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Lets Beautify and Recycle at this triangle

We are residents and friends in and around the grass triangle in Pollokshields at the corner of Terregles Avenue / Kildrostan Street / Nithsdale Road / Darnley Road.

Our aims are to:

  • Prevent fly tipping – by enforcement, cameras, short-term temporary removal of recycling bins.
  • Reduce recycling area to realistic size – to a similar number of recycling bins as in other Glasgow residential areas.
  • Beautify this part of Pollokshields – to as good or better than it was until recently.

The grass triangle in Pollokshields at the corner of Terregles Avenue, Kildrostan Street, Nithsdale Road, Darnley Road should be a community amenity. Instead it has turned into a magnet area for fly tipping, and an ever-increasing size recycling centre. That triangle is in Pollokshields East Conservation Area, facing on one size a popular cafe outdoor seating area, and on another side a Greek Thomson curved tenement block. It contains trees and seating benches. All this is now obscured by rubbish and bins – since 2008 the recycling space has grown from a reasonable 3 recycling bins to an excessive 8 recycling bins in 2021, with 5 bottle banks being replaced with 6 glass bins, plus a new clothing bin being added. This is more recycling space than in even the largest supermarket car parks, even though supermarket car parks are better placed to hold large reycling facilities.

The excessive recycling space is attracting more and more fly tippers – often the bins are mostly full of non-recycling rubbish, especially commercial waste dumped late at night, including food and cooking oil. Those materials contaminate any genuine recycling products, such as cardboard, preventing any actual recycling from taking place back at the sorting centres. The recycling bins are unlocked at the top, allowing large quantities of rubbish to be emptied in quickly, instead of cardboard and metal recycling products being fed in individually through the front slits. When the recycling bins are overflowing, the fly tippers dump their rubbish all around in piles on the grass.

Glasgow City Council have responded to the commercial and residential fly tipping by increasing the frequency of recycling lorry collections to daily, with weekend collections (late weekends are the worst for fly tipping) at 19:00 Saturday for glass, 23:50 Saturday and 22:10 for normal/bin recycling. It’s a heroic effort by the council, but is making the problem worse, with a never-ending cycle of more recycling bins, more frequent recycling/rubbish collections, more commercial and residential rubbish being dumped – and all in what should be a relatively quiet and beautiful residential and recreation amenity. The ultimate end point will be the creation of a mini-Polmadie or Dawsholm recycling centre in the middle of Pollokshields houses.

Recent Updates:

  • Fly Tipping 24 Oct 2022 - Fly tipping unfortunately is back, after a temporary decline following reduction in number of recycling bins This can be reported at https://glasgow.gov.uk/reportEnvironmentalCrime The main problem is take-away food restaurants dumping their food waste, cooking oil, etc. when they close after midnight from vans on their way back home to Pollokshields. Secondary problem is the two… Read More »Fly Tipping 24 Oct 2022
  • Glencairn Lane Action Project GLAP - Your neighbours, Glencairn Lane Action Project, GLAP, seek approval to improve Glencairn Lanes’ overall condition, security, and safety. GLAP is a community group established by residents of Glencairn Drive, Terregles Ave, and Shields Road, who share access to Glencairn Lane. It is a group of resident volunteers who have come together to improve Glencairn Lane… Read More »Glencairn Lane Action Project GLAP
  • Fly Tipping - While there has been a substantial improvement in fly tipping since the number of recycling bins was reduced, sadly it has not been eliminated completely. Two sets of fly tipping (photos below) had identifiable names and addresses included. The names are: Josie Dolan Jackie Sim The address details have been obscured in the below photos,… Read More »Fly Tipping
  • Appeal For Costs Fly Tipping Mattress - Dear Neighbours, You may have noticed that a mattress was dumped in Glencairn Lane recently. It remained there for a number of weeks. I do not know who was responsible, it’s possible that someone dropped it off in a van. I am not accusing anyone, but it’s also possible that it came from a flat… Read More »Appeal For Costs Fly Tipping Mattress
  • Community Cleanup Back Lane April 2021 - Thanks to a neighbour in Glencairn Drive for buying rubble sacks and initiating the cleanup. The east corner of the back lane of Glencairn Drive / Terregles Avenue / Shields Road / Kildrostan Street, with an (ironic) “No fly tipping” sign above it – was full of fly-tipped rubbish and rubble. Now cleaned up by… Read More »Community Cleanup Back Lane April 2021
  • Behind the Corner Bank of Bins, Daffodils Grow - The general recycling bins have now been removed! – as promised on 18-Mar-2021 (glass and clothes recycling remain). And the triangle looks much better (especially compared to Fly-Tipping Photos (warning: not for faint of heart)) – behind the previous corner bank of bins, daffodils have been revealed growing under the mature trees: Makes quite the… Read More »Behind the Corner Bank of Bins, Daffodils Grow
  • Mice Exclusion Terregles Ave / Kildrostan Street / Glencairn Drive / Shields Road block - “Thank you for starting a very worthwhile campaign, I am fully supportive of your aims and will help when required. While I don’t want to distract from your main purpose, a linked issue, that I wonder if this forum might consider highlighting, is the growing problem of house mice in the Terregles Avenue / Kildrostan… Read More »Mice Exclusion Terregles Ave / Kildrostan Street / Glencairn Drive / Shields Road block
  • Result - [Below email received from Baillie Hanif Raja 18 Mar 2021.] “Please find below the response I have received from the department in connection with your recent enquiry. I trust this is of assistance. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further information on this matter or any other. Message sent on… Read More »Result
  • GMB on Glasgow Fly Tipping and Cleansing - The view from GMB Glasgow City Council branch, 15 Mar 2021: “We’re currently going to a 3 weekly bin collection within Glasgow because of cuts.We’re going to start charging people for bulk which never happened before, hitting some of the poorest areas within this city.“ Neither of those changes sound positive for potential future fly… Read More »GMB on Glasgow Fly Tipping and Cleansing
  • Letter to Laura Moran 14 Mar 2021 - [Laura Moran of Glasgow City Council Neighbourhoods and Sustainability has an overall remit of coordinating cleansing services on the Southside: her and her team regularly meet with Pollokshields Community Council and others.] “I have been informed by a neighbour that you might be the person who may be able to deal with a problem that… Read More »Letter to Laura Moran 14 Mar 2021