Monday January 26th 2026
Communal bin stores are regularly overwhelmed with bulky waste such as this one in Livingston (photo by Maria MacAulay).
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
West Lothian Council is to review its bulky uplift service after an SNP councillor made a second plea to tackle waste piling up in gardens.
Maria MacAulay first brought a motion to explore practical solutions such as free uplifts for those in hardship, to waste management ten months ago.
This time she won backing without opposition to a study of a “problem that has not gone away”.
Councillor MacAulay told meeting of full council: “Residents across west Lothian are increasingly concerned about bulky waste piling up in gardens and communal areas.
“Items such as furniture and mattresses are being left for long periods, not through choice but because disposal options are limited and often too costly.
“The high cost of special uplifts is a major barrier when people cannot afford to dispose of large items. This creates environmental problem attracts vermin and has a negative impact on our communities, particularly in shared or flatted areas.”
Stressing that it was not “just about appearances”, Councillor MacAulay added: “Waste build up causes real public health and environmental risk and ignoring it only leads to bigger problems and greater costs over time.
“This council believes residents should have access to affordable bulky waste removal and we must explore more practical solutions to help people manage waste properly.
“It calls for a review of current bulky waste services so we can understand the scale of the issue and the barriers residents face. It asks to consider subsidies or free uplifts for households in financial hardship ensuring support is far and targeted.
“It also encourages exploring community collections or waste amnesty schemes alongside better promotion of recycling and reuse purposes. Importantly this motion does not demand immediate change without evidence, it asks for a review.”
The motion called on the council to consider subsidised or free uplifts for households in financial hardship. To explore periodic community collection days or waste amnesty schemes. and to improve public awareness of disposal options, including recycling and reuse schemes.
The motion, backed by Linlithgow councillor Pauline Orr, passed without amendment from the ruling minority Labour-led administration.
Councillor Orr said that many families faced difficult decisions about their finances and putting “food on the table” was the priority.
She told the meeting: “There’s already an issue with fly-tipping. This is adding to public health risks.”
Measures that could make a massive difference included pedestrian only days at recycling centres, she said. Currently residents cannot access the recycling centres unless they have a vehicle, for health and public safety reasons.
Councillor MacAulay first brought her motion to full council in March last year. Bulky uplifts cost households £38.59 for five items. The average cost of uplifts across Scotland is around £41. Many councils used to offer one free uplift a year but that was an early casualty as council budgets began to squeeze.
Last year’s rejection came after Councillor Tom Conn, who leads the Environment and Sustainability PDSP, argued that the service was actually being subsidised because disposal costs were far higher.
Addressing full council last year Councillor Conn said it will cost the council £240,000 to operate a bulky uplift service. By comparison, income from bulky uplifts is approximately £135,000 a year.
He added: “A charge of £38.59 therefore represents a significant subsidy applied to all service users, which covers around only 56% of the cost of providing the service.”
Labour had planned to increase bulky uplifts to £50 but froze the cost at last year’s figure to secure Conservative support for this year’s budget.
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