There’s been a noticeable rise in dumping and flytipping since changes to refuse and waste disposal arrangements were introduced in the city and North Edinburgh has suffered as badly as most. NEN reader Colin Hutchison has sent these images taken in Granton. Continue reading Mingin’ Medway!
For the majority of Edinburgh households there will be no change to collection dates for green wheelie bins, food waste bins and red and blue boxes over the festive period.
However, there will be no collections on CHRISTMAS DAY (Friday 25 December) or NEW YEAR’S DAY (Friday 1 January).
Collections for households whose bins or recycling boxes were due to be picked up on these dates have been rescheduled for Saturday 26 December and Saturday 2 January respectively.
Residents are reminded that bins and boxes must be on the kerbside by 6am ready for collection.
There will be no special uplifts between Tuesday 24 December and Tuesday 5 January. Normal service will resume on Wednesday 6 January.
All information about festive collections has been added to the Council’s website where residents can check collection dates for bins and Christmas trees, and report missed bins.
Christmas Tree recycling
Residents will once again be able to recycle their real Christmas trees at the kerbside this year, no matter where they live.
Those with a brown bin should chop up their Christmas tree and place it inside their bin on the kerbside by 6am on their next garden waste collection day (collection days can be checked on the city council website).
Residents in communal areas that use on street shared bins can put their tree on the pavement outside their property on designated collection dates during January – check the website to see when collectiions are taking place in your area. Trees over 6ft tall should be cut in half first.
To enable trees to be recycled, residents are reminded:
– To remove all decorations from the Christmas tree
– To remove stands from trees
– To please cut the tree if is 6ft tall or more
– Not to place trees in plastic bags, as this means they cannot be recycled
You can also take Christmas trees to any of the Community Recycling Centres. The sites will be closed 25, 26 December and 1, 2 January.
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Environment Convener, said: “I’m delighted that thanks to all staff working together to deliver the service that, with the exception of Christmas Day and New Years Day, we are able to run all our waste and recycling collections as normal during the festive period.
“It’s important not to forget about recycling at this time of year, especially as we produce so much waste. You would be amazed at how much stuff we use at this time of year that is recyclable, like cardboard and wrapping paper, so please take advantage of our recycling facilities as much as you can.
“Whether they put their tree out with their brown bin, leave it out for collection in communal bin areas on designated days or take it to a Community Recycling Centre, people can make sure that their real Christmas tree is recycled once the festive season is over.
” It’s never been easier to check information or report things online so I would remind you to check our website over the festive period for any possible changes to collections if the weather is bad or for information on recycling.”
Waste and recycling collections may be subject to change in the event of severe weather. For more information on what to do if services are disrupted due to bad weather, visit the city council’s severe weather pages.
Calendars online for 2016 collections
There are no changes to the 2016 collections. The new bin calendar is on the city council’s bin collection day page now.
LOCAL CAMPAIGN GROUPS DENOUNCE “BACK DOOR PRIVATISATION” IN CLEANSING
Local anti-cuts groups have declared that Edinburgh Council are responsible for the deteriorating service in refuse collection, and the blame should be put firmly on the councillors and top management, not the binmen and other workers. The groups denounce the “back door privatisation” of Edinburgh Council services and have demanded a response from Council leader Andrew Burns.
North Edinburgh Fights Back and Greater Leith Against the Cuts condemn the large-scale use of agency staff in Street Cleansing and Refuse Collection – and claim that the new switch to fortnightly collections appears to be motivated by cost-cutting not environmental concern.
“We are in favour of reducing waste and increasing recycling but we suspect the move to fortnightly collections is not motivated by ecology but is part of the cut-backs. We are closely monitoring its impact and are consulting with local people if action needs to be taken to restore the weekly collections.”
The groups also denounce the imposition of anti social shift patterns on the workforce, arguing that the continuation of work until 10.30pm will cause disruption and nuisance to residents, particularly children, the elderly and vulnerable. “Refuse collection workers have told management the new shift patterns would not work,” say the community groups, “but as usual the CEC management aren’t listening to the people who really know the job.”
In a statement, the groups declare: ‘We are totally opposed to the privatisation of public services and the cuts in services and worsening working conditions this invariably entails. The full Council voted against privatising these services – why are they now doing the complete opposite, and bringing in large numbers of Blue Arrow contractors to both Street
Cleansing and Refuse Collection? New workers – who are certainly needed – should be taken on as full Council employees, wherever possible with permanent contracts.’
They add: ‘Contrary to some claims, Blue Arrow were NOT introduced to deal with the current backlog, dozens of Blue Arrow staff have been operating from the Russell Road depot in refuse collection since March, and Blue Arrow have been deployed from Cowans Close depot in street cleansing since July. What’s more, the private firm Enterprise were used in street cleansing in the spring.’
A Shop Steward from within Environmental Services said: “I have repeatedly voiced my concerns at the use of agency staff to City of Edinburgh Council Senior Management at numerous meetings since the elected members rejected Privatisation and also to various elected members all to no avail; unfortunately it appears that this new administration is
also listening to the officials who are now intent on privatising our council/public services through the back door.”
The community groups are still awaiting a response from the Council. “We have written to Councillor Burns demanding an end to this back door privatisation – he has yet to reply. However Councillor Hinds has written to say she has commissioned a report on the matter from Director of Services for Communities Mark Turley. We eagerly await this and urge its early delivery.”
North Edinburgh Fights Back <info@northedinburghfightsback.org.uk>
Greater Leith Against the Cuts <greaterleithc59@gmail.com>
Website www.edinburghagainstcuts.org.uk
