The council has advised they will restart garden waste collections from 11 May 2020.
The service was suspended in April as part of Edinburgh’s response to the coronavirus crisis. It allowed the council to best use their resources on other, essential waste collections and in helping crews observe social distancing measures.
The return of team members from absence, as well as the bedding in of new collection arrangements, means the council is now able to reintroduce garden waste collections.
Anyone with a garden waste permit will be compensated for the break in service with an extension to their permit to cover this time. The council says it will contact residents about this direct.
(Although they claim too be the first Scottish council to reinstate the service, which they may well be, our fellow hyperlocal website, Your Harlow, has already reported that the council there will reinstate the service from 4 May onwards.)
Council Leader Adam McVey said: “We’ve made every effort to continue to run core services, including waste collections, and I’m grateful to residents for their understanding of why we’ve had to make some temporary changes under these extraordinary circumstances. Its thanks to the enormous hard work of the Council’s waste team that we’re beginning to see those services returning to normal.
“I know many residents will be keen to get out and tend to their gardens and I’d like to thank them for their patience while brown bin collections were temporarily suspended to help us respond to the coronavirus outbreak. We will be extending the time period that the current payments cover to make sure residents get the number of collections they paid for and we’ll be writing to households with further details later in the year.”
Depute Leader Cammy Day said: “Recent changes have helped to protect the safety of workers and I’m pleased to see that the service has adjusted to these. The crews who pick up our bins play a crucial role, and it’s thanks to their hard work that we can reintroduce brown bin collections.
“I hope residents help us to keep protecting crews’ safety by storing any excess garden waste for their next collection, as otherwise bins may become too heavy to lift.”
You are asked to check your collection calendars to find out when your brown bins will next be picked up. The council is encouraging people to store any excess garden waste that won’t fit in the bin until the next collection dates – overflowing bins, heavy bins or waste placed at the side of bins won’t be collected.
The City of Edinburgh Council will write to and email all those residents who signed up for the garden waste service with details of its reintroduction, as well as plans for compensation for the collections that have been missed.
From today the council also reintroduced kerbside glass recycling collections, which were suspended in March. During the first weeks, the council is again asking residents to put out only one blue box and to store any excess glass for the next collection, as boxes may become too heavy to lift, posing a health risk to crews.
Special uplifts are currently suspended while Household Waste and Recycling Centres remain closed though we’re working hard to reintroduce these services as soon as it is safe to do so.
Anyone with symptoms of coronavirus is encouraged to follow the guidance on how to dispose of waste correctly to help protect the safety of bin collection crews.
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