Load of rubbish

I am area manager for two bars in Edinburgh’s Rose Street and this is the first information I have received about this new initiative.

There has been no consultation, and this seems to be driven by the fact that councillors do not like looking out on the bins from the City Chambers.

Traders and businesses, as usual, pay the price.

At present, it is virtually impossible to know when your trade waste will be picked up on a daily basis, particularly on Rose Street, which is narrow and subject to traffic delays.

These councillors have absolutely no concept as to how hard traders work to keep control of their rubbish.

Any unsightly mess affects our business.

The timing of this is impeccable as next January, the proposed start date, coincides with new legislation regarding trade waste.

This will result in a large increase in the number of bins. In my case, we will go from one to three bins.

Where do they propose we store them out of site?

Jim Orr, the city’s deputy environment leader, is quoted in your report as saying: “We’re not expecting a conflict with traders. An element of this is culture change and most businesses just need incentive.”

What an arrogant, self-serving remark. Rose Street in particular has made massive progress in its clean and welcoming environment.

This is almost totally down to the work of Essential Edinburgh, which is funded by local business and not the council.

C McDonald

Edinburgh