An Anniesland councillor has raised concerns that new bins in her ward designed to help increase recycling are too awkward for residents to access. 

Drumchapel/Anniesland councillor Bailie Patricia Ferguson says that some of her constituents had problems accessing the new grey bins.

It comes as an update was presented to the operations and scrutiny committee about Glasgow City Council's plans to improve access to recycling for tenements and flats while working to address the waste issues in the back courts.

During the meeting Bailie Ferguson, said: “I am very interested in the recycling aspect of the paper. I am sure we all want to see Glasgow recycle more and better than we have been doing. 

“I am very conscious – with the roll out of the new grey bins that a number of my constituents within my ward have real issues in that they live in properties which are front door properties and are possibly up four or five steep steps to their front door.

“Others have no access to their back court or back garden except through their property so they have to store their bins at the front. 

“This is an area where there are a lot of elderly people. It has been quite worrying for a number of them to find out they are going to be getting another bin that they have to then deal with.

“We also have some properties that are not strictly tenemental properties and actually have access to bins but don’t have access to the full range of bins and would quite like them.

“It seems to me we need to be a little more able to adapt to the individual conditions or situation of particular areas as we roll out more and better recycling opportunities.”

A council officer confirmed that the local authority was going through a “significant change” in how it manages and recycles its waste.

He said: “The first initiative of that is we are talking about the twin stream services for kerbside properties.

“That has allowed us to introduce a new grey bin and increase the types of recycling we capture – paper, card, pots, trays etc – material that for a number of years Glasgow didn’t have the ability to capture or recycle.

“We are starting this journey and working with Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish Government to deliver on that. 

“I think some of the challenges for all local authorities in the past is one size doesn’t fit all and especially in Glasgow – one size doesn’t fit all for servicing. 

“We are aware some properties don’t fit the criteria, don’t have space for four or five bins and have access issues.

“In these areas the team will be looking at different ways of doing that – with bins on streets, different types of design. We want access for all so they can recycle. We will be looking at different ways of doing that.”