Calls to bring back bin timetable in Glasgow

Councillor Kerr recently discovered that the little calendar sent out to homes to tell people when their bins were due for collection was no longer available and that instead advice could be found online.

He believes that the elderly and other vulnerable members of the community, who do not have access to the internet will struggle however, and bin uplifts will be missed as a result.

Glasgow City Council has confirmed that the timetables stopped being distributed among residents a few years ago but hard copies were still available in libraries.

Councillor Thomas Kerr said: “The council had been distributing these calendars for years. My gran had relied on them and asked me if I could get her another one but when I spoke to the council about this I was advised that they had stopped making them because the timetable is online and people can just look it up on the council website.

“But not everyone has access to the internet. My gran has only just learned how to use Facebook and my Granda still has a flip phone.

“They are not internet savvy and they can’t just check online when their bins are to be collected but they religiously had this wee calendar on their fridge so they knew when their bins would be picked up.”

Councillor Kerr has vowed to do everything he can to bring back the timetable and has already written to officers regarding the issue.

He continued: “I am going to kick up a bit of a fuss in the council and say that they have to bring them back because I think it is really excluding people – particularly elderly residents right across the city.

“If people wanted a calendar they could apply for it. The council would not send them out to every single household. That’s what the policy has been for years and for some reason they have got rid of it completely.

“For the small amount of money it would cost to get these things printed, the benefits would be huge compared to the negatives.

“It would give elderly people some confidence when it comes to putting the bins out because there have been so many changes over the years with collections and waste would get picked up on time.

“It’s a small calendar that you put on your fridge then at the end of the year you can recycle it.”

In response a spokesman for the council said: “Bin calendars are now only available online in response to the widespread use of smartphones, tablets and lap-tops across the city.

“However, anyone without access to their own device can access computers and the on-line calendar free of charge at the city’s libraries.”