GLASWEGIANS are being asked to give their views on controversial proposed changes to bin collections.

The Glasgow Greens MSP Patrick Harvie wants to hear from residents in the North East of the city on the council’s plans to do away with back court food waste collection in the area from Monday.

The area covers a huge expanse of the North and East End of the city, with 2450 closes expected to lose their bins in favour of on-street bins.

Most closes in the area will keep their food bins as it is only those identified as problems areas which will be affected affected.

Patrick Harvie opposes the plans in their current form and has launched the survey to take the views of people who would be affected by the proposals.

He said: “The council is pushing ahead with these changes, which will remove food waste recycling bins from thousands of properties, without prior consultation, during a pandemic and having declared a climate emergency.

“They say it’s because people haven’t been using the bins correctly, but I’ve also heard from many people who feel the council hasn’t met its side of the bargain.

“Most people want to do the right thing, but they need the council to make it easy for them, for services to be reliable, and for residents to be helped when they don’t get things right.”

It follows changes trialled in other parts of the city.

We reported previously how food waste bins had been removed from flats across Drumchapel and Anniesland in August.

A council spokesman said: “Unfortunately, however, food waste bins in back courts are frequently spoiled with other kinds of waste and that stops any food waste that is collected from being recycled. Access to bin courts that puts staff at risk has proved to be an issue.

“Resolving issues with contaminated food bins also takes up significant time and resources and impacts upon the effectiveness of the wider cleansing service.

“Contamination of bins forces food waste to be processed as general waste, which places a far greater financial burden on the taxpayer than is necessary.

“By providing publicly-sited bins for addresses where there have been significant on-going problems, we are aiming to minimise the issue of contamination and ensure as much food waste can be reprocessed as possible.

“We are hopeful those residents who are committed to recycling continue to support the revised arrangements as they should have greater confidence their efforts will lead to their food waste being recycled.

“We are also hopeful that removing those bins leads to improvements in back court areas.”