Edinburgh's garden waste collections to start again after being suspended because of coronavirus

Brown bins will be picked up again from May 11

Garden waste collections will resume from May 11

GARDEN waste collections are to resume in Edinburgh from next month, the city council announced today.

The brown bin pick-ups were suspended earlier this month in response to coronavirus when resources were diverted to other essential waste collections and helping crews observe social distancing measures.

But now the council says the collections will start again from the week beginning May 11 after staff returned from absence and new collection arrangements bedded in.

The council said anyone with a garden waste permit would be compensated for the break in service with an extension of the permit.

But it said people should store any excess garden waste that does not fit in the bin until their next collection date. And it warned overflowing bins, heavy bins or waste placed at the side of bins would not be collected.

Council leader Adam McVey said: “We’ve made every effort to continue to run core services, including waste collections and I’m grateful to residents for their understanding of why we’ve had to make some temporary changes under these extraordinary circumstances. It’s thanks to the enormous hard work of the council’s waste team that we’re beginning to see those services returning to normal.

“I know many residents will be keen to get out and tend to their gardens and I’d like to thank them for their patience while brown bin collections were temporarily suspended to help us respond to the coronavirus outbreak. We will be extending the time period that the current payments cover to ensure residents get the number of collections of they paid for and we’ll be writing to households with further details later in the year.”

Depute leader Cammy Day said recent changes to waste collections had helped to protect the safety of workers.

“I’m pleased to see that the service has adjusted to these. The crews who pick up our bins play a crucial role, and it’s thanks to their hard work that we can reintroduce brown bin collections.

“I hope residents help us to keep protecting crews’ safety by storing any excess garden waste for their next collection, as otherwise bins may become too heavy to lift.”

The council urged residents to check their collection calendars to find out when their brown bins would next be picked up.

Kerbside glass recycling collections, which were suspended in March, resumed this week - though again residents are being urged to put out only one blue box and to store any excess glass for the next collection to stop boxes becoming too heavy to lift.

Special uplifts are currently suspended and household waste and recycling centres remain closed.