ONE of Scotland’s most celebrated city beauty spots is installing giant underground bins to deter litter louts.
The new
“silobins’ are set to be installed in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens and will be up to 33 times bigger than the existing bins.
They will be partially buried underground to make the gardens look more attractive.
But many fear that the new scheme could lead to an increase of people dropping litter with the number of bins falling from 200 at present to just 17.
The 50,000 initiative is a pilot project but if it is successful it could be rolled out to other areas across the city.
Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city’s environmental leader, said:
“It is important to keep our parks litter-free and this trial will not only increase litter collection but will also reduce the number of unsightly bins.
“Edinburgh is a great place to live in and visit, especially during the summer months when people are out enjoying the city’s parks and we want to keep them looking good. “
The design of the new bins has been agreed with the support of Edinburgh World Heritage and Historic Scotland.
Despite the reduction in the number of bins, the initiative will result in the total capacity of all the bins in the gardens rising from 10,340 litres to 48,000 litres.
It is also estimated that there will be a minimum 70 per cent increase in the amount of waste that is recycled.
And the number of collections that have to take place are set to decrease, also saving money.
Green councillor Alison Johnstone said:
“It is high time we saw more progress towards the
“zero waste’ commitment that the administration have made.
“I would like to think that the gardens are so well kept that it would encourage people to keep them tidy.
“But littering will have to be closely monitored because it is a vast reduction in the number of bins so we will have to make sure we have done all we can as far as signposts and such like. “
