Glasgow cleansing staff strike begins today - this is how it will affect your bin collections

Union members in Glasgow City Council’s cleansing services department are holding industrial action in response to ongoing pay discussions with local authority body COSLA.

The strike action is being split into two parts, with the first beginning today (Wednesday).

This will last until Thursday, September 1, with the second set of strikes being held between Wednesday, September 7, and Saturday, September 10.

Glasgow council has warned that household bin collections and street cleansing services are ‘likely to experience widespread disruption’ at these times.

What should I do with my bins?

People who are due to have their household bins collected from outside their home during these dates have been asked not to present their bins during this time.

Instead, the bins will be emptied on the next scheduled date.

The council has also warned that communal bin collections will also be affected.

There could also be a delay with services returning to normal following the strikes, with the council warning that it could take weeks before collections are back to normal.

You can find your bin collection days on the Glasgow City Council website.

What about public bins?

Like during the strike action during the COP26 summit in Glasgow, when many public bins overflowed with rubbish due to not being emptied, Glasgow council expects that public bins will not be collected.

This could affect public bins and recycling points.

People are asked to take their rubbish home or try to find another means of disposing of their waste.

What should I do with my rubbish?

The Glasgow City Council website has the following advice: “Please try to minimise the amount of waste that you produce wherever possible, or compact it as much as you can.

“For example, non-recyclable plastic packaging can fill large amounts of space in your bin, but can be broken up with scissors. For recycling, please flatten and break-up boxes, but also rinse cans and plastic bottles, then crush before storing within your home wherever possible.

“If bins for general waste become full, please store your waste at home if you can. If you can't store your rubbish within your home, please double or triple bag this waste before placing it next to the general bins you use, either in a communal bin area or by your own home. Please avoid using recycling bins for general waste as this may lead to further delays in those bins being collected.”

You can find out more about how the strikes will impact Glasgow on the Glasgow City Council website.