Some wheelie bin collection next week have been cancelled – just 24 hours after Argyll and Bute Council said normal service would resume.
Bin collections in Helensburgh and the surrounding area have been hit by delays since before Christmas, with vehicle breakdowns and a lorry crashing in wintry conditions being blamed.
And a councillor has warned that changed work patterns could mean the service has to be significantly reduced in future.
On Thursday the council issued a detailed statement listing when blue and green wheelie bins would be collected across various locations, adding that all food bins would collected the following day (Friday).
The food bins were not collected though – and yesterday the council said all scheduled collections of blue recycling bins next week would be cancelled.
A statement added: “This will allow crews to catch up with the backlog of collections of all bin types.
“After the catch-up from the previous cycle, your next blue bin collection will now be on the next scheduled collection date week beginning Monday March 21.
“However we will take any excess recycling presented alongside blue bins.
“Please note this is the current position and plans could be liable to change at short notice.”
Another new list of scheduled collection dates has been put on the authority’s website.
The council has not responded to a request for comment, but in a comment on this website Cllr George Freeman said: “I am told that on the ground, crew members who previously completed their collection runs before returning to their base, have now been informed by management that they must attend, mid-shift, for a break at their depot which entails crews in outlying area’ such as Arrochar and Kilcreggan having to stop mid-run and return to base.”
He said crews had been told that no additional hours would be provided to complete collections, and that one bin at a time was to be taken to their vehicle as opposed to the previous two.
“Staff members have been advised they will all be required to sign new contracts, with altered hours of work, or face dismissal,” he added.
” Crews working later hours find that when their vehicle is full there is no option to empty and continue with their run as amenities to empty the vehicle are closed.
“It concerns me greatly that if the changes referred to are correct, then such changes can only lead to a much reduced service and/or a great deal of additional resources to maintain an acceptable standard which is not being delivered at this time.”
What a load of (uncollected) rubbish. If the Council don’t sort this out soon the next thing will be burning bins, recycling waste blowing in the wind and rats and foxes at the roadside having a good sniff at the food waste. It doesn’t take long for a hiccup in waste management to become an environmental crisis.
I responded to the council’s latest tale about bins, copied below. When I wrote it I had not seen any confirmation of their attempt to change work practices. Clearly this is somebody’s bright idea that is going wrong.
Written to Argyll a day or two ago.
This is another revised picture of the calamity that is Argyll & Bute refuse collection. Are the council attempting to change the work practices of the refuse collectors against their wishes; are we in an industrial dispute, whether declared or not?
My recycling was last collected 13 days late, 27 days after the previous one. Now we are told that that the next one will not happen and that, IF the plan works my next recycling collection will be 29 days after the last one.
The food bin collection is also chaotic, we have no idea of whether it will happen on Tuesday as scheduled or not. It hasn’t happened on schedule for several weeks. In recent times food waste has been seen in the back of a pickup truck, not any specialist vehicle so vehicle problems cannot be the issue there.
Clearly there is a manpower problem, or is it a management and HR problem
So by returning to base from outlying areas means increased fuel usage etc . I guess another reason council tax will go up as us mugs that pay it take the hit