Fly-tipped furniture was left in a Paisley street for so long, companies have started advertising on it.
Frustrated business owners in Well Street have told how dumped fridges became makeshift billboards in the neglected area of town after being left lying on the street for almost a month.
They even claim some bins which are operated by private waste companies, have not been emptied in over a year.
The rubbish-blighted area has been at the centre of business owners’ anger for a number of years, with the Express previously revealing shocking pictures of piles of garbage heaped up in the streets.
Renfrewshire Council workers finally uplifted the fridge on Monday, and urged people to play their part in not contributing to the issues of rubbish in the west end street.
The council says it has also made numerous attempts to contact waste companies responsible for other bins on the street.
Graeme McGinlay, who owns Graeme’s Butchers in Well Street, said the issue is just a “vicious circle” which has been ongoing for decades.
He said: “I have been here for more than 20 years and I can set my watch by it.
“It has been cleared up but within a few weeks it will be back in the same state as someone will chuck rubbish on the street and the rest will follow.
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“You know it’s an issue when you have a fly-tipped fridge that has been there for so long it’s being used to advertise.
“The bins are just lying out in the street and they are overflowing all over the place.
“People can barely walk on the pavement.
“There is a bin there that belonged to the ice cream shop which closed over a year ago and it still hasn’t been emptied.
“It’s absolutely full to the gunnels and it’s spilling all over the street.”
Shopkeepers previously spoke to the Express about their fly-tipping woes in 2020, saying they felt the mountains of rubbish left strewn all over the streets by careless dumpers made the area look “abandoned”.
Old mattresses, ditched pushchairs, abandoned shopping trollies and overflowing bins could all be seen scattered over a number of streets.
Shop owners were even been forced to take to the streets to clean up the mess themselves,
Renfrewshire Council cleared the rubbish at the time, and a team was also sent at the weekend to tackle the mess in the street which Graeme said made a huge difference to the area.
He added: “I can’t praise the street cleaners enough that cleaned the area up over the weekend.
“It hasn’t looked this clean in a long time. They did a great job.
“I just wish it would stay this way and that we won’t be back to square one in a few weeks.”
A Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: “We are aware of ongoing issues here and continue to do all we can to address this. Our waste service team visited in January and have contacted two private waste companies who have not emptied their commercial waste bins on this street.
“Our business and residential waste uplifts are being carried out as normal at this location with collections scheduled for this weekend and we will also empty recycling bins at this time.
“We take great pride in keeping Renfrewshire clean and ask people to play their part by not leaving their rubbish next to other people’s bins, by recycling and by removing their bins once they have been emptied.
“We share in the frustrations felt about littering and fly-tipping, which is illegal and damaging to the local environment and unacceptable no matter the situation – any incidents should be reported to us by calling 0300 300 0300 or by completing the online form on our website.”
