Beach litter blitzers criticise council’s ‘haphazard’ waste collection

OBAN beach cleaners say haphazard council collections of their weekly litter haul is ‘rubbish’.

Every Wednesday a team of volunteer litter pickers from the town’s New Hope centre go out to the George Street beach with buckets and bin bags to keep it tidy.

Broken bits of plastic, battered traffic cones, broken garden chairs, soft drink bottles, used paint brushes and clothing rags are regularly washed up.

Bags of bigger, bulkier rubbish are left at the top of the slipway to be taken away by council waste collectors but sometimes it can be left for weeks on end, said Tam Ferris, one of the beach cleaners.

‘Recently it has been hanging round for six to eight weeks, waiting to be collected. There’s an obvious risk that what we’ve collected could just be swept back into the sea if there’s a high tide or a wild night. We could really do with one or two big bins with a key by the sea wall so we could use them and lock them to keep it tidy.

‘We are very keen to work with the council but their collections are haphazard. We clean the beach weekly so they should collect weekly. We all want Oban to be looking its best. It’s amazing the difference we can make in just half an hour. We usually get about three bags of general rubbish every week that we sort through to recycle but sometimes there’s bigger things like tyres or cones or garden chairs that we can’t put in normal-sized bins.

‘We get help from some local organisations but are always looking for more support to keep the beach clean. Donations of bin bags and litter grabbers are always welcome – as are more volunteers. We usually leave New Hope at about 10.30am on a Wednesday if people want to come and join us.’

Councillor Roddy McCuish said: ‘It’s great what the volunteers are doing. It’s absolutely fantastic. There’s three or four bin lorries passing there every day. I will mention it. We will do our best to support them.

He also said if the beach cleaners thought new big bins would help keep the seafront tidy, he would be happy to

look at the idea. A sighting of council waste collectors emptying contents from blue and green bins into the back of the same wagon in Strathaven Terrace, has also been reported to The Oban Times.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said: ‘I couldn’t believe what I saw. Both bins emptied into the back of the same wagon.’

Councillor McCuish said: ‘No, that should not be happening, especially when we are encouraging people to recycle. I’ll look into it.’