ALMOST £20,000 has been spent advertising North Ayrshire Council’s ‘Right Stuff Right Bin’ initiative – but controversy continues to surround the scheme with some residents suggesting not paying their council tax because they are so dissatisfied with the service.

The Herald reported recently that residents were up in arms after their blue bins were not emptied, despite their claims that they put the correct items inside. Now the Herald has learned that North Ayrshire Council has spent £19,833 advertising the scheme through broadcasts, social media, newspapers and other campaigns.

Councillor for Saltcoats and Stevenston, Jim Montgomerie, said: “I understand that the council have paid in the region of £20,000 in advertising to let all of the residents in North Ayrshire know this was happening. I have never seen any advertising. I can’t remember seeing anything come through my door. Looks and sounds like more stealth tactics by this ruling SNP controlled council.”

This week, more angry residents came forward arguing that their bins are still being left uncollected, despite their claims that they have followed the correct recycling procedures. There have also been claims that council employees have been rude. 

One resident from Burns Avenue in Saltcoats said he chased after the bin lorry when he saw that his blue recycling bin had not been collected. 
He said: “This whole policy is a shambles. Whoever thought this up needs a lobotomy. After chasing after one of their trucks the guys just jumped aboard and b******d off.

“How would the council like it if we just dumped uncollected bins in their HQ car park?”

Another Saltcoats resident complained: “Folk are getting fed up with this nonsense and will end up just black bagging everything and forget recycling altogether. The next thing will be people will start refusing to pay their council taxes.”

An occupant of Lawson Drive in Ardrossan added: “I agree entirely that we should all try hard to help with reducing the amount of rubbish we throw out and I’ve recycled for years but to be faced with your bin left uncollected simply because there might be one “offensive” item inside is just crazy.”

As part of the scheme, any bin found to contain the wrong types of materials is given a red tag indicating which items refuse collectors have determined are not recyclable. However, one Stevenston tax payer complains that the tags are left completely blank. 

The resident, who lives in the Ardeer area of the town, said: “After seeing the tag on my wheelie bin, without any boxes being ticked, I went through my bin and the only thing I found which may have been on the council’s black list of rubbish were two polystyrene pizza bases. This should not constitute my bin being left by the side of the road un-emptied.”

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire said: “Although we only launched the ‘Right Stuff Right Bin’ (RSRB) initiative last month, we have been carrying out a wide-spread promotional campaign on it since November last year. This was to ensure our residents had plenty of time to understand what goes in each of our bins ahead of the initiative coming into operation.

“Since November, we have incorporated the RSRB message onto all waste resources communications including our Christmas postcards which were issued to all North Ayrshire households.

“Our Waste Awareness Team has promoted the campaign at various community group talks and we have also utilised council vehicles, TV screens in council buildings, our website, social media, local radio and newspapers – including the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald.

“Using various methods of advertising over the past seven months has allowed us to consistently spread the message, whereas a single leaflet drop would only have allowed us to get the message out on one single occasion. The cost of advertising the RSRB initiative is £19,833 – including the cost of advertising in our local newspapers.”

Councillor Jim Montgomerie added: “If bin men are tagging bins, they need to show evidence of what they are seeing. They should tick the box to explain what they have seen. What happens if the bin men have already emptied the bin and they see something, are they going to jump in the lorry and take it out and put it back in your bin and tag it?

“I see where the council’s coming from if the bin is full of alien material, but not if there are one or two items of the wrong stuff inside.

“You can look at it the other way – if this was not council policy then the council would have to employ more people to recycle at the depot so technically it is preventing more jobs.

“If the council keep on giving us more bins they are going to have to give us bigger gardens.”