Cuts to Glasgow’s cleansing and environmental services include dozens of job losses and scrapping glass recycling collections later this year.

Our sister title the Glasgow Times understands purple bins, collected from kerbside properties in areas including Knightswood and Drumchapel will no longer be used once the Scottish Government’s controversial bottle return scheme is launched.

Instead, people are expected to use the bottle return scheme where bottles are taken back to retailers.

It is not yet clear what residents are asked to do with glass that does not go back to shops, like jars as there are expected to be fewer on-street glass recycling bins.

The move will mean six jobs will go as drivers and workers are no longer needed for the service.

The jobs are part of 43 jobs to be cut from the waste services, 23 this year and the rest in future years.

The Dawsholm Waste Transfer Station will shut down with ten posts lost. The cleansing depot and the public recycling centre will remain open.

Some blue recycling bins will be removed from street recycling sites.

The parks department within Neighbourhoods, Regeneration, and Sustainability will also see cuts and jobs lost, including a reduction in grass cutting and the closure of the Queens Park Glasshouse, which will cut five jobs and three of the city’s seven Park Rangers.

It is proposed to cut school crossing patrollers where there are traffic lights.

Cuts to the community enforcement officers, CCTV, and graffiti removal teams will also see jobs lost.

Around £13m in savings will come from Neighbourhoods, Regeneration, and Sustainability which is around 40% of the cuts.

Unions argue that cutting more jobs will have an adverse impact on the cleanliness and environmental performance of the city.

A spokesperson for GMB union said: "Glasgow City Council is suffering a staffing crisis, this is a direct consequence of cuts.

"You cannot cut your way out of a crisis, our members and our communities are suffering from politically managed decline, dereliction and decay.

"GMB Scotland have spoken at length with the Council about how the jobs like Community Enforcement Officers, who are now being cut, could have been redirected to combat flytipping.

"Our members have the skills and experience to be the catalyst for Glasgow's future recovery, what our city lacks is the resource, funding and political backing to do what is needed."

"We will continue to campaign for the future of our members, the future of our services, and the future of our city."

Glasgow City Council has said that there had to be a balance of savings and charges to protect services.

When he set the budget, City Treasurer, Richard Bell said the decisions protect services from even further cuts.

He said: “This is not the budget any of us would wish to deliver. But it is one which has gone a considerable distance to protect and maintain those services upon which our communities depend.

“It’s a budget also shaped by the most turbulent economic and financial context most people can remember.”

There will still be glass recycling available when the purple bins are axed.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council, said: “This measure was agreed as part of the 2023/24 budget, which had to bridge a funding deficit of almost £50m.

“The budget aimed to protect services and jobs where ever possible and has looked to deal with the funding gap by raising additional revenue.

“There is no statutory requirement to provide a household glass collection service and the amount of glass collected is expected to drop significantly with the introduction of the deposit return scheme later this year.

“We will continue to provide public recycling points for glass, which is how many other local authorities operate their glass collection service.”