RUBBISH – WHERE THERE'S A WILL THERE'S A WAY, SAYS McVEY

Parts of Warriston will be among the first areas in the city to experience new waste collection arrangements in September. Those affected will be informed by post in July.

Households will be supplied with a new 140-litre wheelie-bin for general waste, with the standard green wheelie-bin being used for mixed recycling (paper/cardboard, cans/foil/empty aerosols). Blue boxes will be used for glass, food and garden recycling. Red boxes aren’t needed anymore and can be thrown away. Or handed back, responsibly.

The Council’s aim is to increase the volume and types of material that can be recycled, and to simplify the system by collecting green wheelie-bins and blue boxes at the same time. Similar arrangements have already proved effective in Fife and Falkirk.

Research in 2010 showed that over two-thirds of Edinburgh bin contents could be recycled. But at the moment the city recycles under 40 per cent of its waste, and pays millions of pounds for environmentally unfriendly landfill.  City of Edinburgh Council aims to recycle 75 per cent of waste by 2025, so clearly we all have a lot of work left to do.

That’s why the new general-waste ‘landfill’ wheelie-bin is smaller, the reduction being compensated for by the increase in recycling arrangements. With all the recycling services included, says the Council, recycling capacity goes from 150 litres to 295 litres – an increase of 96%.

Leith’s Councillor Adam McVey, Environment Vice Convener, says ‘To meet our targets we need to see a culture-change – we want to help residents get used to the new service but the public have to take responsibility, too.’

The new arrangements are scheduled to be in place for relevant households across the city by this time next year. In the meantime, further confusing explanations are available in the pdf below.