Frustration as bins ‘overflow’ with rubbish at Gloucester beauty spot

Residents living near a Gloucester beauty spot say they are frustrated with "constantly overflowing bins".

The Saintbridge pond and nature reserve in Abbeydale was granted nature reserve status by Natural England in 2004, but voluntary litter pickers claim the council do not empty the bins enough.

Marilyn McKechnie, one of The Friends of Saintbridge Pond, volunteers as a litter picker daily. She said she requested the installation of an additional bin to help solve problem in 2020 and in 2024 but the request was denied.

“I was informed that this bin is monitored and rubbish is collected and emptied twice a week. Unfortunately, this is not the case," she said.

She claims a bin by the pond was last emptied on 5 August and was "overflowing onto the pedestrian path" by 15 August.

“I constantly report this and other bins in the area,” she added. “Why do I need to do this?”

Councillor Andrew Gravells branded the rubbish collection service as "a shambles".

He also added that the £9.5m cost for waste contractor Ubico should be scrutinised.

“The majority of Ubico’s workforce on the ground do a great job, in awful weather sometimes, and they are brilliant.

“What’s not brilliant is how the £9.5m Ubico got from the City Council this year is spent and what their bosses are doing to deliver a better service for this city."

“At the moment parts of the service are mediocre, to put it mildly," he added.

However, a spokesperson for Gloucester City Council said all litter bins in the city are now digitally mapped.

“Our street cleaning staff, when emptying, are recording the fill level of the bin and this data is being gathered so that moving forward we will be able to adjust emptying schedules accordingly, but this will take a little time as there are more than 1,100 bins in the city.

They also added if the bins were full, visitors were encouraged to find other bins in the area or carry their litter home with them and dispose of it in their waste bin for now.

Credit: Carmelo Garcia, Local Democracy Reporting Service