‘Slim-line’ household bins, which were rolled out in areas of Perth and Kinross as part of a cost cutting exercise, have been described as being “not fit-for-purpose” by a leading councillor.
Councillor Alexander Stewart, one of the representatives for the Perth South ward, has criticised the introduction of the smaller green 140-litre bin, which replaced the normal 240-litre ones, claiming “normal size” families are struggling to put all their household waste in them.
The scheme was piloted in late 2014 in the Oakbank and Western Edge areas of Perth, as well as Auchterarder and Aberuthven. Then, Perth and Kinross Council announced in January this year that it would be supplying more than 50,000 homes with the controversial bins over a phased 23-month period.
Yesterday, Mr Stewart told The Courier he knows of scores of families who are now being forced to use “overflowing” bins, with refuse “crammed” in to the top of them.
“These families believe these bins are totally inadequate for them,” he said.
“I have visited a number of streets in my ward prior to the bin collection taking place to see for myself what the situation was like and, as I anticipated, a large number of these small green bins which were placed on the kerbside did not have the lids completely closed.
“Many were overflowing with refuse crammed into the top of them. This, to me, proved the point that the small green bin is not of adequate size.”
He continued: “I appreciate we need to do all we can to improve our recycling, but I raised concerns at the very outset of this roll-out. The pilot project did take place in parts of my own ward in Perth South, but I also indicated at the time that I didn’t think it was representative of Perth city because there are many communities which have much larger households than in the Oakbank and Burghmuir area.”
“I will be contacting the council’s environment service direct to express my comments and request that they give me a breakdown of complaints received and the number of bins that were not uplifted due to an excess of refuse being placed in them,” he added.
“I haven’t been advised as to where the original large green bins have been relocated to I hope we haven’t created a green bin ‘mountain’ somewhere.”
A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council commented: “Households of any size can request an additional 240-litre blue-lidded or brown-lidded bins (up to a maximum of two per household) to assist in their recycling efforts.
“Bins that are not fit for reuse will be recycled.”