Edinburgh bin hubs making 'every day a misery' for residents due to flytipping, noise and smell
‘We'd like to see a complete overhaul of the waste system’ - Silke Dykstra
An Edinburgh resident who lives with a bin hub right outside her house says "every day is a misery" as she is confronted by flytipped furniture, the noise of smashing glass, the smell of mouldy food and personal waste strewn in the street.
Silke Dykstra, who has lived in Spottiswoode Street, Marchmont, since 2009, says the bins also attract anti-social behaviour, are frequently covered in graffiti and sometimes set on fire.
And she says the problems with the bin hubs are driving people to leave the area.
“It’s really sad - families are leaving, retired people are leaving, flats are becoming short-term lets and HMOs. It’s completely degrading the fabric of the community.”
She claims the bin hub system is “not fit for purpose” and says she and other Marchmont residents want the council to reassess its waste collection policy.
“Bin hubs are a target for graffiti, they’re used like a urinal by people passing, they’re a magnet for flytipping - every day there are huge items of furniture, odd trainers, just broken bits of everything dumped out there, as well as personal waste.
“The other day, directly outside my home, I had to step over hypodermic needles, medications, blood-soaked tissues, multiple used tampons, used sanitary towels, multiple soiled nappies, used cotton buds, various rotten foods, blood-soaked underwear and used medical gloves.
“We've had fires - that can be through batteries being disposed of and igniting, or barbecues or it can be quite deliberate. It's a huge amount of flammable recyclable material just waiting for someone to drop a match into it, which people do.
“The noise that comes from the banging of the lids and the smashing of the glass is constant, and the smell from the food waste - it just smells of mould and I don’t think it's very good for the air quality - when they empty that, there’s a massive plume of mouldy air.”
But Ms Dykstra complains the council is not listening to the feedback from residents. “We're just going round in circles with the council, but they're not budging, not listening, not making any changes. It's very frustrating.
“I think it’s about two and a half years since these bin hubs were installed. Every day is a misery. It feels a long time to be ignored.”
There have long been complaints about bin hubs, particularly in Marchmont, and requests for bins to be relocated away from people's front doors. Strict rules on where hubs could be sited were relaxed a little, but Ms Dykstra said her request for the one outside her house to be moved was rejected.
She said: “I think we've got an overprovision here - I think this one could be removed completely. We’ve got three in a very short stretch - and at the moment this one is servicing Warrender Park Terrace, which is not even our street, because there are none on that street.
“There are a number we'd like relocated, but ultimately we're asking the council to completely reassess their waste policy.
“We'd like to see a complete overhaul of the waste system for something which wouldn’t involve communal bin hubs at all, something far more sensitive to the heritage of the area but also to the residents who live here.”
But the council claimed bin hubs were “working well”.
A spokesperson said: “Our city-wide communal bin review project is grouping together recycling and waste bins to improve recycling provision and waste collection reliability for around 130,000 of our residents. It is almost complete and due to increased collections being introduced it is working well across the city.
“Our plan is to install additional bin hubs on Warrender Park Terrace which will significantly increase the capacity residents have to dispose of their waste in this area.”