Fears over fly- tipping

GLASGOW council officials have again denied the introduction of bulk waste charges has led to an increase in fly- tipping, as a worried councillor insisted the problem has escalated.

The local authority made the decision to introduce the charges for removing bulky items at its full council meeting in February 2020, despite concerns raised at the time that this could lead to an increase in fly- tipping.

During the recent operations and scrutiny committee meeting, Drumchapel and Anniesland councillor Patricia Ferguson said fly- tipping in her ward has been a growing problem in the last couple of years, and her constituents had misunderstood the cost of getting bulk waste removed.

She added: “I would like to refer back to the issue surrounding street cleaning. It seems to me that we need to have a lot more education on this whole issue. I am talking about everything from how you recycle, where you recycle, down to the issue of fly- tipping.

“I have had constituents say to me that they can’t afford to have bulk items lifted because they think it is £ 35 or £ 40 per item, which it’s not.

“I have explained that, but that is what people think unfortunately, and I have certainly seen a huge rise in fly- tipping in my area just in the last couple of years since I have been a councillor.

“That worries me because that is people getting into an entrenched way of thinking that you can just dump things and someone else will come and take them away.”

A council officer agreed more communication is needed on the removal of bulky waste, but said there is no evidence the introduction of cost has had an impact.

“I think you raise an interesting point about the £ 5 bulk charge,” said the officer. “When that went live in the Budget, we did a couple of social media posts with our PR team. Perhaps that isn’t enough.”

The officer also said there are fly- tipping “hotspots” across the city, adding: “It tends to be a white vantype thing, as opposed to householders.

“It tends to be that sort of thing that causes us the biggest problems. There is no evidence that fly- tipping has increased as a result of the introduction of the charge or if there’s any kind of link, but fly- tipping is absolutely a problem. I am happy to take away your comment to let more people know about the £ 5 charge, as opposed to people assuming it’s costing £ 35 for the 10 items.”