Recycling bins could be taken away due to contamination

GLASGOW residents could have their bins t a k en away i f recycling is repeatedly contaminated, as the council steps up its efforts to increase the amount of waste reused.

The option is included in a package of proposed policies, put to councillors this week, which would also see a new bin for households with kerbside collections.

Council officials said removing the recycling service from residents would be a “last resort” with plenty of time for people to take out contaminated waste, but opposition councillors are worried it could lead to neighbours policing each other.

The extra bin would take an expanded range of plastic pots, tubs, trays with film and bottles and would sit alongside a bin for mixed paper, card and cardboard.

These plans come as Glasgow tries to lift its recycling rate, which remains among the lowest in Scotland. They will go to the city administration committee for approval and could be introduced from April.

Cllr Ruairi Kelly, SNP, the council’s convener for neighbourhood services and assets, believes the revamped service would boost Glasgow’s effort to improve recycling and reduce plastic waste.

“Putting the wrong material into the wrong bin may seem harmless, but contamination costs our waste management service millions of pounds every year,” he said.

He added the new bin will “cut out the confusion on how to recycle”.

However, Labour’s Cllr Jill Brown said while everyone wants to see more recycling, she is concerned about how the contamination policy will be policed. She said: “For residents in tenements who may have short- term lets, neighbours or absent landlords may end up paying the price for refuse being put in the wrong bins.”

Under the policy, bins would initially be tagged as causing an issue and left unemptied, residents would be informed and given advice on how to recycle properly.

If the issue continued, the council would take away the bins and people would be directed to other options, such as public recycling sites.

A council official said the new policy would be monitored and cleansing staff will check whether contamination is visible or not. Tagging bins, but still emptying them, could take place for “a period of up to six months”, she added.