Glasgow bin collections 'won't be back to normal' by mid January say waste workers

Fears that Glasgow’s cleansing teams won’t manage to clean up the city’s festive waste by mid January has been raised by the GMB trade union.

Cleansing convenor Chris Mitchell says workers are struggling to catch up with the waste because of the sheer volume of it and a shortage of staff due to sickness and vacancies not being filled.

However, Glasgow City Council maintains that with the exception of those properties that missed collection due to the four public holidays, collections are following the usual schedule and things are on track.

The local authority is aiming to get everything back to normal by the third week in January.

Speaking about the issue Chris said: “We are struggling with our commitment of January 20 to get services running back to normal and I don’t think we are going to achieve that to be honest with you.

“There are bins that are overflowing, backcourts which are vile, lanes which are absolutely disgusting, bulk, furniture you name it being dumped at certain locations.

“There is fly-tipping and Christmas trees and overflowing bins at some of the properties that were due an uplift at Christmas which is the bank and front door policy.

“We are trying our hardest and trying to do our best but there are only so many hours in a day.

“There is a lack of staff at the moment as some are on their holidays and on top of that we have vacancies to be filled.

“There are a lot of events being held in the city this month including TRNSMT, the Commonwealth Games as well as the tourist tax being introduced.

“The service needs to keep ticking over as a statutory obligation to clean the city. Anyone who leaves or retires should be replaced right away.”

Glasgow City Council says it understands that disruption to waste services can be “inconvenient” and that a new approach has been developed to ensure they return to normal sooner rather than later.

A spokesman said: “The festive period is a challenging time for our waste management team with collections stopping over four public holidays and households producing extra waste.

“We know the disruption to the service can cause inconvenience to householders and we are very grateful for the patience and cooperation they have shown.

“Last year we introduced a new approach that placed a focus on shared bin areas and the service returned to normal sooner than previous years with more people content with how the service operated.

“We’ve repeated this approach this year and our teams are following the bin collection schedule for the city as planned.

“We are very hopeful the service will have returned to normal by the third week in January.

“Those residents who missed a collection due to public holidays can be assured that any excess waste will be removed on the next relevant bin collection day.

“Large volumes of waste are produced over the festive period and we have brought in additional resources to support the removal of this waste.

“Our household waste and recycling centres are open seven days a week for anyone who wishes to dispose of their waste.”