Monday December 22nd 2025
Waste bins
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Catherine Hunter
Concerns that some Glasgow properties won’t have their bins emptied for more than 40 days this Christmas have been raised by a leading trade union.
GMB cleansing convenor Chris Mitchell says that the 2025 festive waste strategy means that front and back door properties in the city won’t have their bins collected for 42 days.
He has also highlighted that the staff from the city council’s deep clean teams, which operate throughout Glasgow to help maintain pavements, pathways and roads, will be redeployed over Christmas and New Year to help with waste uplifts.
Glasgow City Council has stressed that these households will have any excess waste lifted on the next collection day. But the GMB still has some concerns.
Chris said: “The deep clean staff will be put on allocated duties for six to eight weeks to help the bin men and women.
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“We have to concentrate on the tenemental properties but you have the back and front door homes as well.
“They are going to miss their collection and are not going to see an uplift for 42 days because of the festive waste strategy.
“Not everyone who stays in one of these properties has a car so they can’t go back and forth to the tip.
“We are meant to be promoting climate change and cycle lanes but it doesn’t matter as much at Christmas – shove as much rubbish into your car and take as many trips to the dump as you want.
“It is a bizarre situation we are in. Deep clean teams have been told to help out with refuse collection from Monday, December 15 until Tuesday, January 20.
“It is the same every year. We have Christmas every year so we need to finally get this right.”
Glasgow City Council says it introduced a new approach to bin collections last Christmas and New Year to lead to a far more efficient festive-season waste service.
The new approach focused on minimising the impact of festive holidays on residents living in flats where most of the city’s waste is generated.
Retaining collections, apart from during the four public holidays, will now be repeated and properties due to receive a bin uplift on December 25 or 26 or January 1 or 2 will have their bin collected on the next scheduled date.
Councillor Laura Doherty, City Convener for Neighbourhood Services and Assets, said: “Christmas and New Year is a very challenging time for our waste management team. The four days of public holidays means an estimated 250,000 bins go uncollected. Winter weather can also disrupt collections and households normally produce extra waste as part of the seasonal festivities.
“Residents sent us a clear message that the previous plan for waste services over the festive period wasn’t working as it should have done. We took that feedback on board and changes were brought in for last Christmas, which made a positive difference.
“The focus of shared bin areas for flatted properties meant the overall service returned to normal earlier than before, fewer staff and vehicles were needed and more people were content with how the service operated.
“We will stick with this approach again this year but I know residents who will miss collections due to the public holidays may be concerned how they will manage over Christmas and New Year.
“To help minimise these concerns, I urge residents to use their recycling options as much as possible as this will ease pressure on your general waste bin, use our household waste centres if you can and be assured we will lift extra waste at the next scheduled collection day for that type of waste.”
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