A sparsely-populated Argyll island still gets weekly bin collections and does not have to separate their waste for recycling, it has emerged.
Critics of a new money-saving policy to only empty bins in Argyll and Bute once every three weeks have expressed outrage to learn Kerrera’s position.
The island, which lies in Oban Bay, is home to around 36 adults with a growing number of children living in 22 households.
Currently, residents throughout the local authority have alternate weekly collections, with blue recycle bins being emptied one week and green waste bins the other.
A decision to reduce the frequency of general waste collections from once a fortnight to every three weeks is part of wide-ranging cuts to hit Argyll and Bute Council.
It will save the council £500,000 a year, officials said.
But Kerrera has no recycling facilities, so the bins are currently taken away weekly.
Marri Malloy, chairwoman of Oban Community Council, said large schemes such as Soroba in Oban, which has 2,000 residents, will be worst hit by the new policy.
She said: “Why is Kerrera with 22 houses still getting weekly uplifts when the likes of Soroba with all those people has to get by with fortnightly and soon to be three weekly?
“Looking at the bins in Soroba yesterday with a week to go until the next collection, they are already full. This is going to encourage rats.
“I would like to know how much that this service on Kerrera is costing the council?”
But the council insisted that Kerrera is not receiving any extra services. A spokesman said: “Kerrera receives a weekly collection during the summer and fortnightly over the winter. This is because we are unable to offer a recycling service to the island. We are working on new arrangements, and more details will follow.”
Tim Vollum, a director of Isle of Kerrera Development Trust, said: “We have a couple of large wheelie bins down at the ferry slipway. If we want to get rid of our waste, we have to take it there.
“Some people have to drive two or three miles along a forestry track, which is not maintained by the council, to take their waste to the bins.
“The ferry operator takes the bins over to the mainland where the rubbish is collected by the lorry and then bring them back.
“People have to put quite an effort into taking out their bins.
“The people here would love to have recycling facilities.”
