Environment bosses have been urged to start getting tough over contaminated recycling bins as they confessed a new system for tackling the issue had "taken a back seat".
Councillor James MacLaren accused council chiefs of failing to collect overflowing bins if they found they were contaminated, as he claimed some were ignored "forever more" at this week's meeting of the environment board.
The Tory man questioned why bins were no longer being tagged if they had incorrect materials in them.
Operations and infrastructure boss Gavin Hutton admitted the system had been put to one side due to the coronavirus crisis but said it was being done on a "small scale" in some areas.
Councillor MacLaren said leaving the bins at the roadside was making it look as if the council does not care.
"I'm very disappointed with wheelie bins being left at the side of the road on pavements, often overflowing with rubbish," said Councillor MacLaren at the virtual meeting.
"It seems as though, if the recycling bin is contaminated, then it is ignored forever more.
"What happened to the plans we had for tagging contaminated bins and removing those which are regular offenders of this?
"It’s not a good look and it won’t do anything for the promotion of tourism. It just gives the impression the council doesn’t care. I’m sure it does care, but I think we should be doing more about contaminated bins that just don’t get collected."
In February, environment crews started checking blue bins for anything that wasn't paper, card or cardboard in a bid to reduce the cost of processing and improve the quality of recycling.
If they were found to be contaminated they were given a red tag which stated the bin would not be collected until the incorrect items were removed.
Residents then had two days to contact the council to advise it had been cleared before staff came out again to collect it.
"We were implementing a process where we were going to be monitoring and tagging the recycling bins to improve the quality of recycling," Mr Hutton said in response to Councillor MacLaren.
"That along with many other things has taken a back seat due to Covid-19, but we do do it in small scale across the area where we can.
"In relation to the collection of contaminated bins, we don’t collect them at the time because it contaminates the other material in the vehicle and we need to come back and collect it with a different vehicle, so there can be a time lag between that.
"I’m not aware of any streets which are problematic but by all means send them into the department."
