Council announces fresh drive in the battle against litter

IT has been dubbed the dirtiest street in Edinburgh '“ now a special task force will scrub Leith Walk clean from top to bottom as part of the latest council drive against litter.

The council announces fresh drive against litter. Picture; Ian Georgeson

City bosses said a squad of workers will carry out a “deep clean” of the historic thoroughfare this week as efforts continue to clamp down on rubbish, fly-tipping and dumped waste.

Meanwhile, just over half of businesses in the Leith Walk area were found to be failing to properly deal with their trade waste.

Councillor Lesley Hinds, the city’s environment leader, said: “We’re making a real effort to address issues with waste and cleansing in the capital, and the Our Edinburgh campaign is central to changing behaviour around things like litter-dropping and fly-tipping.

“By helping residents and businesses around Leith Walk to understand what can and can’t be disposed of in communal bins, amongst other measures, we really want to reduce the unsightly and frustrating problem of overflowing bins in the area.”

Council bosses said their latest drive would focus on the misuse of communal bins by traders, as well as the proper disposal of waste.

More environmental wardens will be on hand to provide “information and guidance” as part of the plans, they said.

A crack team of council enforcers set up earlier this year to combat the scourge of illegal waste dumping has discovered many businesses don’t have systems in place to deal with their rubbish.

The council stopped uplifting trade waste in July, forcing shops to find private collection companies.

Elm Rose Café and Diner on Elm Row was visited by council enforcers yesterday morning – and passed with flying colours.

Manager Serkan Tarakci said the general state of Leith Walk was “not bad”, but raised concerns about rubbish piling up in parkland and shrubs.

The first phase of the council’s Our Edinburgh campaign, which ran over the summer, targeted litter-droppers in the city centre with brightly-coloured bins, portable ashtrays and “bin me” labels for takeaway packaging. It sparked a 52 per cent increase in the amount of litter collected from bins.