Glasgow cleansing team should clean Glasgow Green after big events, says union

It comes after thousands of people flocked to Glasgow Green last weekend for TRNSMT with more than 150,000 folk believed to have attended the park over the three days.

Earlier this week concerns were raised by the GMB and festival goers about the lack of bins provided on site resulting in attendees dumping their rubbish on the ground and the park being closed to the public until the end of this week.

DF Concerts, who organised TRNSMT, are responsible for the tidy up alone and confirmed that most of the litter left on the Green was tidied up by a private company by 10am on Monday morning.

But the GMB says its workers would have organised recycling and rubbish facilities more efficiently and that their overnight staff did a “fantastic job” cleaning up areas around Glasgow Green including Saltmarket and the city centre, which was not the responsibility of the private contractor

GMB convenor Chris Mitchell said: “We had an events team a number of years ago and I definitely believe it should be brought back. I think it was a mistake getting rid of it in the first place. The individuals on the team had years of experience and had done this type of work all their days.

“Glasgow Green is run by the parks department and any work should be kept in house and be done by Glasgow City Council workers rather than awarded to a private contractor.

“If it was, I think the park would have been cleaned far quicker. It would have been reopened to the public much faster and I do believe that there would have been a better allocation of bins on site.

“I can’t understand why it was organised that way as it is a city council park. Our men could have been given overtime.”

Mr Mitchell went on to thank those workers who did help tidy up extra rubbish in and around the city centre and Saltmarket, disposed of over the three days.

He added: “The night shift workers were out cleaning up the city centre and the outskirts of Glasgow Green Saltmarket after the festival. They did that job in one night and I want to thank the night time workers at Polmadie and the Anderson depot who did a fantastic job.”

A council source has agreed with the GMB’s feelings on the matter and that their staff should clean up public parks.

They said: “DF Concerts are great for Glasgow but the GMB is right to point this out.

“In future years we should be encouraging DF Concerts to give serious consideration to working with cleansing at future events. We need to look after everyone – particularly local residents.”

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “The cleansing operation for TRNSMT is not outsourced as the event is not a public service.

“It is wrong and misleading to suggest otherwise. The promoters hire the park for their private event and privately arrange their own cleansing contractor for the clear-up after the event.”

DF Concerts has been asked for comment.