Digging deep for underground bins

The city council has announced that 50,000 will be spent within the next few months on 17 new bins that will be partially buried underground.

Each individual "silobin" will be up to 33 times bigger than the existing bins.

It will mean a significant reduction in the total number of bins in the gardens, from 200 at present to 17, sparking fears that the scheme could lead to an increase in people dropping litter.

Council chiefs believe the new bins will improve the appearance of the gardens because they will replace the existing "unsightly" bins.

It will also reduce the likelihood of overflowing bins.

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With recycling to be introduced for the first time, it is hoped the scheme can help reduce the amount of rubbish being sent to landfill.

The initiative is a pilot project but if it is seen to be successful it could be rolled out to areas across the city, including major parks.

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 the bins, the initiative will result in the total capacity of all of 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, possibly rising to an 85 per cent increase.

Because of the reduction in the amount of times that collections have to take place, it is hoped that significant savings can be made on the cost of collections.

The cool underground temperature also reduces bacteria growth and odour, while reducing the nuisance from flies and wasps.

Green councillor Alison Johnstone said: "It is high time we saw more progress towards the 'zero waste' commitment that the administration have made.

"Clearly, this is a spend-to-save measure because at the moment we spend 7 million on landfill and that is a waste of taxpayers' money."

She added a warning over littering. "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."