Dundee City Council Bin Collection and Recycling Over the Festive Period

 Household bin and trade waste collections from Monday 19th to Saturday 24th December 2016, Monday 26th to Saturday 31st December 2016 and Monday 2nd to Saturday 7th January 2017 will be carried out as normal.

All domestic recycling collections during the festive period will be carried out as scheduled. Please consult your collection calendar.

The Household Waste Recycling Centres at Riverside and Baldovie will be closed on Sunday 25th & Monday 26th December 2016 and Sunday 1st & Monday 2nd January 2017.  The centres will be open 9am - 4.15pm on all other days.

There will be no special collection / bulky uplift service from 23rd December 2016 until 4th January 2017.

If you have an item that could be re-used by someone else, please call The Community Re-Use Hub on 07565 811823.

Sort Out Concerns About New Recycling Services at 5 Drop-Ins 16-20 March 2015

A significant number of constituents have been contacting me over the last few weeks about the introduction of the new recycling services in The Ferry.

Whether your new bins have arrived or not, whether you want them or not, whether alternative communal bins are right for your close or group of properties or block of flats, whatever your query or concern:

There are five opportunities to meet members of the Environment Department this week in Broughty Ferry Library as follows:

Monday 16th March 10am - 12pm
Monday 16th March 5pm - 7pm
Wednesday 18th March 12pm - 2pm
Friday 20th March 10am - 12pm
Friday 20th March 5pm - 7pm
all at Broughty Ferry Library Queen Street,
Broughty Ferry Dundee DD5 2HN

Of course, if you or your neighbours have remaining issues that can't be resolved directly with the Environment Department, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Five Drop-In Roadshows to Sort Out Broughty Bin Queries in Week Beginning Monday 16 March 2015

Over half of the homes in Broughty Ferry will be shifted over to a new pattern of recycling and waste collections before the end of the month. Each household in the first phase of the new scheme should have already received an introductory letter about the changes and how it might affect them. 

This will involve new collections of household food waste in sealed containers and a change to additional bin collections and recycling containers. For those households that can't accommodate the new 'bins' there will be an offer of shared communal euro-bins and improved local recycling centres.

Roughly speaking it is the Eastern half of The Ferry which is in phase one. Click on this link to see map showing which parts of Broughty Ferry will start their new recycling services later this month.

If you or your neighbours have further concerns and queries, you can take advantage of the five drop-in sessions in week beginning 16 March that have been arranged at Broughty Ferry Library:

• Monday 16th March 10am - 12pm
• Monday 16th March 5pm - 7pm 
• Wednesday 18th March 12pm - 2pm 
• Friday 20th March 10am - 12pm
• Friday 20th March 5pm - 7pm 

all at Broughty Ferry Library Queen Street, Broughty Ferry Dundee DD5 2HN

Of course, if you or your neighbours have remaining issues that can't be resolved directly with the Environment Department, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Changes to Domestic Waste Collections - One Size Fits All Will Not Work in Broughty Ferry

At the Environment Committee on Monday night the Committee agreed, after a vote, to go ahead with a scheme to enhance recycling of domestic waste. While my Labour colleagues and I support the need to dramatically improve the proportion of recycling, we thought there was a crucial step that had been missed out. We believe that a consultation with the public, which the Council had agreed to undertake over a year ago, should have happened first. Using their majority, SNP Councillors voted through their scheme.

In the discussion at the Council and at a prior briefing for Councillors we did impress on the Director of Environment, Ken Laing and the Convener of Environment, Craig Melville (SNP) the importance of recognising that a 'one size fits all' approach will not work. While many homes in Broughty Ferry can cope with multiple bins into which to separate their rubbish, this is not realistic for folk who live in properties with limited or no off street storage space. This is clear in the picture I took last week in Abercromby Street where there are only general waste bins supplied in the bin stores for the blocks of low rise walk up flats.

The Director and Convener agreed that they would need to engage with the public and they would introduce a variety of measures according to household and neighbourhood circumstances. If they don't commit to consultation with residents now, I think there will be many folk who will be more than disappointed when the weekly general (grey bin) waste collection becomes fortnightly. 

I encourage all community groups in The Ferry to contact the Environment Department to ask for a meeting about how recycling can be improved in their streets before the weekly general waste collections are phased out.

Unpopular Recycling Decision to be Reversed

On Monday night the Council will be asked to reverse an unpopular and impractical decision. In February the SNP administration reorganised the three major recycling centres at Riverside, Marchbanks and Baldovie as part of their budget cuts. Marchbanks was closed completely and garden waste was only to be accepted at the Riverside recycling depot and certain items of general waste were only to be accepted at Baldovie. This meant that many householders found they had a much longer drive to a recycling depot; for example, in the Ferry this meant a cross city drive to Riverside Drive if dumping garden waste. Worse still was the prospect of having very lengthy round trips to deposit say garden waste at Riverside and then certain items of general waste at Badovie. For householders this was an expensive and inconvenient decision and to be construed as "green", as the Council claimed, stretched credibility with the public. 

I shall be pleased to support the proposed change of heart on Monday night as far as it goes; reversing the limitations on Riverside and Baldovie. I know many constituents in The Ferry will be relieved they can revert to depositing all their recycling, including garden waste, at Baldovie.