To: Bins and Recycling Department Complaints, Edinburgh City Council
Dear Sir or Madam
Re: Complaint Number: 300868
Further to phoning in this complaint some time ago, as I am still waiting for someone to ring me back, I am now writing to make this complaint formally.
- Firstly, residents of East Claremont Street were never given a date when our red and blue recycling boxes would no longer be collected. I only discovered this by accident, when phoning to complain that the bins had not been uplifted, and it was several weeks before our neighbours also became aware of this.
- The communal recycling bins have been placed at the far end of East Claremont Street making it impossible for elderly or disabled residents to reach them. It is also impossible for anyone with a heavy load of recycling, and no car, to reach them. This had led to people dumping recycling in and around the general bin near our flat.
- I was told that there would be additional communal bins placed at the west end of East Claremont Street at some point – when will this be happening?
- Our nearest general recycling bin (not glass) in Melgund Terrace is always overflowing with bags of/individual recycling items left around the base. How frequently should these bins be emptied?
- Our nearest bottle bank on Bellevue Terrace is often overflowing, plus these bins have been placed so that the opening is road-side, which means that residents recycling have to stand in the path of oncoming traffic when attempting to place items in the bins.
- Properties on the opposite side of the road have been given their own large brown wheelie bins – why is this the case, when the rest of the street has to struggle with carrying recycling long distances to reach the communal bins?
Because of all these issues, I suggest that the pilot scheme is not working and is not making it ‘easier to recycle in communal areas’. How is this pilot being evaluated and will residents’ views be included in the review?
I look forward to a response.
Yours faithfully
Mel Crowther
(East Claremont Street)