MARCH OF THE BIN POLICE

Councils’ 17,500 visits to homes as families struggle with cuts to rubbish collections

VISITS by so-called bin police have soared as householders try to cope with massive changes to rubbish collections.

Today we can reveal that council officials carried out 17,500 visits last year – up more than 4000 on the previous year.

We also lift the lid on the huge differences in bin uplifts across the country.

COUNCIL bin officials are visiting frazzled families once every 30 minutes to speak to them about what they put in an array of bins and rubbish holders.

Local authority waste officials racked up nearly 17,500 visits to households last year to discuss bin mix-ups and other domestic waste issues.

The total is up from 13,000 the year before.

However, the true picture may be even higher, as half of Scotland’s councils said they either didn’t collate the figures or wouldn’t provide them.

Last night politicians and campaigners blasted the findings.

With some councils already fining people for putting out the wrong bin or too much rubbish in some areas, they fear it is only a matter of time before “bin police” are able to hit tax-payers with cash fines Scotland-wide.

Cash-strapped councils are increasingly tasking officials with making sure householders put the right waste in a growing – and confusing – number of bins.

The bewildering range of options has kept step with a Scottish Government aim to recycle 60% of all household rubbish by 2020. But Scotland is lagging behind. In 2014, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency said more than two-thirds of councils missed a 50% recycling target.

The failure has resulted in councils rolling out an increasing number of bins to achieve the 2020 goal.

As a result, families now have as many as six different ways of putting out rubbish in some areas.

But – while councils are upping a recycling arms race – expensive bin collections are likely to fall.

Falkirk is set to become the first council in the UK to move to collecting non-recyclable domestic waste just once every FOUR weeks.

It is writing to families tomorrow to tell them about its plans set for October. The move will save the authority around £150,000 a year.

But residents fear the policy will mean an explosion of rats, with soiled nappies, pet waste, and used kitchen towels left to fester for up to a month.

To aid its waste revolution, Falkirk employs three waste minimisation officers, or “bin bureaucrats”, who earn around £19-21,000 a year in some areas.

Last year, the Falkirk officials visited 1176 homes, up from 897 visits in 2013/14.

Many visits were made “to help the householder manage their waste”.

North Lanarkshire Council also employs two “bin police”, who visited around 2500 households last year.

East Ayrshire, which gives people six bins and only picks up non-recyclables every three weeks, employs four “Community Waste Officers”.

Between them, they went to 4443 homes last year to talk about

household rubbish – up from 4355 the year before. Renfrewshire Council racked up 2715 visits and West Dunbartonshire Council made 1694 trips to speak about bins to bewildered locals.

The rest of the councils which took part in our survey – Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow, Midlothian, Orkney, Perth and Kinross, the Scottish Borders, Stirling, West Lothian and the Western Isles – recorded nearly

5000 visits between them. Only Angus Council reported a fall in visits in a year – down from 1891 in 2014/15 to 1633 last year.

Scotland’s two biggest cities – Glasgow and Edinburgh – were unable to give figures for 2015/16.

Edinburgh is one of two councils which fines householders for bin mishaps. Officials in the Capital dished out 325 fixed penalty notices last year for a variety of offences including “waste presented on the wrong day, burst bags or excess waste”.

Stirling Council is the other authority that fines householders

for “domestic waste issues”. It has issued 64 £80 fixed penalty notices since 2015. Only 14 have been paid.

Scottish Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said the waste situation is getting out of hand. “Instead of investing in glossy recycling adverts and Big Brother tactics, the Scottish Government must ensure our local councils provide a much better waste provision to taxpayers,” he said.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This seems to be a bit of overkill and residents will be left wondering how this can possibly be the best use of taxpayer-funded resources. Authorities need to be much smarter about allocating resources.”

A spokesman for Cosla, which represents most of Scotland’s local authorities, said Scots understood the importance of recycling.

He said: “Householders across Scotland are already making tremendous progress to increasing recycling rates and ensuring that we keep materials in use for as long as possible.

“Local authorities encourage all efforts to increase recycling, applaud those who already participate and encourage all householders to use the services appropriately and do their bit for a cleaner, greener Scotland.”