Every party promises Edinburgh clean-up in local council election pledges

Edinburgh’s political parties have promised cleaner streets, improved waste collection services and a crackdown on fly-tipping and dog fouling if voted in at the council elections.

With under a month to go until polling day, plans for a cleaner capital have been put forward across all the party manifestos.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have all vowed to scrap bulky uplift fees to reduce fly-tipping rates in the city.

The Tories and Lib Dems have also made a promise to do-away with charges for brown garden waste bins which currently cost residents £35 a year.

All the parties in the council elections have pledged to end scenes like this in Edinburgh.

As part of their re-election bid, the SNP says it will increase funding for bin collections and street cleaning by £10 million over the next five-year term.

The group’s 2022 manifesto commits to extra cash for the council to tackle ‘unwanted graffiti’ in Edinburgh and the creation of new spaces for street art and murals.

If elected to help run the next administration, they also plan to introduce more wardens on the beat to stop businesses from using residential bins and issue fines for dog fouling.

And they want to carry out a “full review” of the roll-out of new bin hubs, retain gull proof-sacks “where they are wanted” and redirect funds for the project to put communal bins underground “where possible”.

Edinburgh’s Labour Group have pledged to increase the frequency of street cleaning and bin collections, enforce the “toughest penalties” for fly tipping and dog fouling and extend food waste collections to all homes across the capital.

In addition, the party plans to reduce the amount of waste plastic going to landfill by promoting the use of re-usable nappies and sanitary products, whilst investigating ways of recycling plastic film.

Meanwhile, the Greens have vowed to improve bin collections and recycling with a “recycling action programme” and more street cleaning carts in each neighbourhood.

A fly-tipping action plan and more environmental wardens would be put in place under the Greens’ manifesto in a bid to tackle illegal roadside dumping and dog fouling.

The Liberal Democrats say they will make recycling in Edinburgh ‘easier and more ambitious’ by opening new council-run recycling centres and increasing the number of public waste bins around littering hotspots.

They have pledged to review bin hubs and the decision to remove gull-proof sacks in historic parts of the city and will tackle littering and dog fouling and push for increased fining powers.

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