Giancarlo Rinaldi BBC Scotland news website South of Scotland reporter

Bins with lids which do not close will not be collected

Overflowing wheelies used to make their unsightly but regular appearance on the region's streets on collection days.

While the popular pastime of leaping on dustbin lids to pack in as much rubbish as possible was also often witnessed on housing schemes across the area.

New regulations, however, mean the council will no longer empty wheelie bins if they do not close correctly.

A jobsworth council official has decided to interpret the new rules in a completely daft way Elaine Murray MSP

The authority has said the kerbside collection policy is designed to reduce the amount of waste it sends to landfill.

It also means that any rubbish left in bags beside bins will not be collected - unless it is in bags available from the council for 50 pence.

However, it is the lid closure issue which has got the region's MPs and MSPs of all political persuasions hot under the collar.

Locharbriggs, on the outskirts of Dumfries, was the first place where trouble flared amid claims bins that were one inch open had not been picked up.

"Frankly this whole situation is ridiculous," said Dumfries Labour MSP Elaine Murray.

Only side waste in 50p council bags will be picked up

"A jobsworth council official has decided to interpret the new rules in a completely daft way.

"Understandably when a number of residents in the Locharbriggs area discovered their bins had not been emptied for this reason, they were completely outraged."

Dumfries and Galloway Labour MP Russell Brown agreed that common sense had been "booted out of the window".

The problem then spread to Galloway and Upper Nithsdale where Tory MSP Alex Fergusson called on the authority to get its own bins in order.

"The most serious offender when it comes to overflowing bins is the council itself," he said.

"At almost every recycling point, it places wheelie bins for rubbish disposal.

We have to cut down the amount of rubbish thrown into landfill sites and help preserve the environment Geoff Lewis Dumfries and Galloway Council

"These are constantly overflowing as there are never enough of them."

He also predicted a massive rise in fly-tipping because of the policy.

SNP MSP Alasdair Morgan agreed that the council should have offered more alternatives before clamping down on the wheelies.

"Nobody would criticise the aims of the policy and it is clearly desirable that everybody cuts down on the amount of waste they produce," he said.

"However, the problem in Dumfries and Galloway is the current lack of alternatives to the wheelie bin which most people face."

All of the outcry has prompted the council to spell out the new policy again and renew a pledge of early leniency.

Court warning

First offenders will have stickers placed on their bins to warn them they are not able to be correctly closed - with stronger action to follow.

"If waste is not put out correctly and sticker warnings are not heeded, ultimately the householder will receive a fixed penalty notice and could end up in court," warned a council statement.

"We have to cut down the amount of rubbish thrown into landfill sites and help preserve the environment," insisted Combined Services Corporate Director Geoff Lewis.

Everyone seems agreed on that fact but the new method of achieving it appears to have lifted the lid on a bag bursting full of complaints.