AXING the council’s glass collection service will only cause more problems.
The elderly and disabled may not be able to access the proposed community glass banks, and others will just not bother. This will lead to increased waste on already overloaded bin wagons.
That’s the view of Andrew Thompson, Unison’s joint lead steward for Kirklees cleansing.
He said: “A lot of glass just won’t get recycled. The easiest option will be for the public to put glass straight into their dustbin. Some waste collection rounds are already struggling. The wagons are weighted for 10 tonnes, but some are taking 30 tonnes. This could lead to another five tonnes a day.”
Around 20 people work on the glass collection service, but no redundancies are planned. The saving of £468,000 by 2013/14 will come from reduced staff and vehicle costs.
A council spokesman said: “All existing council staff who have been working on the glass collection service will be moved on to other duties.
“However, in preparation for the possible withdrawal of the service, we have been filling any vacancies with temporary staff from agencies. The vehicles that are specifically designed for glass collection will be sold.”
