The council has proposed an integrated contract and has invited expressions of interest from waste management companies who have been asked to come up with solutions to the city's rubbish disposal problem.
Brian Wagstaff, disposal manager for Edinburgh city council, said: “We are investigating the possibility of an integrated waste management contract and are seeking a response from interested parties. But we want time to evaluate the responses and will have a meeting in June when the council will be given the information on which to make a decision.”
Recycling in the city is difficult because of high-density housing and planning restrictions. But an integrated contract should enable the council to raise its current five per cent recycling rate and meet the targets set out in the waste strategy.
Angus Murdock, recycling officer for Edinburgh city council, said: “We don’t have the money to build a MRF and so we are looking at recycling as a means of waste disposal.”
Edinburgh’s housing stock consists of 60 per cent tenement buildings and flats which makes kerbside collections difficult. The city has a twice-weekly refuse collection because residents don’t have the space to store rubbish. Mr Murdock said: “Tenements are a problem because how do you segregate at source when you can’t go to peoples’ back doors? A high proportion of the population don’t have space or access at the back and we can’t store the waste on the street.”
Mr Murdock added: “We have had varied participation in our kerbside schemes. We have run a series of trials but the participation rate has been quite low. We had 20 per cent participation in our high-rise collection scheme, 40 per cent in the tenement and 60 per cent in low-rise dwellings.”
The recycling strategy has to be carefully thought out because Edinburgh is a world heritage site and this restricts where recycling banks can be placed. Mr Wagstaff said: “We have to get planning permission to approve bins. It is very difficult to put them on the street. But we do have some in supermarkets and car parks and these are extremely well used.”
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