The Oban Times & West Highland Times

It’s hard not to keep banging on about the state of play with waste and recycling collections around Oban. This week Soroba residents have again been in touch with the paper, and we also heard from Lerags residents who are getting fed-up with the state of play.

The problem, in part, seems to be that the council has apparently reduced the size of the lorries being used while the amount of rubbish having to be collected has increased, given that bins are fuller due to collections now happening every three weeks.

All credit to the bin men who are dealing with the issue day in day out, and fair play to the council which is strug- gling to meet demands and expectations with little cash in the budget. But there has to be a better way to make this work.

Change is never easy, and a gradual move would have made more sense. Why reduce the size of the lorries at the start of the changes? People need to get used to recycling more – it was never going to happen overnight.

Also, put the larger lorries on to cover the more densely populated areas, such as Soroba.

Maybe we should take a leaf out of Norway’s book. It appears to have taken waste management to a new level, and is increasing its recycling. Food for thought?