Workers at Giovanni’s on Northfield Broadway were found to have dumped 11 potato sacks full of food waste, plastic packaging and polystyrene containers in a communal bin on Baronscourt Road.

Council inspectors searching the bin only discovered where the waste had originated from after finding customer delivery receipts displaying the name of the business.

A report from waste management teams stated bosses at the chippy were “unable to offer any explanation at that time as to how the waste from the business had ended up within the on-street communal bins”.

Staff at Giovanni's on Northfield Broadway were found to have dumped 11 potato sacks full of food waste, plastic packaging and polystyrene containers in a communal bin.

Inspectors added they were “unable to provide waste transfer notes for inspection at the time of the visit”.

The communal, on-street bins serve flat blocks in the area, just a five-minute walk from the chippy.

Bosses have also been ordered to pay £800 in compensation to the authority as a reparation payment for the uplift of the incorrectly disposed waste.

Mauro Pacitti, a director of Giovanni Enterprises Limited, told the Evening News: “A member of staff on their way home put the rubbish in a residential bin instead of our container. This happened twice.”

He added: “We have been here for 50 years and we have never had problems with our waste disposal before.”

Waste compliance officers reported unmarked black bags “found to contain a large quantity of mainly food related waste” were pulled from the bins, along with “cardboard waste and large empty tins of tomatoes”. Blue paper, kitchen tissues, flattened cardboard boxes and foil food trays were also removed from the bin by waste management teams.

After visiting the chippy, they discovered the business had no contract with any waste management firm for almost a year before the current agreement with Tartan Waste was signed in June 2018.

Waste management chiefs added the previous uplift, by contractor Veolia, reportedly took place in August 2017, leaving a huge gap where waste was inadequately disposed.

Inspectors stated the business had saved up to £1,104 for the 46-week period between uplifts.

A City of Edinburgh Council spokeswoman commented: “This outcome is a clear warning to businesses who continue to flout the law around trade waste – we will not accept the misuse of residents’ communal bins.”

“Irresponsible behaviour like this has a real impact on the city, causing bins meant for households to overflow, often attracting litter.”

She added: “Our Waste Compliance Team is dedicated to educating and enforcing against businesses who do not have the required trade waste contracts in place, and this prosecution is the culmination of their hard work.”

“That said, in an ideal world it wouldn’t come to this, so I would encourage businesses across the city to make sure they have the correct trade waste arrangements in place to avoid a significant fine and a criminal record.”

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Edinburgh chippy fined for dumping waste in residential bin