South Ayrshire recycling collections will be put on hold during this week’s strike action, but household waste will be picked up.
Trades unions Unite, Unison and GMB are currently considering a five per cent offer from Cosla, but say the strikes are still set to go ahead from Wednesday.
Alison Maclean, Unite industrial officer, said: “It has taken COSLA over five months to make an offer which we can take to our members for consideration.While the five per cent offer is an improvement it is important to emphasise that it comes at a time when broader inflation has now hit a 40-year high at 12.3 per cent.
“Unite’s local government committee will urgently consider this latest offer. At this juncture the strikes for next week continue as planned.”
The household waste recycling centre at Heathfield will remain open, but the centres in Troon, Maybole and Girvan will close.
Waste collection services in South Ayrshire will be affected by industrial action by Unite and GMB workers from Wednesday, August 24, up to Thursday September 1. South Ayrshire Council said that the five recycling bins would not be collected. These are:
- paper/card/cardboard (grey bin)
- plastics/metals/cartons (blue bin)
- glass (purple lidded bin)
- garden waste (brown bin)
- Food waste (silver caddy)
Special uplifts are also suspended over this period.
A council spokesperson said: “We will concentrate on collecting general waste (green bins/ green lidded bins). If you have a scheduled green bin / green lidded bin collection from Wednesday August 24 until Thursday September 1, please present your bin for collection as normal. Please leave it out until it is collected.
“From September 1, please put your bins out as normal. Our Household Waste Recycling Centres in Troon, Maybole and Girvan will not be open during the industrial action.
“The HWRC at Heathfield, Ayr, is owned and operated by Barr Environmental Ltd, and it will be open from 7am, an hour earlier than normal for the duration of the strike action. You can take your household waste there, but you will still need to book a time slot.”
"If you are a commercial waste customer, we will empty your waste as quickly as we can. We apologise to residents and our commercial customers for any inconvenience caused by this industrial action.”
The action is set to be replicated by GMB workers between August 26 and 29 and between September 7 and September 10.
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