Crackdown on overloaded waste bins
Overloaded waste bins will be tagged and ultimately not emptied under a new threemonth pilot project being trialled by North Lanarkshire Council.
The new approach is to be introduced from next month in two areas – which are yet to be decided – and aims to address the persistent problem for the authority’s waste service of bins which are too full to be collected safely, being presented with lids in near-vertical positions.
Residents whose bins are tagged will initially be offered information about recycling or, for large households, assistance with additional waste capacity; but repeat incidences will then mean that rubbish is not collected.
The trial period was given the goahead by a majority of councillors on the environment committee at their latest meeting – where they also agreed that the £90 cost of the three recycling bins required at each new property constructed in North Lanarkshire should be passed on to housebuilders.
Members heard that the latter policy, which must now be rubber-stamped by the authority’s planning committee, would save the waste service £90,000 a year and ease its annual “ongoing cost pressure” of £780,000.
A report on tackling “properties who continually present overloaded residual bins”, for nonrecyclable waste which cannot go into the paper, food and garden, or glass, metal and plastic containers, said: “Lids are almost at 90 degrees due to the level of waste placed in then.
“Bins in such a condition are not capable of being collected safely and bags have to be removed before being emptied; if these are left on the street, this provides further complaints to the council, and if they are placed back in the bin the council receives a call to say it has been missed. “It is highly likely that residents [in these cases] are not recycling to the extent that they should be. Moving recyclable materials into one of the three [other] bins will increase recycling levels and reduce disposal costs.” Councillor Michael McPake, the committee convener, said: “The idea of the trial is to get people to understand that it’s not just because we want to tag bins – those which are overloaded can be dangerous for operators as they can’t see the machine when they’re trying to load the bin onto the back of it. “Other people will leave bags at the side of their bin, and it’s to try and educate that bit further on recycling, as the whole idea of the threeweek collection is to try to cut down on stuff going to landfill or the incinerator. “When we first started this bin cycle there were a massive amount of tags put onto bins, but we’ve reflected on that; we don’t want to be heavy-handed and 90 per cent of people are doing the right thing, so it’s just about going that step further to try and encourage people to do the same as their neighbour.
“It’s an issue in certain areas, and we’re hoping the trial will give us more understanding and then we can think about rolling it out further; the main issues are safety and increasing recycling.”
The pilot scheme will see overloaded bins being emptied on the first occasion but tagged and householders being sent a letter with advice on reducing residual waste levels or applying for additional capacity. It will run for four full waste collection cycles to allow for data gathering.
SNP group spokesperson William Goldie said: “We’re all aware of the issues with overloaded bins, and the pilot will work with those who face issues using the recycling service – any positive action to reduce the prevalence of overloaded bins must be welcomed.”
However, the Conservative group had called for further information before agreeing to the trial, including which areas would be part of the pilot.
Group member councillor David Cullen said: “We are not against a pilot, but the report was not sufficient to gain an understanding of the problem.
“We’re concerned that this decision will see residents’ bins left unemptied at the second presentation where the lid is ajar and feel it is likely to both increase litter and fly-tipping.”