By Rachel Cronin

Copyright dailyrecord

You don’t have to be an expert to know that Scotland has a litter problem. All you need to do is walk down a busy high street or public park to notice the floods of crisp packets, juice bottles and lager cans strewn across the ground from overflowing rubbish bins. But it’s not just us Scots that have a reputation for missing the bin, as the entire UK is rife with litter, which sparks swathes of online complaints. To shed light on Brits’ growing rubbish issues, Rainbow Rubbish Removals analysed resident reported bin complaints from FixMyStreet to determine the 10 UK cities with the biggest litter problems- and two Scottish areas made the ranks. In fact, one Scots city comes ahead of all the others when it comes to bin complaints. Glasgow came out as the second-worst city in the whole of the UK for rubbish- with 36 complaints for every 10,000 residents, it’s clear that Glasgow isn’t the best for cleanliness. When considering bin overflow complaints, reports of bins not being collected, and damages to bins, Glasgow gained an overall complaint intensity score of 9.23 out of 10 in the study. And Edinburgh wasn’t too far behind, at fifth place on the list, with even more complaints per 10,000 residents, at 60. The Scots capital also received more complaints of bin overflows, but far less health complaints (concerning rats or a foul smell) than Glasgow, gaining an overall score of 8.08. But while Scotland may have a couple of litter-ridden cities, the other top spots were taken by English areas. The worst city in the UK for rubbish overall was Bradford, with an overall complaint intensity score of 9.62 out of 10. While Bradford may have had less overflow complaints than Glasgow and Edinburgh, it had by far the most health complaints. Bristol came in third place after Glasgow, with an overall score of 8.85 out of 10. This city was most concerned about overflowing bins, which accounted for 21.3 per cent of its total complaints. It may be surprising to some that Greater London was ranked way down the list in ninth place, with 45 complaints per 10,000 people and an overall score of 6.54 out of 10. Miroslav Radov, waste expert at Rainbow Rubbish Removals said: “Bin complaints might seem minor, but they’re a clear warning sign of wider problems in our waste systems. “Reports of overflowing rubbish, missed collections, and vermin reflect both stretched local services and growing community frustration. These aren’t just appearance issues, they pose genuine health and environmental risks. “With major recycling reforms underway to standardise collections and reduce landfill, councils are under pressure to adapt. Rising landfill taxes, stricter recycling targets, and growing populations are making waste management one of the most pressing public services. “If these challenges aren’t tackled head-on, we risk not only more complaints but also greater health risks and lower public confidence in recycling.” Here is the full list for the top 10 UK cities with the most bin complaints.