Fintry resident left appalled by council’s slow reaction to uncollected bins

Bins in Fintry were left overflowing for five days and led to rubbish lying all over the street – despite council officers promising to have them emptied.

Finlaggan Place had bags of waste lying around the pavements earlier this week, after council refuse collectors failed to empty the bins on the right day.

It comes less than a week after the city council announced proposals starting next year to change bin collections from once every two weeks to once every three in the upcoming budget.

The receptacles were due to be collected on Thursday but it was not until the following Tuesday that the street was finally relieved of the masses of rubbish.

Simon Redmond, a resident of the street and treasurer of Fintry Community Council, claims the service from refuse collectors was “not good enough.”

Mr Redmond said: “Our bin collection was due to be picked up as normal on Thursday however the collection failed to materialise.

“I phoned the council and asked for an explanation but didn’t receive one and was told it would be collected by Friday.

“Five days later they still hadn’t been emptied and really it’s not good enough when rubbish is being blown all over the street and bin bags all wrapped at the side of the bins for birds and other animals as there is nowhere for anyone to put their waste.

“People had filled the bins thinking that they were going to be emptied and they weren’t, which meant folk had to start putting the bin bags on the ground next to the bins which then attracted animals.”

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The failed collection comes in the wake of the new council budget proposals which, as well as decreasing the amount of bin collections, would also include an increase on council tax of almost 5%.

There are fears, due to the reduced amount of rubbish pick-ups, large amounts of waste could end up piled on the street.

The planned changes, if approved, will be introduced during the 2020-21 financial year.

Mr Redmond said: “I’m quite annoyed and disgusted about the change to the bin service.

“I’m paying council tax and deserve better service. It’s not the first time bins have not been picked up on our street.

“It really is not good enough especially when they talk about raising the council tax 5% and also going to a three-week collection.

“Can you imagine the state of the streets and how overflowing the bins would be?

“How can they propose increases when can’t even pick up bins on the correct day?”

A Dundee City Council spokesperson said: “We have dealt directly with the resident on their bin collection.”