Monday October 12th 2026
West Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Councillors in West Lothian have questioned the move to charge for replacement bins – despite voting for the move earlier in the year.
Charging households for replacement bins began in July after it was accepted as part of the budget voted through in February. Councillors officers say it will save £50,000 a year.
But at this month’s Executive meeting Conservative Angela Doran-Timson asked the question why households should pay if bins were stolen.
Questions about charges were echoed by councillors on the SNP group after Scott Anderson, the council’s recycling and waste manager, explained the charge had already been discussed and agreed by councillors in committee earlier this year.
Mr Anderson had delivered a report on updated service standards for recycling and waste for the Executive’s approval.
In an earlier, pre-budget, meeting in February Mr Anderson had told councillors that replacing bins free of charge was an “exorbitant” cost to the council.
The possibility of charges was first reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) on 11 February this year.
At this month’s Executive, David Maule, the Head of Operational Services, again pointed to the costs of free bin replacement being around £50,000 a year to the council.
Conservative councillor Angela Doran-Timson said she believed there would be no charge if households had reported their bin stolen and had an incident number from the police.
She asked: “Why do we think West Lothian residents who have been a victim of theft should be penalised? It is outside their control”
Mr Maule reiterated that the plans had been discussed and agreed as part of the budget and in committee in the run up to the budget.
Councillor Doran-Timson said she “was not so sure” about the details of charges being raised during budget discussions.
Her attempt to bring a verbal amendment was ruled out of order by council leader and chair of the committee Lawrence Fitzpatrick.
For the SNP Group leader Councillor Janet Campbell said: “Some areas are prone to bin thefts, particularly at this time of year. Will any special consideration be given to these areas?”
She added: “Would it be possible to issue stickers for householders with the address on so if bins are taken they can be identified.
Mr Anderson said that these were costs not accounted for by the budget.
In February’s Environment and Sustainability PDSP meeting councillors were told that replacement bins have been given free of charge to households with the costs covered by funding by the Scottish Government agency Zero Waste Scotland.
Head of Operational Services, David Maule told that meeting that the council only made an initial charge to house-builders for supplying bins to new homes.
Charging households for replacement bins had been “on hold” because of extra central government funding to introduce twin stream collections to boost recycling. This specific funding ended this year.
The council has now joined the majority of other council areas in Scotland by introducing charging for replacement household bins.
The council will now only replace a bin free of charge if it’s swallowed or damaged by the bin lorry.
From July, West Lothian charges:-
140L grey bin – £27
240L blue bin – £30
240L green bin – £30
240L brown bin – £30.
A council spokesman told the LDRS: “Previously, around one in ten bins were being replaced at no cost. Since the introduction of the charges, there has already been a decline in the number of replacement bin requests and the amount being spent on replacing bins.”
Most Scottish councils already charge for replacement or additional bins.
South Lanarkshire Council charges £83.88 which is the full cost of a bin.
Falkirk Council charges £36.20 for each replacement bin and North Lanarkshire Council charges £55.84 for a 140 litre replacement bin.
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