The trial scheme, which sees the collected cardboard sent for recycling, is being offered to the commercial sector in the World Heritage Site area of the city. Businesses will be able to recycle 20 kilograms of cardboard for 50p instead of the usual 1.15.
Those traders who wish to take part can buy green stickers to place on the cardboard from the council's trade waste section.
The World Heritage Site area was chosen because of the large amount cardboard generated in that particular area of the city. If the scheme proves successful it will be rolled out across Edinburgh.
Edinburgh's executive member for environmental services Robert Cairns said: “Just as we provide a range of recycling facilities to households, we also hope to offer a number of initiatives to traders.”
Expansion
A spokeswoman for the council's environmental and consumer services department said the new initiative was an expansion of its existing trade waste collection.
“The main reason the World Heritage Site was chosen was because there's a lot of cardboard produced within it and it's easy to get around the area,” she explained. The site includes Princes Street which is a mile-long shopping centre, the spokeswoman added.
Subscribe for free