Introduction
Welcome to our newsletter for Argyll and Bute Commercial Waste customers.
We’ve put together information that we hope will help save you money and, by working in partnership with the council, help Argyll and Bute meet climate change targets and protect its services.
You can also find lots of useful information on our website, such as how to pay your bill, conditions of service, and Waste (Scotland) regulations.
Waste Audit... please check your invoice
We want to make sure that you’re getting the service you’ve signed up for, so we’re carrying out an audit.
Please check that the information on the invoice is correct – itemised bin size, type of waste and how often the bin is uplifted. If you don’t tell us about changes to your services straight away, we may not be able to back-date any refunds.
Email us if there are any questions or changes or fill in our online form.
We will also make spot-checks with customers to ensure your service matches the bins you are using.
It’s good to be green
If you don’t already have a blue recycle bin, we’d urge you to contact us about getting one.
We provide blue bins on long-term loan and you only pay for the service charge. This can work out at under £5 per uplift for a 240 litre blue bin. Our commercial waste team can guide you through this.
If we all recycle more, the less the council spends on sending waste to landfill. That leaves more for other services that matter to you. We appreciate all your efforts to date, and together we can do more for our environment and our future.
Beware of combustion
Please don't, under any circumstances, put potentially flammable items in your wheelie bins. They could go on fire in your bin, or in one of our bin lorries.
Batteries can be recycled safely at shops selling batteries or with a specialist company who collects batteries for onward recycling.
Marine flares - please contact your nearest marina who will be able to advise you on the correct disposal route.
Be a good neighbour
It’s important we look after our local communities, the people and the environment. We can all do our bit to make sure where we live is safe to move around in, and it looks tidy and inviting.
Please don’t block pavements or pathways either in storing your bin(s) or presenting them roadside for uplift, mainly because:
- An obstruction, such as a bin, forces people with pushchairs or mobility issues to go on the road
- Bins and/or bags left unattended for long periods are likely to attract vermin
- Bins can get overturned or damaged, it looks unsightly, and dirty bins with contaminated waste can cause foul odours if not cleaned regularly
Taking care of your bin
You own your grey general waste bin, so it’s important you take care of it and keep it clean, otherwise you will be charged for a replacement.
Oil your bin wheels every now and again. This keeps them moving freely, which makes it easier to get them to the kerbside for lifting.
Please don't overload it. The bins are robust, but they do come with a manufacturers’ weight-load limit. Here’s a reminder of capacity to weight-load:
| Bin capacity | Weight Limit |
|---|---|
| 240 litre | 96 kg |
| 660 Iitre | 264 kg |
| 1100 litre | 440 kg |
For safety reasons, we do reserve the right not to lift bins which are overloaded, overflowing or broken. They could damage the lifting machinery and possibly fall into the vehicle when being emptied. This would delay the rest of our bin run and be a health and safety issue for our staff.
Missed bins
Throughout Argyll and Bute, we lift around three million bins a year. We do our best, but sometimes extreme weather or a breakdown means we can’t lift your bins when we intended.
If we miss your bin collection, our service disruptions information on our website provides real time updates on any issues with bin collections.
Please leave your bin presented for 48 hours and if still not emptied, contact our customer service centre on 01546 605514 and report it as a 'Missed Bin',
Remember contaminated bins won’t be emptied, so please remove any inappropriate items and leave it for the next collection. Also, please leave your bins at the correct collection point.
And finally, some numbers
We have 3661 commercial waste customers across Argyll and Bute region – thank you for your business.
Every year you, our customers, produce over 62 million litres of general waste and almost 19 million litres of recyclables. This doesn’t include our domestic bin service. Our admin team is always on hand to help you with any queries or assistance you might need and the customer service centre is also available to help.
Email our commercial refuse team.
Call our Senior Clerical Assistants (Commercial Refuse): 01546 604527/604691
Go to our website for online information on how to make an enquiry, or to cancel or amend your contract, find our terms and conditions, and much more.
