By Stuart Sommerville

Copyright dailyrecord

Clips and straps to secure wheelie bin lids would be impractical and dangerous for collection crews, as well as adding to the time it takes to cover routes, councillors in West Lothian have heard. Other councils said health and safety issues had been identified, and where they were allowed residents were asked to remove them before putting bins out for collection. Councillor Pauline Orr, who originally tabled a motion asking for a study, told colleagues that she was disappointed. A composite motion was accepted by the council May to investigate the use of bin clips to down on the amount of fly blown litter on West Lothian streets. A meeting of the Environment and Sustainability PDSP heard from Scott Anderson, the recycling and waste manager. Of the 31 other councils asked for their views on bin straps or clips 19 responded and, of those, only two authorities allowed their use. The two councils acknowledged that bin straps were effective in keeping bin lids closed, especially recycling bins if knocked or blown over. However in his report Mr Anderson said: “A number of issues and concerns were raised about the use of strap and clip devices to secure bins closed. “ In the most serious case, a waste collection operative in one council was injured after being caught and dropped by a bin lorry’s lifting mechanism, after becoming tangled in a cord attached to a household wheelie bin. “This resulted in the temporary suspension of bin collections. Other incidents reported concerned straps causing injuries to crew members, catching on to personal protective equipment (PPE), and other similar near miss incidents.” He added: “The majority of respondents to the survey confirmed that they were not considering the use of bin straps/clips because of concerns around health and safety.” With around 1,500 blue and green bins per route the extra time needed to open and then replace clips could potentially add two hours to cover the route thus pushing up costs. The council would need to buy and crew two extra refuse wagons to cover the existing routes in the current time frame. That alone would cost over £300,000. Another issue identified is the variety of bins. The report added: “Only lids with handles can be secured safely enough with straps or clips to stop the bins losing contents and there will be a large number of bins where the opening is a gap for finger opening.” Chairing the committee, Councillor Tom Conn asked “ I find it a bit contradictory the local authorities have responded saying that their policy seems to be they would allow straps or clips as long they are removed prior to the crews attending. “So if the bins are presented at 7 o’clock on a hurricane day it could be causing the same problem that we are trying to resolve?” Mr Morrison said: “You have read that correctly. Local authorities do require the removal of the bin clips prior to the service emptying the bins.” Councillor Orr told the meeting: “I just wanted to thank the officers for the work that they have done on this because it really has brought into the public domain the positives and negatives. “We have got the examples of why there would be safety concerns with straps. “Of course I’m disappointed in the outcome. but I do recognise that it was a difficult one and I’d like to say thank you for undertaking the investigation and bringing the results of that to council today.” Councillor Conn said: “I would echo Councillor Orr’s comments. The paper does cover issues which might initially not have been thought of.” He added that the bin straps could be seen as practical in windy weather but the costs and health and safety implications had to be taken into account “Introducing systems which would increase the danger to operatives working I think we have to take into account.” Don’t miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier. Sign up to our free newsletter here .