Calls for tougher punishment for businesses caught dumping rubbish in city lanes

A bid to clear the city centre’s back streets of commercial waste has been launched by a Glasgow trade union in efforts to ‘Reclaim Our Lanes.’

The GMB gathered on Sauchiehall Lane on Friday, calling for stricter enforcement to ensure shops, restaurants, takeaways and other businesses keep rubbish from recurring and have it lifted quickly.

Campaigners chose Sauchiehall Lane to show the amount of rubbish dumped in these back streets, from a microwave to shopping crates and cardboard boxes left beside the industrial waste bins.

The union says that while some commercial operators now have contracts to lift commercial waste in the city centre, they claim standards vary widely and there is too little supervision and enforcement.

Cleansing convenor Chris Mitchell said: “We have got a fantastic commercial contract that could be servicing these lanes, but unfortunately, commercial premises use other tenders.

“It is not working. This is a fantastic opportunity, along with the investment in refuse collection and street cleansing. A big part of that is us all coming together to clean up the city.

“We are here to take back the lanes of Glasgow, and we are encouraging the commercial premises to use Glasgow City Council’s GMB members, who provide a top-class service.

“You can quite clearly see that Sauchiehall Lane is absolutely vile. We have tried to clean this up many times, but it’s a point-the-finger scenario because it is private.

“At some point, someone is going to have to take responsibility for this. We could have cafes here with a couple of outdoor chairs. People could come and physically enjoy it.

“We have got a great opportunity to fix it.”

GMB general secretary Gary Smith joined workers at the campaign launch to ‘Reclaim Our Lanes’ in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Lane to call for urgency and action to underpin the city’s ongoing clean-up.

He said: “After years of austerity and hard campaigning by GMB, Glasgow is starting to get the care and attention that has been lacking for far too long.

“That progress must be secured and protected with no streets left behind.

“Anyone stepping a few yards off some of the city’s most famous streets finds lanes covered in overturned bins, burst bags, fly-tipping and vermin.

GMB launched Reclaim Our Streets on Sauchiehall Lane LDRS

“There is no point renovating main streets if the lanes immediately behind them are overflowing with commercial waste.”

The union is calling on Glasgow City Council to urgently recruit enforcement officers to monitor commercial waste and explain to businesses the benefits of local authority cleansing services.

Its action plan, to be presented to councillors and officials, calls for regular uplifts, cleaning and maintenance of the city’s new bin hubs coupled with strict enforcement to halt fly-tipping and dumping of commercial rubbish nearby.

Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland senior organiser in public services, said: “The benefits are potentially huge for the council, for the city and for taxpayers.

“The city is cleaner, the council makes money by taking back commercial contracts, and taxpayers no longer subsidise businesses and their private waste operators failing to meet required standards.”

GMB’s blueprint for action calls for regular uplifts, cleaning and maintenance of the bin hubs to encourage households to use them, coupled with strict enforcement of fly-tipping and dumping of commercial rubbish around the hubs.

John Slaven, GMB organiser at Glasgow City Council, said ensuring the success of the new hubs, a sea change in how Glaswegians take their bins out, will demand rigorous monitoring, maintenance and enforcement to curb fly-tipping.

He said: “While people are still getting used to the changes, the priority must be to instil confidence that bins are lifted regularly and hubs are cleaned and well-maintained.

“There is already evidence that shops and takeaways are dumping rubbish in residential hubs and that, if unchecked, will sabotage an initiative that promises positive change in the city. “We need a new team of enforcement officers working hand in glove with the council’s commercial arm to ensure businesses are getting rid of their waste properly.

“If they are not, they must be encouraged to contract with the council to ensure they do.

Glasgow City Council say there are a number of waste companies providing waste and recycling services to the businesses of Glasgow.

They have been looking at ways to best improve city centre lanes for some time.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “We are exploring where improvements could be made in terms of the presentation of commercial waste collection times in the city centre.

“The enforcement team continues to enforce and offer advice and guidance to deal with offences. The number of Commercial Waste Enforcement Officers in the city has almost doubled recently.”