An additional bin collection has been organised for Cruden Bay this weekend due to missed pick-ups over the last two weeks.
Residents expecting rubbish to be collected on December 23 and January 3 were left frustrated when twice they were left with full bins.
While this is not the only place in Aberdeenshire where this took place, Cruden Bay resident Peter Taylor claims the missed collections were never communicated.
After calling waste management on Wednesday, Mr Taylor was told according to their systems, the collections had gone ahead.
‘Ridiculous’ that council did not provide updates
The 64-year-old said he made sure to check the information before Christmas.
He said: “It said that collection was going to be done as normal but it wasn’t and everyone put their bins out and took them back in.
“On Tuesday, January 3, it was a no show and again people put the bins back in again.
“So now I’m certainly in the position where I’ve got a full blue bin, a full orange bin and a full food waste bin so now I’m putting everything into my general waste bin which will be full by Thursday.”
He said he had regularly checked the council’s website and MyAberdeenshire App over the last few weeks but could not see any updates.
“It just seemed ridiculous that Aberdeenshire Council couldn’t put something on their app to say what the issue was,” Mr Taylor added.
“All you want is factual information. I’ve got no issue missing my bins because if they usually miss them it’s for a good reason. As long as someone updates me online to say this is what you need to do next.
“Then you know what you’re doing and everybody is happy as it were.”
‘Big lessons learned’ for Aberdeenshire Council
Cruden Bay is part of a pilot scheme for a three-weekly collection service with a different type of bin each week.
But local councillor Stephen Smith said food waste should not be left for that length of time and has asked for an emergency waste collection to be scheduled.
He said: “I’m pleased that this is now happening on Saturday when all of the missed bins should be uplifted.
“There are some big lessons to be learned here for Aberdeenshire Council.
“Clearly, every worker deserves public holidays but if the council is scheduling waste collections on one of those days then it needs to ensure it has the staff available to do so.”
Additional collection added on Saturday
In response to the lack of updates on the missed collections, Aberdeenshire Council said updates were sent via MyAberdeenshire app and put out on the Recycling and Waste Facebook page.
However, on Facebook, it appears only Peterhead and Boddam were mentioned on December 27.
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman apologised and said: “Due to staff shortages, bin collections in Cruden Bay were missed and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.
“With the area being on the enhanced recycling system, we have arranged to put additional collections on for householders in Cruden Bay this Saturday, January 7.
“For this extra collection, the blue-lidded paper and card bin will be collected alongside the orange-lidded bin. We will also collect the food waste containers at the same time.
“We are also putting food waste containers into the nearby Ellon household recycling centre from Thursday, January 5, for any customers who would like to drop off their excess food waste at the recycling centre.
“The next scheduled collection of the black bins is on January 10 and will go ahead as planned.”
They asked that excess recycling is put in cardboard boxes and not plastic bags and asked residents to make sure the boxes did not become damp.
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