'Put your bins out': Highland Council issues advice amid uncertainty over strikes
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Highland Council has issued an update to household waste and business customers amid the impending strike action that could see bins not emptied, streets not cleaned and recycling centres closed.
The council’s advice states that both households and businesses should still put their bins out by 7am because the uncertainty around the strike means that some staff will still be at work on collection days.
As part of a national action being carried out at local authorities across Scotland the GMB and Unite members have decided to walk out over pay after a three per cent offer was rejected and five per cent increase arrived too late for a decision.
Strike dates
The strikes will be from:
Wednesday, August 24 to Thursday, September 1
Wednesday, September 7 to Saturday, September 10
What now?
The council said: "The uncertainty around staff availability means that we cannot say on any given day which bins will or will not be emptied.
"For this reason, our advice to residents and to our business waste customers is to put your bin out by 7am on your normal collection day but take it back in if it is not emptied by the end of the day.
"If your bin has not been emptied, do not put it out again until your next scheduled collection day as we will not have the resource to catch up in between."
What services will be affected?
The council said “while the full impact of this is unknown” it is “likely” that at least 10 services will be affected on strike days.
They include:
- Refuse (green bins) collection services (both household and business)
- Recycling (blue bins) collection services (both household and business)
- Food waste collections (Inverness only)
- Garden waste collections
- Household Waste Recycling Centres
- Bulky Waste Collections
- Waste Transfer Stations
- Street Cleansing including litter bins
- Fly tipping collections
- Bin deliveries
