The council has performed a U-turn on plans not to collect extra waste from people whose bins weren’t emptied during the Easter holidays.
The local authority sparked outrage with a last-minute call off of waste uplifts on Good Friday and Easter Monday.
And it warned locals affected that if their general bin was due to be emptied those days, the next time they put it out they couldn’t put out any extra bags.
However, a statement posted on the council website states: “If you were due to present your general non-recycling grey waste bin on Friday 7 or Monday, April 10, your next scheduled uplift will be Friday 21 or Monday, April 24.
“We will collect up to two additional side waste refuse sacks on these dates.”
With Monday, May 1 also being a bank holiday, anyone who would have their general waste collected that day should now put it out on Monday, May 15 – and again two extra bags can be put out.
Monday, May 8 is also a bank holiday this year due to the coronation, however bins will be emptied as normal.
Any red or blue bins which had been due to go out over the Easter weekend should be put out on May 5 or 8, while those due to be emptied on May 1 will now be emptied on May 29.
The statement added: “Large items of cardboard can be placed beside the blue-lidded bin on collection day.
“Excess cans, plastics and cartons can be placed in a refuse sack beside the red-lidded bin.”
“We understand that some households have been using their red or blue lidded bins to store their general non-recycling waste until the next scheduled uplift. Please ensure you remove this before your red or blue lidded bins are due to be emptied so that the recycling is able to be collected.”
Meanwhile, an emergency council meeting could be held to address why bin collections were cancelled and with such little notice.
Councillor Archie Dryburgh, leader of the Labour group, described the situation as a “complete failure” by the Tories, and claimed council leader Gail Macgregor tried to blame workers and trade unions for the mess.
However, Councillor Macgregor refused to respond to his comments, saying Labour were “misrepresenting the position”.
Mr Dryburgh said: “Everyone knew the Easter break was coming up and proper plans should have been put in place long before now to provide a service.
“Clearly there is unhappiness among staff and that hasn’t been helped by a clumsy comment by the leader of the council who has accused workers of being political because they didn’t work on their days off.”
The comment he is referring to is a tweet posted by Mrs Macgregor on the bins not being collected, where she wrote: “Deeply disappointing and not, I understand, replicated in other local authorities.
“I sincerely hope this is not politically motivated and a practical solution can be found.”
The Labour group will now seek support from other political groups to call for an emergency full council meeting “so elected members can get to the bottom of this debacle.”
