RESIDENTS in the North East have blasted the new three-weekly bin collections after a new calendar suggested their green bins would actually go unemptied for four weeks.

Those living in the Robroyston area received new collection calendars from Glasgow City Council which revealed their next bin pick-up would be November 16 – four weeks after they were last emptied on October 19.

The council however say residents should continue to put their bins out as their cleansing teams will be working round the clock to ensure there is a collection that follows the old two-week schedule to begin with. 

Councillor Paul Carey, who lives in the area, has slammed the “ludicrous” situation and demanded the council take action.

READ MORE: Growing anger over bin collection changes in Glasgow

He said: “We are in the midst of a pandemic with a significant number of people staying at home, for work and health reasons, and the festive period is around the corner.

“Both are adding a significant volume of waste to normal households.

“This is madness. They are not listening to the people of Glasgow.”

It comes as the local authority has been warned a “crisis within a crisis” is looming as calls have been made to scrap plans for a three-weekly bin collection.

GMB Scotland, the trade union representing the city’s cleansing and refuse staff, has described the move as “not the time” and “not the place”.

The new refuse service is set to be rolled out next month in the North East – which will see general waste collected every three weeks and glass every eight weeks.

Only houses with a front and back door will be included. 

READ MORE: Glasgow voices fury over bin collection changes

In due course, the service changes will also be adopted in the South Side and West of Glasgow.

The moves have been put in place in a bid to drive recycling levels up in the city as official figures have revealed Glasgow trails its rivals across Scotland in how little it reuses.

GMB Glasgow cleansing convener Chris Mitchell said: “We need to make it clear, as a union and a workforce, there is no appetite for a three-weekly collection. We need investment in the service and we need it now.

“We think it’s shocking that there is a move to do this in the middle of a pandemic, we have carried out a survey of residents across the city and the results of that are absolutely clear, there is no appetite. No appetite among the workforce and no appetite among the communities we serve.”

The council said it agreed there was a “waste crisis” within the city due to the 320,000 tonnes of rubbish produced every year and just a quarter being recycled.

When quizzed by the Glasgow Times, GCC said it would offer a collection for those in the Robroyston area on November 2 prior to the three-week collections beginning.

A spokesman said: “The new arrangements for kerbside bin collections go live in North East Glasgow on November 2 and we are preparing for a transitional period while these arrangements bed in.

“Additional resources will be brought in to ensure the switch between the old and new collection schedules for general waste bins from homes with a front and back door go as smoothly as possible. The transitional arrangements will keep to the current schedule initially while the new calendar is implemented.”

He added: “Residents are asked to continue to follow the current schedule in the early part of November and check the revised calendar that’s been sent to them for their first three-weekly collection of general waste.

“Blue and brown bin collections continue to run on a two-weekly cycle but residents are again advised to check their calendar for details of when bins will be collected.

“The changes are intended to encourage residents to make more use of their recycling bins, which are currently underused.”