Our Upkeep Estates’ teams provide a fortnightly bulk uplift and backcourt maintenance service to all communal backcourts in Shettleston and remove accumulated waste to Glasgow City Councils waste transfer stations at Shieldhall and Dawsholm.
Residents may have noticed that it is taking the team longer to remove the bulk than usual and that on occasion the teams will remove certain items and leave others in situ.
This is because of new regulations introduced in relation to the management of Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs and more specifically Waste Upholstered Domestic Seating or WUDS.
POPs are a group of hazardous chemicals which, due to their persistence and propensity to accumulate in the food chain, have harmful impacts on the environment and human health, and have recently been found in articles of upholstered domestic seating, in quantities which exceed legal limits. This means that once these items become waste, they become subject to the strict controls outlined in the UK Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulations 2007 and any subsequent amendments.
These regulations have highlighted WUDS to be found in household items such as:
- Sofas
- Sofa beds
- Armchairs
- Kitchen and dining room chairs
- Stools and foot stools
- Home office chairs
- Futons, bean bags and floor and sofa cushions
- Electrical recliner chairs
POPs cannot be landfilled or treated via the Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre at Polmadie and must be disposed of through an incineration process, which means POPs waste must be kept separate from other material from the point of collection to the point of disposal. Therefore, strict controls have been implemented to ensure these materials are not mixed with other waste.
As such Upkeep now need to segregate this waste at source (i.e. in our backcourts) and dispose of in a separate vehicle to ensure we meet our obligations as a Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) registered waste carrier.
Going forward residents can expect Upkeep’s teams to visit and remove bulky general waste, WUDS items containing pops and waste electrical items at separate visits sometimes on different days. We appreciate that these changes may be confusing, however we have a statutory and legal duty to manage waste removed from communal backcourts in a responsible and compliant manner.
More information on WUDS can be found on SEPA’s website: https://www.sepa.org.uk/media/tnoa12he/waste-upholstered-domestic-seating-containing-pops-guidance.pdf
Alternatively, you can contact Upkeep should you have any queries on 0141 764 3793.
