West Fife bins to be collected at night
Ally McRoberts • Published 20 Jan 2012 08:47
8 Comments
BINS are to be collected from West Fife homes up to 9pm in a bid to save £800,000 a year.
Fife Council are set to approve the change today (Thursday) which will see rubbish collections extended into the evenings.
Currently, most kerbside collections are between 7.30am and 3.30pm, Monday to Friday, but this will change to a two-shift system in the summer.
Bins will still be collected on weekdays but could be picked up any time between 6am and 9pm.
Dr Bob McLellan, head of transportation and environmental services, said the council had "large sums of money" tied up in a fleet of collection vehicles that was "under-utilised".
He said, "In simple terms, it was considered that the vehicles could be worked twice as hard to provide the same outcome as at present, thereby reducing the household collection fleet by 50 per cent, with no change to the numbers of staff engaged on refuse collection work.
"This should result in a net saving in the order of £800,000."
The environment, enterprise and transportation committee is expected to approve the plan today.
When the council first announced plans for early morning and evening collections, there were some safety concerns about bin lorries rolling into housing estates on darker evenings where children could be outside playing.
However, a survey showed almost unanimous approval for the scheme.
Dr McLellan confirmed, "The People's Panel questionnaire posed the question as to whether the members of the panel would be happy to have household refuse collected in the evening.
"The result revealed that 90 per cent of those asked were happy for evening collections.
"This paved the way for discussions with the trade unions to establish an appropriate shift pattern."
A number of options have been looked at but a dayshift/backshift operation on weekdays only looks to be the preferred measure.
The council want to make the change in June or July of this year to make sure there's no "interference with the continuing roll-out of the four-bin collection system".
Trade unions will still have to agree to the change and Dr McLellan said negotiations could be completed by March.
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
-
scott1970
23 posts
Jan 20, 18:42
Report commentPOor fife council workers my heart goes out to you,I gather they won't be sleeping in lay byes at night.hope they have a light on there head.
Recommend?
Yes 5
No 19
-
logster
28 posts
Jan 21, 13:06
Report commentI agree if we can save money by altering shift patterns then so be it,however lets hope it won't backfire on us as with this administrations decision to reduce the opening hours of the recycling centres.This being the fly tipping that has seen a massive increase through out west Fife. Totally wrong decision by fife council, the rubbish on the wee country roads is beginning to gather every where you look,the irony is this same administration has decimated the number of council workers who used to keep on top of keeping our country side litter free.If you read this post have a good look the next time you drive through west Fife and see for yourself the rubbish on our verges and paths.
Recommend? Yes 21
No 0
-
jocknroll
84 posts
Jan 22, 19:50
Report commentI don't care when they do it as long as it's done on the same day they ask you to put the bin out. If they want us to put them out at 7am then fair enough but fulfil their side of the bargain by (a) emptying them in the first place* and (b) putting the bins back where they get them from instead of blocking driveways.
* It took a number of days recently to get my bin emptied. A phone call and an email (both through the correct channels) didn't resolve the problem, despite assurances. It was only when I "tweeted" the Council that the matter was dealt with.
Recommend? Yes 8
No 1
-
DBResident
27 posts
Jan 23, 18:57
Report commentDoes the saving mean they can bring back weekly collections - you know like they have in civilised places. Or is the intention to let us live with our trash for a month but then reward us by waking us up?
How about saving some money by getting rid of the top three tiers of management at the council and letting the owrkers get on with what they do without silly constant interference and new initiatives
Recommend? Yes 21
No 3
-
KirstieK
2 posts
Jan 25, 19:12
Report commentThis is all fine and well, but what about the binmen who still refuse to pick up bin bags beside the wheelie bins? I checked and they're legally supposed to, but every time I leave mine out they get left where I put them - as a result, I still have a backlog of binbags from Christmas, meaning that the minute my bin is emptied, I immediately fill it again with the ones left at the side!! Fife Council needs to get their backsides in gear and start making their bin men collect the bin bags if they insist on this stupid "once every two weeks" pick up - It's disgusting, having bins lying for two weeks! Surprised I don't have rats picking through the bags (or maybe I do. Lets hope one of them bites the lazy binmen.).
Recommend? Yes 6
No 11
-
victormeldrew83
1 post
Jan 30, 13:27
Report commentFor your information KirstieK, binmen are NOT required to lift bags left on the kerbside as it goes against health and safety regulations Fife Council has set out for binmen to follow. Why don't you try taking your bags to a recycling centre and stop being lazy yourself! Or maybe try not producing so much rubbish in the first place, we all have extra rubbish over Xmas but seriously, to still have some remaining at the end of January is ridiculous!! Binmen are not lazy, they work very hard and also have to take all the flak for rules laid down by management.
Also if this is your attitude, I am not surprised that the binmen are not lifting your extra rubbish, a please, thank you and a bit of civility goes a long way.....
Recommend? Yes 5
No 1
-
jocknroll
84 posts
Feb 4, 19:38
Report commentAnother thing...perhaps someone at the department responsible could explain why they seem to come at different times, and sometimes different days, every fortnight, when they're doing the same routes.
If they're on a fortnightly cycle of well-worn routes, why do they turn up at 8am one Friday and two weeks later turn up at 11am and two weeks turn up at a different time again. One week they turned up on a Saturday!
Recommend? Yes 0
No 0
-
bicyclebob
135 posts
Feb 14, 20:11
Report comment
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.
Dunfermline Press Poll
Were the Pars right to sack Jim McIntyre?
This Poll is now closed.
Yes (72.9%)
No (27.1%)
