VIDEO + PICTURES: Highland Council bottle banks in Inverness overwhelmed by an ugly sea of dumped glass
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Inverness bottle bank sites are buckling under an ugly weight of dumped glass after being overwhelmed by recycling deposits.
Five city sites visited by concerned Inverness Courier readers on Sunday were swamped in a sea of wine and beer bottles, jars, cardboard boxes, plastic bags and other litter.
We reported last week how the glass collection contractor was experiencing issues emptying the bottle banks after vehicle breakdowns.
Highland Council appealed to the public to retain their glass meantime, but our video and pictures show that a substantial number of people have been ignoring the plea and leaving glass and other litter strewn around the sites.
The video above was taken at Tesco's Holm Mains store and shows one of the worst examples of the mess created.
The photos were taken near Tesco Tomnahurich Street, Co-op Telford Street, Laidlaw's store in Dalneigh and at the Inverness Recycling Centre.
The latter was having to provide extra wheelie bins to deal with the sheer extra weight of deposits by members of the public.
One concerned member of the public who lives near a Dalneigh bottle bank told us: "I find it disgusting, frankly.
"I can't believe the Council cannot find a temporary solution and clear this mess we are walking past every day. It is just filthy and I've seen broken glass as well.
"But I also think it is very ignorant of people to just drop off their glass at the sites when, clearly, they are being overwhelmed by bottles."
It is understood some bottle banks within the city are now beginning to be emptied.
The Highland Council has already apologised to the public over glass bottle banks in Inverness and across the region not being emptied as usual.
The council issued a statement saying the glass collection contractor is experiencing issues with glass bank emptying due to vehicle breakdowns, but the council and the contractor are working hard to empty the banks.
A council spokeswoman said: "If a local glass bank is full, please avoid leaving glass beside the banks – please take it away with you until the banks have capacity."
