Daily bin collection for New Town

Three New Town streets are receiving daily bin collections, despite Edinburgh council’s plans to reduce bin collections to a fortnightly basis.

Heriot Row, Darnaway Street and Abercromby Place are reported to have the privilege of daily refuse pick-ups. With properties valued over £1 million, the area boasts some well known Scottish residents including Lord Hamilton, Scotland’s most senior judge, and Malcolm Offord, a city economist.

Laura Varney from Edinburgh City Council advised that the streets have additional collections because they are “in close proximity to the city centre." 

She said: “This is all about keeping Edinburgh clean and beautiful as the capital city of Scotland.”

To keep the city as “attractive as possible”, the council collect trade waste every night which is considered cost effective and more efficient as there are fewer loading restrictions in the evening.

Reinforcing the desire to be budget-friendly, they feel it makes sense to extend their waste collection by picking up nearby residents’ rubbish.

Alistair Stein, Chairman of the Central New Town Residents Association, has the privilege of daily bin collections. He said: “We never asked for the seven-day collections. We would be happy with twice-weekly collections with heavy duty bin bags.” 

The extra pick ups does not create additional costs to the Council’s budget as “daytime resources were re-aligned to compensate for those collections that were charged from daytime collection to night time collection.”

This system came into force after the tram works began. When Princes Street reopened, the decision was made to continue the arrangement after the success of maintaining the city centre.

This has fuelled anger from nearby neighbours who have just missed out on the daily collections. A resident of Great King Street, who did not wish to be named, said: “We pay the same in council tax as everyone else in the New Town and we have to climb over ripped bags and garbage.”