Timed trade waste collections for city centre traders

There’s controversy in Edinburgh as the council brings in timed waste collections for city centre traders.

This kind of collection is nothing new – many towns limit the times of both shop deliveries and waste collections in their shopping centres for the singular reason that shoppers and large lorries simply do not mix. For this reason alone, we as a company support timed waste collections which ensure that trade waste is taken away safely and efficiently and at the best value for everybody involved.

Edinburgh City Council are sick of piles of rubbish building up on shopping streets in what is one of the country’s most beautiful cities. The new pilot scheme means that traders face fines for putting out their waste at the wrong time, and they’ve only got a thirty minute window to get it right. Those caught leaving their waste outside face a £50 fine, the Edinburgh Evening News reports.

This culture change for Edinburgh shopkeepers, restaurant owners and other city centre businesses in three of the city’s main streets hopes to do away with the curse of burst bin bags, which cost the city some £600,000 per year to clean up.

The new regime also means that trade waste bins will be collected before they’re overfilled, and will stop rubbish sacks being left out overnight for seagulls, drunks and other vermin to rip apart. But the main motivation is to make the city’s tourist areas look better and not resemble a rubbish tip.

Despite the good intentions, the move is likely to face opposition from traders. The new directive means they’ll have to find space for their refuse somewhere on their premises until their appointed 30 minute time slot. This might cause health and safety problems for food service outlets and businesses where space – at a premium in Edinburgh’s city centre – is limited.

However, the plan has the backing of Visit Scotland and UNESCO. The council’s Leslie Hinds said the scheme is in the interests of businesses that Edinburgh remains clean and beautiful, and “we will be working with and supporting businesses in the pilot areas to comply with the timed collections and the pilots will allow everyone to assess how effective this approach is.”

The onus now falls on companies like Business Waste to ensure that bin collection rounds happen on time, everyday, like clockwork. And, yes, that’s certainly going to happen. 

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