A SCHEME aimed at tackling the blight of unsightly commercial waste bins will be rolled out across the city centre by the end of March.

Last year a pilot was introduced at eight locations following complaints about bulky, brightly coloured refuse containers littering streets and pavements.

It has resulted in the areas being completely clear of the 460 bins which had previously been left lying about the area.

An evaluation of the scheme which was carried out by Keep Scotland Beautiful resulted in the highest cleanliness score in a decade.

As a result, the city council decided to roll the scheme out to other parts of the city.

Kenny McLean, the council’s city convener for neighbourhoods, housing and public realm, said: “The roll-out of our commercial waste scheme across the entire city centre by March 31 is welcome news for all the area’s people and organisations.

“The success of the scheme so far has undoubtedly made those areas cleaner, greener and safer and we will continue to work with everyone concerned as we expand the project across the city over the next 13 months.”

The scheme will be rolled out to the north-west of the city by September 15 this year, to the south of Glasgow by December 8 and to the north-east of the city by March 2 next year.

To help firms affected by the rollout, Zero Waste Scotland and Resource Efficient Scotland will run workshops at The Lighthouse on March 7 and 14 to advise them how to cut the amount of rubbish they dispose of.

Under the city centre scheme, no trade waste containers are allowed to be stored on pavements, street or lanes outwith designated uplift windows.

Commercial waste containers are only allowed on the street for one hour and if the bins are not collected on time, they must be returned to the premises.