Council leaders are unlikely to cut back bin collections in the north-east despite a £26million budget hole.
Aberdeenshire Council is being forced to slash tens of millions of pounds from its budget in February and is consulting with local people on which services to cut.
But, despite the immense pressure on the region’s coffers, the leaders of both political groups at Woodhill House have claimed there is little appetite to reduce the frequency of waste collection.
Responding to questions during an online discussion, council co-leader Richard Thomson said: “I have to declare a slight interest here – as the father of two young girls, I would certainly struggle if the bins weren’t emptied quite as frequently as they are at the moment.
“Before we can look seriously at that reduction, we have to look at a change in lifestyle, so there is less need and less waste being produced.”
Aberdeenshire Council currently spends £6million every year to bury rubbish in landfill. Officers have said this bill could be “dramatically reduced” if people recycled more.
However, the SNP councillor accepted that the waste service could be run more efficiently to save the taxpayer money.
He added that cutting collection services in February’s budget was a “non-starter”.
Opposition leader Jim Gifford agreed the waste department could have its budget cut without needing to reduce collections.
He added: “There have been discussions about whether the waste collection is at its most efficient and the answer is almost certainly: ‘no, it is not.”
Democratic and Independent Green Group member, Martin Ford, was also on the panel.
He said: “I don’t think we are heading for monthly collections at the moment.
“But we do need to look at efficiencies in terms of our waste collection – can we get our bins collected with better routes, can we provide the same service with more efficiencies?”
One idea suggested by Mr Ford was closing recycling centres on certain days to reduce running costs and encouraging people to use their own recycling bins at home.
