Wednesday July 15th 2026
Council chamber
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Catherine Hunter
Glasgow’s GMB convenor is urging members of the public to stop blaming him and his members for the introduction of bin hubs across the city.
Chris Mitchell says some people are taking to social media to complain about the hubs introduced by Glasgow City Council designed to mitigate safety issues faced by collection crews.
Chris says he understands why residents might feel frustrated at the loss of parking spaces but the hubs were designed to help dispose of waste in areas that are difficult to access.
He explained: “There have been a few issues with people over different parts of the city annoyed that the bin hubs are in certain places and certain areas.
“I do get their frustration and I do get why they are challenging the council because they have lost a lot of parking spaces.
“A lot of people seem to blame myself, my branch and my union for causing this so I am going to try and educate individuals to a certain extent.
“The decision to introduce bin hubs was made a number of years ago because spiral stair cases were an issue for refuse collection because right across Europe nobody else participates in refuse collection like we do in Glasgow.
“Members were hurting themselves as a result, broken ankles, broken legs and other problems – the list goes on and on.”
The introduction of bin hubs is part of a wider effort to modernise waste collection and address longstanding issues like missed collections, rodent issues, crew safety and backcourt access.
Each manual handling activity carries risk including the pull distance for bins, repetitively pulling full bins, pulling bins up and down stairs, crossing uneven or poor surfaces with bins and poor lighting.
The bin hub option significantly reduces these risks and also reduces the number of repetitions required to empty the same volume of waste.
Chris added: “I have an obligation to look after my members. There was a pilot scheme put in place two years ago to see where the bin hubs would benefit.
“I agree with some members of the public that bin hubs should not be the answer to absolutely everything – but you need to realise it wasn’t the GMB, the GMB has an obligation to look after its members.
“The council decided to roll out bin hubs across Glasgow; it was not the GMB.
“I will support community groups who come to me with concerns about the bin hubs and look to see if it is suitable but the individuals who are making unnecessary comments on Facebook and social media need to get their facts right before they sprout nonsense.”
Glasgow City Council says every street in Glasgow with flats will be assessed for suitability for a bin hub.
A spokesman said: “On-street bin hubs were piloted successfully in areas across Glasgow and provided a more efficient service that is safer for staff while supporting improved options for recycling.
“The roll-out of the bin-hub approach has been undertaken in the south west of the city and plans are being developed for the rest of the city.
“Every street with flatted properties will be individually assessed for its suitability to use bin-hubs and we know bin-hubs will not be viable at every location.
“However as part of the effort to improve Glasgow’s record on recycling, every property will have access to the new recycling system that extends the range of materials that can be recycled while also ensuring that food waste recycling is available.
“We will be engaging with all communities where bin-hubs are being considered and further details will be made available to those communities as the roll-out of the new recycling service continues.”
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