Why Glasgow is better than Edinburgh – Kezia Dugdale

There has always been a rather healthy rivalry between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Naturally we win hands-down – only a fool would argue otherwise.

An actual castle, sitting atop a dormant volcano clearly trumps a mediocre statue of the Duke of Wellington – and, anyway, we have a better one – with a traffic cone on his head.

But I like to think I am fair and I have only just realised that there is something our west coast cousins are doing better than us.

Divided recycling bins. I can hear you laughing, but bear with me.

Take a walk down the busy tourist thoroughfare of Princes Street and you will see nothing but ugly, black, standard street bins.

Take a similar walk around Portobello, and again, it’s the same ugly bins with no chance to dispose of your coffee cups or bottles properly.

Now let’s look westward.

At Queen Street Station, you can separate your waste at divided recycling bins the second you step off the train.

In Kelvingrove Park, they have installed wooden clad bins, which are designed to fit in with the landscape and which also allow you to split your rubbish into different recyclable parts.

I hear some of the Glasgow bins even have a tracker at the bottom of them to let the council know when they need emptied.

Surely fixing that has to be a priority.

Our pride simply won’t allow Glasgow to get one over on us.

And, of course, the planet would benefit from it too.