Glasgow flats and tenements to be prioritised in festive bin collections
The council says that's where most of the city's waste is generated.
Last updated 5th Dec 2024
Bin collections over the festive holidays will prioritise Glasgow’s tenements and flats, as the council aims to deal with waste build-up in back courts.
The new schedule means residents in homes with kerbside collections will miss a pick-up if it falls on one of the public holidays — Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and January 2.
Glasgow City Council has announced its plan to focus on minimising the impact on residents in flats — where most of the city’s waste is generated — as rubbish has built up in back courts and bin rooms in previous years.
Almost 68% of homes in Glasgow are flats while houses or bungalows make up just over 31% of the city’s housing stock.
All recycling bins for flats will be emptied in advance of Christmas Day to free up bin capacity for paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and tins or cans.
Staff will work on Boxing Day and January 2 to target domestic waste bins on the street, multi-storey flats and households with vulnerable people or that generate large amounts of medical waste.
Residents living in houses with a kerbside collection who were due to put out their bins on December 25 or 26 or January 1 or 2 won’t have their rubbish collected though.
They are being asked to present their bins on the next collection day for each bin. Leaflets are being delivered with the revised dates for affected collections.
A council spokesman said: “We know that stopping bin collection services over the Christmas and New Year period can cause a lot of disruption for affected residents, especially those living in flats and tenements.
“We are aiming to minimise the overall impact felt by the loss of service by this year by focusing additional effort on back courts and public sites, where excess waste can build-up quickly and cause environmental problems.”
They apologised for “any convenience this may cause” for residents with kerbside collections, but added they can be “assured any excess or build-up of waste will be removed on their next collection day”.
“We hope these residents will make full use of their recycling bins and compact their waste as far as possible to make the most of their available bin capacity,” the spokesman added.
The council said the ongoing roll-out of a new grey bin go recycling plastic and metal containers means homes in the north west and south of the city now have access to 1,200 litres of bin capacity.
Extra street cleansing resources are expected on Boxing Day in “high footfall areas” like the city centre and Byres Road.