’ fields.’
An Argyll and Bute Council spokesman said: ‘The new refuse and recycling service has been introduced to 47,000 properties, which has been a huge change for our communities.
‘ We apologise for any inconvenience and would like to thank people for their patience and for working with us to help increase recycling.
‘We work hard to make sure we can empty bins on the scheduled days. However, there can be operational difficulties, which mean this isn’t always possible.
‘Every effort is made to collect bins as soon as possible following any disruption and keep residents informed of any changes using our website. If your bin isn’t collected on the scheduled day, please leave it out the next day.
‘ We will arrange for additional uplifts to deal with any overflowing bins and apologise for any inconvenience.
‘ We are grateful to residents for their patience and are working in partnership with ACHA [Argyll Community Housing Association] to identify areas where additional bins can be stored.’