Border Telegraph | News | We're wheelie angry over rubbish service

Wednesday, 20th August, 2008

Published: Wednesday, 18th January, 2006 10:37

We're wheelie angry over rubbish service

By Border Telegraph Newsroom

BIN BOTHER in Galashiels has infuriated residents of High Tweed Mill.

Around 20 householders in the flats on the Peebles Road claim the new waste collection system has left their front garden a rat-infested mess.

And say the three wheelie bins supplied by the council are nothing like enough.

One elderly lady told the Border Telegraph: “I have been complaining since these new bins arrived yet nothing is being done. A few of the people who live here have seen rats running around. I have telephoned and written yet nothing has been done - – this has become a health hazard.

“I don’t want to get up every morning and see piles of bin bags lying in our front yard – it’s horrible.”

Every week the three 500-litre bins are filled before half the week has passed.

And all the excess bin bags are dumped in the garden beside the bins.

Discussions took place between the council and High Tweed Mill residents prior to the introduction of wheelie bins.

And waste bosses say they are happy to supply more bins if they are needed.

A spokeswoman for Scottish Borders Council said: “We will certainly look at the collection service around that area. If anyone has a problem with the service they should call our hotline.

“If the residents require further wheelie bins they will get them.”

Around 30 bags and other rubbish was left at the entrance to the flats throughout last week.

And was only cleared away on Friday afternoon by a squad of council workmen.

But one resident, who didn’t want to be named, claimed he regularly has to clean it up himself. He said: “When the bins are emptied I have to go down and throw all the bags they didn’t take into the bins. Every week it is like this.

“There’s always rubbish lying around. It used to be a nice place to live before they introduced these bins.”

The council’s wheelie bin hotline is 01835 825128.

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