A Fife councillor has challenged the local authority to find some way of stopping green dustbins spilling their contents on windy days.
Conservative councillor Dave Dempsey, who represents Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay and Aberdour, said the council was well aware of the issue, having raised it back in 2013 and 2014, and believes the time has come for some action.
“Because the green bins are often filled to the brim with very lightweight plastic, they’re easily blown over on windy days,” he explained.
“The plastic inside is loose – we’re asked not to bag it up – so it blows everywhere.
“The council service has told us that they’re looking into alternative schedules.
“We understand that the council can’t afford extra trucks or crews. However, there’s no point one part of the council tending flower beds and picking up litter if another is working a scheme that deposits bin loads of rubbish round the streets whenever the wind blows.
“Whether it’s more regular uplifts, weights in the bins, catches for the lids or bin liners, this needs fixed and fixed soon.”
Mr Dempsey added that it was a particular problem in Dalgety Bay, where lots of relatively modern houses with open plan gardens mean there aren’t the nooks and crannies to hide bins away from the wind.
“The instruction to have the bin out from before dawn until late evening means that many have to be out in the street the night before,” he continued.
“Residents describe being woken at 6am by cans rattling up the street and of spending ages tidying up just for the bins to blow over again.
“This doesn’t have to be a high cost Fife-wide solution. Not everywhere’s affected.
“The council could and should trial a solution in one of the problem areas. Now.”
Fife’s green bins, which are used to recycle plastic and cans and are therefore much lighter than waste in the blue landfill bins, are normally collected once every four weeks, although Fife Council is currently trialling alternative schedules in a bid to improve recycling rates.
One of the trials in Markinch and Coaltown of Balgonie has had the green bins emptied every three weeks, while the trial in Thornton and Stenton sees green bins emptied fortnightly.
In response to Mr Dempsey’s concerns, service manager Martin Kingham said the council gives advice to members of the public online at www.fifedirect.org.uk, adding that efforts are being made to address the problem.
“When high winds are expected we change our collection routine to focus our resources on emptying green bins as soon as we can,” he noted.
“We also alert our street cleaning teams to the locations green bins are being presented, so that they can redirect resources to deal with any litter arising from toppled bins.”