ACCUMULATED WASTE

DOGGED DOES IT WHEN IT COMES TO REPORTING RUBBISH 

Back in August, Transport & Environment Convener Lesley Hinds responded in person on social media to widespread local frustration that formal complaints about missed rubbish uplifts and fly tipping were going unheeded by the Council. 

She invited readers to Tweet or email her directly, promising that she would personally see to it that the necessary jobs got done.

On 19 January, Leith Central Community Council's Harald Tobermann reported to Clarence and the City Centre Neighbourhood Manager [IB] a tipped-over bin near the junction of Dalmeny and Buchanan Streets (see photo above). Two days later, nothing had been done to rectify the problem, so Tobermann decided to take up Cllr Hinds's offer of personal intervention.

He openly shared this and other communications at the time with various officers and the Spurtle, and we now reproduce his side of the correspondence. We've made a few minor changes for clarity and brevity. We paraphrase responses from Councillor Hinds and officials, and use initials not full names for CEC employees.

If you lack Tobermann's patience and tenacity, perhaps read his first email below and then skip to his last on 29 January at the foot of this page. His closing remarks are persuasive.

*****

21 January, 09:08

Lesley

You previously said that that if you were made aware of street cleansing and bin issues you could act on them.

Much as I regard this as an inefficient and unsatisfactory way to sort out (and get to the bottom of) such problems, please see [my email and photo of 19 January]. I have received an automated response from Clarence, nothing from (overworked?) Waste Services and [IB].

No action on the ground as of this morning. Meanwhile the bin has found company in the form of discarded sofa and divan in the same street (photos available on request).

Best wishes   

Harald Tobermann (Vice Chair, Leith Central Community Council)

21 January, 09:13

Five minutes later, Cllr Hinds replied that she would see would see what she could do.

*****

23 January

Dear Lesley

Following your [last] email […], I was copied into your departmental adviser's message to Waste Services and a response from [GF] (at Waste Services), advising that 'this has been logged already'. and that he messaged the crew 'to get this picked up as soon as possible'.

As of now, this doesn't seem to have had the desired effect. Indeed, the opposite, with even more dumped items appearing in the same and nearby streets, as illustrated in the photos below taken within less than 250 linear metres just off Leith Walk.

As you know, this ward accommodates Scotland's highest population density and facilitates pedestrian travel to a substantial hinterland, suggesting that commensurate resources need to be deployed to make this sustainable. Looking at the painfully slow progress of this incident, I am not sure such resources are being deployed and if anybody can do anything about it.

Best wishes

Harald

   

   

   

*****

Tobermann’s email was promptly blocked by the Council on the grounds that it may have contained: large attachments, or pictures inappropriate for business use, or content indicating unsolicited mail or video files. He therefore resubmitted the email without photos, and two days later emailed Cllr Hinds again.

Dear Lesley

Another update: still no progress to report, neither on the 'original bin' (latest photos below), nor on any of the other hotspots In Iona, Buchanan and Dalmeny Streets which I identified in my email of 23/1/16.

Debris discharged from 'original bin'.

The 'original bin'

Harald

*****

26 January

Dear Lesley

Herewith my regular update. As you can see from the photos below, there have been a few changes.

Thanks to today's high winds the paper that has been spilling from the tipped over 'original bin' is now dispersed along the street, and not just clustered around the bin.

Nearby, the mattress at the junction Buchanan and Iona has made a few friends since I took a photo of that location a few days ago. not so sure what to make of the over-enthusiastic spillage onto the roadway. 

I also spotted a 'new' armchair further along on Buchanan Street, joining the free-for-all in the vicinity - you get the picture.

What else can I do to have the issues  - raised over the last week first with the Neighbourhood Team, Waste Service and Clarence, and then you - resolved? 

Best wishes

Harald

*****

27 January

Dear Lesley

Herewith another update, this time with some progress to report.

It seems Buchanan Street got some attention in the course of today - the discarded red sofa at the junction Dalmeny/Buchanan that latterly seated an abandoned Christmas tree and the hotbed of mattresses at the junction of Iona/Buchanan Streets are gone. Some sweeping up, dealing with spillages and smaller items would restore some degree of normality.

 

Sadly, nearby Dalmeny Street did not get the same treatment as illustrated: the 'original bin' (near junction with Buchanan Street) remains in a prostrate state, and the cluster of divan bed base and drawers continues to adorn the pavement near the junction with Leith Walk, along with smaller items. Difficult to guess why they were ignored, given that they were 'logged in the system' last week, and the length and depth of the associated email correspondence.

Still puzzled and with best wishes

Harald

*****

The bin in question was reported over a week ago and I have been told before that a team has been tasked to upright it. Have you never had any feedback from previous team/s, in case there is a problem with the bin that a normal team is not equipped for? (I would have given it a shot myself, but I reckon it could take 4 men, and may wreck the wheels in the process.)

I would also like to point out that there are several abandoned items and associated debris strewn along the south pavement of Dalmeny Street between Leith Walk and Sloan Street (see photos previous shared) that require urgent attention. 

29 January

Lesley

This is my last update on the saga and is further to my congratulatory email to [RD], which contained a partial analysis. 

I know that resources are stretched and we can discuss separately whether they are stretched in the right area (and why they are stretched in the first place). 

What is difficult to comprehend is that it should be so difficult to communicate. The latest example of this is the email from [A] above, who at 17:36 yesterday advised me that she had raised an action for crews/s today to uplift items from Dalmeny Street, well after the job had been completed, resulting no doubt in a wild goose chase and wasted resoiurces.

This indicates that crews don't report back to 'Waste Services' efficiently and accurately after they have completed a job (or maybe didn't, because they were sent out inadequately equipped) and that 'Waste Services' issue incomplete instructions or too late. If this replicates across the city, I am not surprised about the problems that can be witnessed elsewhere. It cannot be the job of a CC member or the Convenor of the Transport & Environment Committee to provide communicative glue and prompts to fill such communication gaps.