Edinburgh bins: Council to relax rules on location of bin hubs in bid to win public support

The city's transport and environment committee will be asked to approve changes making it easier for the hubs to be sited further away from people's homes.

The rules on location of bin hubs are to be relaxed | supplied

Current rules say that residents should not have to cross the road to reach their bin hub, which means bins are sometimes placed right outside residents' front doors or windows even when there is a bank wall or piece of land across the road where they would not cause a nuisance.

The proposed change would allow bin hubs to be placed on the opposite side of the street as long as the road is no more than 10.5 metres wide, is within a 20mph zone, sight lines are safe, there is no history of accidents and there is a safe space to use the bin, with a pavement at least 1.5 metres wide.

And the current rule that no-one should have to walk more than a maximum of 100 metres to get to a bin hub is to be relaxed to 120 metres.

Officials said they had already identified 18 bin hubs which could be changed as a result of the new criteria. In 12 cases, the bin hubs could be removed because allowing people to cross the road meant there was another hub easily accessible; and in six cases, the hubs cud be moved across the road to be situated next to a blank wall or green space.

The proposed changes follow a workshop at the City Chambers which brought together MPs, MSPs, community councils, councillors and council officers to discuss concerns over the locations of bin hubs across the city.

Transport and environment convener Stephen Jenkinson said: “Probably about 90 per cent of bin hubs are fine and we don't get any complaints about them, while maybe 10 per cent have issues. 

“I want to improve the satisfaction rate - you're probably never going to have a 100 per cent success rate, but if we can increase the flexibility and allow officers a bit more freedom to place bin hubs where the community would like them, then I think we're probably on the right track.

“I think it's also important that we listen, that we don't just make a decision as a council and carry on and deliver the project without testing it with the people out there, and potentially changing it if we feel it's not quite working.”

He said trying to tailor the criteria to satisfy public concerns was “a grown-up way to engage with communities across the city.

“These are positive steps to try and bring as many people along with us on this solution for waste management in the city. I think this is the right solution for Edinburgh - we just have to work on the placement of bin hubs to satisfy as many people as possible.

“If we can improve that satisfaction rate by introducing a little bi of flexibility then that's the approach we should take.”