Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ballater residents’ pleas for return of bin lorry fall on deaf ears as service deemed a waste of money

Banchory Household Waste Recycling Centre, Banchory, where Deeside residents have had to go in the absence of the Ballater Saturday waste lorry.
Banchory Household Waste Recycling Centre, Banchory, where Deeside residents have had to go in the absence of the Ballater Saturday waste lorry.

Deeside residents’ pleas for the return of a rubbish collection service fell on deaf ears yesterday as councillors ruled it was not worth the annual £55,000 cost.

The Saturday lorry, which serves Ballater, Crathie, Braemar and the surrounding areas, had been operating for a number of years before it was suspended at the start of lockdown.

The service, based in Ballater, allowed residents to drop off larger items such as carpets and mattresses.

Since its suspension in March, people have been faced with 90-mile round trips to offload their bulky waste in Banchory. There have also been concerns that its absence would lead to a surge in fly-tipping.

After a petition was backed by more than 470 people, Aberdeenshire Council reintroduced the lorry for four weeks to allow residents to dispose of items accumulated over the months in lockdown.

During yesterday’s Marr area committee meeting, it emerged that it did not experience the sort of usage during that period that would justify its full-time return.

A report stated that only half of the available slots were used in the four-week period, with most of the waste being recyclable or garden waste, and that it was no longer a “sustainable” service.

Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Donside councillor Peter Argyle said he had environmental and financial concerns.

He said: “I think what’s more interesting is the sort of materials that have been brought for disposal.

“To be absolutely realistic and pragmatic, we come back to the problem with the mixed nature of the waste that goes into landfill and how that isn’t environmentally sustainable.

“Also, the annual cost of this service is significant and there are fundamental problems with maintaining it as a long-term service.

“Taking all of that into account, I do think the decision to suspend and to keep the service suspended is the appropriate one.”

Other council members agreed that the annual cost of £55,000 to run the lorry to Ballater is not viable for the number of people actually using it.

Some of the alternative options, which were discussed during the meeting, included the free-of-charge supply of more blue bins to households to encourage more recycling, as well as composting schemes for community gardens.

Aberdeenshire Council is expected to have further consultations before a final decision is made.