Fife Council has been accused of trash talk after claiming that people in Markinch are dumping waste outside a local school.
Bags have been spotted overflowing from industrial bins at Markinch primary school, with the local authority saying that residents are using the school’s bin collection service for themselves.
However, a local councillor says the council is talking rubbish and it is the school that is to blame for the mess, with the offending bin bags clearly marked with Fife Council logos.
Angered that residents have been blamed for the situation, Councillor John Beare, who lives in the town, said the authority needed to clean up its act.
He told The Courier: “I’m very surprised that residents have been blamed for leaving bags beside the waste containers, when they are clearly identifiable as being Fife Council bags.
“If members of the public are not allowed to leave bags beside the waste containers, I have to assume that the council are not allowed to do so either.
“I expect that the service which provides the bins will be discussing with their client the provision of an adequate supply of bins, so bags don’t have to be left outwith the containers.”
The Courier was originally contacted by one resident concerned by the stockpile of rubbish overflowing from industrial bins outside the school.
The school’s landfill bins are emptied every Monday with paper bins being attended to twice a week.
Markinch is currently part of a new trial waste collection system operated by Fife Council for local households.
Landfill waste, which is most typically be placed in bin bags, is currently collected every three weeks, instead of fortnightly as is done elsewhere in the region.
However, photographs seen by The Courier clearly show council markings on some bin bags heaped outside of the school, suggesting it is local authority staff, not residents, who are responsible for the pile of waste.
Insisting residents are to blame, Katherine Easson, Markinch primary school head teacher, said: “Due to lack of space in the school grounds, our bins are in the public car park next to the school.
“Despite the bins being locked, members of the public are putting their waste in these bins. This is resulting in the bins overflowing.
“We ask that people not use our school bins and instead take their landfill rubbish to their nearest recycling centre.”