Charge for brown bins to protect waste jobs

Union complaint

Changes to bin collections and opening times at recycling centres are putting votes before jobs, a union leader claimed this week.

Tom Carr- Pollock, branch secretary of the GMB, was scathing at a meeting of West Lothian Council’s environment policy development and scrutiny panel on Tuesday morning.

He told councillors that charging for brown bins at £25 a time would bring in returns in excess of £1.25m, eliminating the need for cuts.

Instead the council plans to cut or redeploy jobs from bin collection crews and staffing at the five recycling centres.

Councillors agreed earlier this year not to go down the route of charging for brown bins and are looking at collecting food waste and garden waste together twice a month in a bid to save money.

Mr Carr- Pollock told the PDSP: “Trade unions are very, very disappointed, especially now it seems that councilors may have been misled over the job implications.

“These changes amount to Labour putting votes before jobs.”

He added that the council is now charging for bulky uplifts and had introduced charges for blue badge schemes and some care schemes but is pointedly reluctant to charge for brown bins.

He also asked David Goodenough, head of service, whether maintaining five recycling sites was “overkill”, considering Edinburgh has only two sites.

He suggested a reduction to two in West Lothian would protect jobs and solve the need for redeployment or potential job losses where there were no suitable posts left.

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