AN EDINBURGH litter picker has hit out after he discovered hundreds of abandoned tree guards from a planting project left at local beauty spot.
The local discovered the discarded rubbish on Corstorphine Hill, a beauty spot and green space in the capital, whilst out and about yesterday.
A frequent community cleaner who regularly takes it upon himself to tidy up the capital, the resident found the tree guards in pieces all over the hill.
The tree guards are presumed to be from a project that saw dozens of trees planted on Corstorphine Hill a few years ago.
Alongside the discarded and broken tree guards was a large amount of other litter, shockingly including a pair of boxer shorts and a shoe.
The tree guards were left in pieces, eroded by weather, but being made of hard plastic they are non-biodegradable.
According to the litter-picking local, a few of the trees were still alive but many had died off after being planted.
He shared images of his finds to social media yesterday including pictures of pieces of the tree guards alongside a number of intact examples.
He also shared photos of the still living – but young – trees, the shoe he discovered and several pieces of more conventional litter.
Among the detritus was bottles, cans, wrappers and all manner of other discarded rubbish.
His post was captioned: “Trees were planted on Corstorphine Hill a few years ago.
“Now we’ve inherited hundreds of whole tree guards and thousands of small bits of plastic that need removing. Yay.
“Picked a few up, plenty crisp packets, a glove, boxer shorts, bottles, shoe and more – total one bag of litter.”
His post has since received over two dozen likes and a number of comments from locals and members of the community.
One local inquired about the health of the planted trees asking: “Have any trees survived?”
The litter picker then replied: “Certainly some, yes. Not sure about how many or what percentage.
“I know there are some animals which may eat young saplings, but these guards are a nightmare, even the newer non-plastic ones.”
Speaking today a City of Edinburgh spokesperson said: “There has been extensive tree planting over the years in Corstorphine Hill. When trees start to outgrow tree guards we remove them. This is often undertaken in conjunction with local volunteer groups.
“There is normally liaison between those groups and the Council whereby guards that are removed are either piled or bagged in bulk bags for uplift by staff.
“We are normally notified of such locations and the spent guards are uplifted from site soon after they are removed from trees.
“This particularly case is an oversight, had we been made aware they’d have been removed promptly.
“Although the guards are biodegradable, there is no policy to leave onsite to degrade.”
