Edinburgh proposes zero tolerance for trade waste

Businesses in Edinburgh could face a zero tolerance approach to trade waste containers left on the street, as the council looks to reduce clutter in the city.

The news comes as the council is continuing to clear a backlog of missed collections of household waste following the introduction of an alternate weekly collection schedule for residents in the city (see letsrecycle.com story).

At a meeting of the councils Transport, Infrastructure and Environment Committee on October 11, the council proposed to explore the options and implications of taking a more robust approach to the management of trade waste in the city centre. This could include permits for trade waste containers left on the street or the introduction of a zero tolerance approach which requires all waste containers to be stored within business premises until 30 minutes before collection.

At present, the council said that due to limited space within premises some businesses in Edinburgh are commonly and permanently storing their waste containers on the street, to the detriment to the local environment.

Councillor Lesley Hinds, the city’s environment convener, said residents have frequently highlighted this as a concern. She said: Communities, particularly in the city centre and Leith area, have frequently highlighted this as a concern as large, trade waste containers can have a detrimental impact not only on the look of an area but also the cleanliness.

We now need to look at the options for how this can be better managed so that there is more of a balance between the needs of businesses and the needs of residents.

Approach

Edinburgh is looking to follow in the footsteps of Manchester and Westminster councils, which already take a zero tolerance approach to the storage of waste containers on the street. A report presented to the Committee, by Mark Turley, director of services and communities at Edinburgh city council, said the absence of waste containers on the streets was striking and contributed to a significantly lower sense of clutter on the streets.

Mr Turley also highlighted that a similar stricter approach to these councils should make it possible to achieve a substantial reduction on the number of trade waste containers left on the street. However, he noted the potential financial implications it could have on businesses, due to increased collection frequencies.

He said in the report: There is a clear need to more effectively manage trade waste in the city. Powers are available to the Council which would allow a more robust enforcement approach however this would have the potential for increased costs to business from increased collection frequencies. It is therefore proposed that a detailed study is carried out examining the potential for a zero tolerance based approach to trade waste in Edinburgh, with an initial focus on the city centre.”

The report was approved meaning the council will now look at what options it can take to better manage trade waste in the city.

Problems

Also at the meeting on October 11, the Committee was updated on the progress made to clear a backlog of missed collections in Edinburgh, which occurred following the roll out of a new waste service in September 2012.

The council is still experiencing delays with some collection routes, including food waste collections in the city centre, and chute fed bins in Annfield, Laverockbank and the Shore area.

Commenting on the delays, Councillor Lesley Hinds, the city’s Environment Convener, said: This is one of the biggest changes to bin collections in recent years and I recognise that a change of this scale presented huge challenges in delivering the new service.

However I am disappointed with the level of disruption to the service experienced by some, and recognise that the implementation of these changes did not proceed as smoothly as was planned. We will be reviewing this in detail to fully explain why this was the case to ensure that we can move forward and learn from these changes.

Despite the missed collections, the council has reported a drop in the amount of waste sent to landfill, following the changes, from 12,514 tonnes in September 2011 to 9945 tonnes in September 2012. Also, the number of food waste bins being collected has increased by 12 percentage points from May 2011.