Review into Renfrewshire bin collections to be carried out

Councillors have voted for a “comprehensive review” of Renfrewshire Council’s bin collection service, following a barrage of complaints from residents.

A motion put forward by Councillor Andy Doig on Thursday called for a “root and branch re-examination” of the service which underwent changes last year.

It states: “The current collection practice requires a comprehensive review, as there are some very poor services in some areas of Renfrewshire which require root and branch re-examination to bring the standards up to the expectation of the public.

“There is an attitude of complacency that the system is now working well, which it is not.”

Changes made to the service saw residents issued with a new green bin for plastics, cans and glass, meaning the blue bin is reserved for paper, card and cardboard.

As a result, grey general waste bins are now collected once every three weeks, instead of what was previously once a fortnight.

The blue and green bins are collected once every four weeks and the brown bin every two weeks.

Elected members have been inundated with complaints of missed uplifts since the change and Councillor Doig said the local authority should be past the bedding in period.

He said at the meeting: “If you bring in anything new it does take a few months to settle down but this was brought in during December of last year.”

Councillor McEwan, the environment convener, did not hide from the challenges the service has faced but defended the work council officers are doing.

She said: “Since the waste changes were put in place at the end of November, there have been positive signs of community engagement across Renfrewshire. Let’s not forget that.

“There’s a process of continued improvement to ensure effective service and customer satisfaction. There’s absolutely no attitude of complacency.

“The service absolutely recognises there have been issues with missed bins, particularly with the assisted service category.”

She put forward an amendment, which states: “Council notes that the performance of the waste collection service is regularly reported to council and refers to the report presented to and agreed at the Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board on August 28, 2019.

“This report confirmed that issues with bin collection in specific areas remain a focus for waste officers, and work continues to resolve particular issues.

“Council also notes that any councillor who has ongoing issues with any particular service area can raise this with waste managers to discuss potential solutions.”

However, 22 councillors voted for Councillor Doig’s motion, while 19 voted for Councillor McEwan’s amendment, meaning a review should be carried out.

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