Residents on a Dundee housing estate have told of their anger at the “disgusting mess” on their street, claiming that the bins have not been collected for two weeks.
The area around Hebrides Drive has had a system of Eurobins for years, meaning that residents use communal bins in the street that are collected regularly throughout the week.
During consultations over Dundee City Council’s new recycling scheme, the Mill O’Mains Tenants’ and Residents’ Association was said to have been assured that the system would remain the same.
However, this week residents were reportedly told that this wasn’t the case, and that they would need to wait five weeks for individual bins to arrive.
Jim Malone, a member of the Mill O’Mains Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, said: “At the time when I was chair of the association, we we engaged with the council’s environmental department over their new recycling scheme.
“We had them round at our meetings and we were told that we would keep the bins that we have, and that we’ve been using for decades.
“However, they now haven’t been emptied for two weeks and we’ve been told that the Eurobins will no longer be collected, and that we would be getting individual bins.
“We were not informed of this until now.
“There’s a disgusting mess on the street as the bins have overflowed, and residents don’t know what to do.
“One man has had to store his rubbish in his garden and then take it to the skip himself.
“The current situation is deplorable.”
The new refuse scheme has run into problems in other areas too, such as glass banks outside supermarkets, which are overflowing due to the volume of items being left by locals who now don’t have the option of throwing bottles and jars in their normal wheelie bins.
There were delays at Riverside recycling centre on Sunday due to changes in the way they remove full skips from the site — sparking lengthy queues.
North East councillor Brian Gordon said he had brought up the issue with council officials.
He explained: “I e-mailed senior council officials on Sunday and only got a response on Wednesday afternoon to say there there had been teething problems.
“I don’t think that’s satisfactory. They can’t change the system from one week to the next with no back-up.
“We all want the new scheme to work, but it has to be done properly and these bins need to be emptied.”
Kevin Cordell, Dundee City Council’s convener of neighbourhood services, said it would take time for people to get used to the changes.
He added: “Dialogue continues to be key for us. Once the rollout is complete that won’t be the end of the matter and we will continue to liaise with areas where tweaks may be required.
“I appreciated change can be unsettling but the bigger picture has to be kept in mind.”
