A UNION that represents binmen has hit out at a “shameful” pile of rubbish stacked outside a city supermarket. 

Alarming footage shows a mountain of empty bottles, cardboard boxes and black binbags piled at a Morrisons recycling point in Crossmyloof.

While the GMB believes the heap to be around 10ft high, Glasgow City Council insists that it has been routinely attended to by cleansing staff twice already this week. 

The local authority said that the build-up of waste is due to the workforce’s high absence rates – caused by the Omicron outbreak, general illness and annual leave. 

READ MORE: Binmen in Glasgow 'struggling to provide service' during Omicron outbreak

A spokesperson said yesterday: “This is a public recycling point that takes a range of recyclable material – mixed glass, paper, food and drink cans, plastic bottles, cardboard and textiles.

“It is scheduled to be serviced twice a week and was cleared on Monday and also today this week as planned.

“The large build-up of waste shown in the video must be viewed in the context of the absence rate currently affecting the cleansing service and the impact of the festive season. At the moment we are experiencing high levels of absence due to general illness, Covid cases and annual leave.

“We are also catching up on the workload missed during the recent public holidays and householders are also disposing of large amounts of additional waste following the Christmas holiday, which takes extra time to process.”

The GMB argues that the scenes are only one example of the city’s cleansing crisis. GMB Scotland organiser Sean Baillie said: “It’s a new year, but staff are facing the same old problems.

“The scene at Crossmyloof is another shameful example of Glasgow’s waste crisis, and a searing reminder that just weeks after COP, Glasgow is a million miles away from being the clean, green city its political leadership claims it wants to be.

“But with another real-terms funding cut facing Scottish local government it means the situation facing key services and the communities who depend on them is only going to further deteriorate – alarm bells should be ringing in the City Chambers.

“What’s not in doubt is that Scotland’s biggest city, ravaged by a decade of cuts, needs massive investment to confront its many challenges and to ensure the staff who deliver the services on which we all depend on are valued properly for the work they do.”

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Earlier this week, we told how absences were causing disruption to collections across the city with council bosses admitting there is currently a delay to the service.

Cleansing chiefs hope to have services reinstated to a normal routine in the coming days.

The council spokesperson added: “As a result there are currently delays to collections in places, but we are making headway and the schedule will return to normal in the days ahead.

“If householders wish to dispose of excess waste in the meantime and have access to a vehicle, we ask that they take their waste to one of our waste centres, which are open as normal.

“Disposing of general waste at a recycling point is not appropriate at any time.”

The Glasgow Times approached Morrisons for 
comment.