Piles of rubbish compared to Third World countries

THE CHANGE to a fortnightly refuse collection service by Highland Council is being blamed for rubbish piling up and creating an eyesore and smell in local villages and towns.

Carrbridge has been one of the worst affected places with hoards of black bin liners – many of them ripped and spilling their contents – being dumped at the village’s recycling point.

Street bins in the village also have litter spilling out of them, and the same has been said in Laggan where the village’s recycling point near the scenic picnic area has become a dumping ground, according to locals.

Mr Scott Bruce, chairman of Carrbridge Community Council, said: "We have raised this problem several times with Highland Council over recent weeks but the problem seems to be getting worse.

"It is disgraceful in an area relying on tourism with strong environmental credentials to have our visitors confronted with this sight and indeed the smell of decomposing refuse in the village car park.

"If this is the result of the new changes giving us less frequent rubbish collection then the policy needs to be rethought."

One Carrbridge resident, who did not want to be named, said: "You wouldn’t believe the amount of rubbish which has built up over the past week or so.

"The car park bins usually get pretty full during the summer holidays but this is ridiculous. It’s an absolute eyesore – real Third World stuff.

"There’s obviously rubbish left by passing tourists and caravan and camper visitors stopping off in the car park overnight. "But the bigger concern is whether the problem has been compounded by the council’s new two week bin emptying schedule.

"There were a number of black rubbish bags which seems to suggest that local residents are dumping rubbish once their bins are full."

Lindsay Maclean, (29), of Gergask Avenue in Laggan, who has four daughters Katie (3), Zoe (12), Kirsty (8) and Lucy (4) claimed that some hazardous chemicals had even been dumped at the village’s recycling point.

In addition, she said that tins of paint had also been left near the picnic spot popular with families.

She said: "The bottles of chemicals had orange warning signs on them and they were left there for a while. The bins do not seem to be getting emptied for whatever reason.

"Most of the bins in the village are overflowing. The village is busier at this time of year with visitors and people dropping off their litter.

"Now that the rubbish collection is every other week, it seems to have become a real problem."

Highland Council introduced alternate weekly collections for rubbish and recycling – although not for glass and Tetra Packs – at the start of July.

There was support for the new service on the Strathy’s Facebook page but even those backing the new arrangements said it was not without its problems.

Aviemore resident Flora Somerville said the big problem seemed to be with holiday lets.

She said: "Visitors arrive for a week only to find bins full of previous occupant rubbish.

"Holiday visitors don’t want to take rubbish to local tip and they don’t expect to find their bin full of smelly disposable nappies and other debris when they arrive.

"My friends are involved with holiday lets and are getting complaints from visitors."

There is also still some confusion over when brown garden waste bins, blue recycling bins and black rubbish bins should be going out, although calendars were made available by Highland Council for collection dates.

Another Facebook follower Iona Malcolm said: "I’m delighted with the new service. It saves loads of trips to the depot every weekend but it would be great if they would take glass too."

Cairngorms National park Authority Senior Visitor Services Officer, Pete Crane said they worked in partnership with Keep Scotland Beautiful and local communities to tidy up the area.

Highland Council recently claimed last week that the introduction of the new refuse and recycling collection service to Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey had run very smoothly.

On the latest dumping in Carrbridge, a Highland Council spokesperson said: "This is blatant fly-tipping which our local waste management team is aware of and are trying to identify the persons responsible."

They are urging members of the public who witness fly-tipping to contact the Dumb Dumpers Stop Line on 0845 2 30 40 90.

The new fortnightly recycling collection is for paper, cardboard, food tins, drink cans and plastic bottles.

Councillor John Laing, chairman of the TEC services committee, said: "The alternate weekly refuse and recycling collections are an important part of the council’s effort to meet the Scottish Government’s long term targets to recycle 70% of all waste by 2025 – we are presently recycling about 35%.

"The majority of Scotland’s local authorities now operate an alternative weekly collection service."

• Are you having problems coping with your rubbish following the changes or do you think the switch was long overdue? Have your say at www.strathspey-herald.co.uk.

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