East Dunbartonshire Council accused of failing elderly people over bin collections

Councillors in the Tory/LibDem administration flagged up on Facebook accounts yesterday (Wednesday) that garden waste green bin uplifts would be restarting on Monday, May 25.

But local resident Anne Anderson (78) who had contacted the Herald by phone earlier in the week about the issue said she had no internet access or social media, and that many people, particularly the elderly, were in the same boat.

She said: “I have a huge build-up of garden waste. What would have happened if I had missed the waste collectors? Would I have had to wait for another fortnight?”

Anne, from Milngavie, and three other residents in East Dunbartonshire, contacted the Milngavie & Bearsden Herald and sister paper, the Kirkintilloch Herald on Tuesday to ask if we knew when the green bins would be uplifted.

The garden waste service has not been in operation since lockdown, resulting in an eight-week build-up of waste and the added problem of a huge rise in the amount of fly-tipping in East Dunbartonshire.

One local resident wrote: “Dear MB Herald, Would it be possible for your paper to find out when the green bins are to be emptied? “No one seems to know and the council’s website is a nightmare to handle.

“If you could get an answer to this mystery it would be appreciated very much.”

The Herald got in touch with the council on Tuesday. But we still did not know of the date by the time the paper went to press at lunchtime on Wednesday.

However, a press release was sent out later with an embargo of midnight.

We later found out that several councillors had flagged up the May 25 date on their social media sites on Wednesday morning.

One Conservative councillor posted: “Green bins will start to be emptied from next week.”

Anne was furious. She said: “Because I don’t have social media, I and many other mainly older people who buy the paper every week are being excluded. It’s shocking that the council did not see fit to inform us through the Herald in time. There must be many other people who won’t know to put their bins out.”

Many older people who are isolating have been receiving the Herald by home delivery.

Ann Davie, Depute Chief Executive for Education, People and Business said it was the council’s understanding that it had released information to the Milngavie Herald in time for the printed edition.

She added: “We look at every communication channel available to us to ensure that our communities are aware of the service changes that we have had to make as a result of this Coivd-19 pandemic.

“We review the services we are able to deliver daily, with decisions based on available workforce, Covid-19 guidance and health and safety

considerations.

“Whilst our communications are predominantly digital in these challenging times, we have been providing regular updates to the local media and

responding to their enquiries. We have also been using our community networks and encouraging people to share updates with families and

neighbours who may not have internet access or social media, including the elderly and vulnerable.

“Our Customer Services team have also been operating throughout the pandemic and in addition to digital communications are able to respond to

phone calls. We would advise anyone with a Council enquiry and no online access to call Customer Services on 0300 123 4510.”