The Keep Edinburgh Clean campaign steps up the fight against illegal dumping
The Keep Edinburgh Clean campaign is launching a new initiative to tackle fly-tipping and dumping of furniture, white goods and general household rubbish, which is frequently being left next to on-street bins in certain locations across the city.
In Scotland more than 70 per cent of fly-tipping comes from households! Common items such as sofas, beds, mattresses, fridges, TVs and washing machines are regularly found littering Edinburgh’s streets.
The rapid response teams, based within Services for Communities, are continuously being called out to uplift tonnes of illegally dumped rubbish every week.
This type of illegal dumping is not only unsightly for residents but can be dangerous and attract vermin to the area.
As part of the new Keep Edinburgh Clean campaign, information will be made available to residents in problem areas on how they should be disposing of heavy or bulky items.
Wardens will step up the patrols in these areas and will be issuing fixed penalty fines to anyone caught illegally dumping rubbish, with a maximum fine of up to £40,000 enforceable in extreme cases.
The team at Keep Edinburgh Clean want to raise awareness of how easy it is to dispose of your household items without throwing them out onto the street.
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There are a number of options available for disposal, including taking reusable items to charity shops, advertising on sites like freecycle.com, visiting your local community recycling centre or arranging a special uplift from the Council.
There are three community recycling centres situated at Braehead, Seafield and Craigmillar. All of the sites have been refurbished and have easy layouts and helpful staff on hand.
Read more about recycling HERE.
The opening hours for the sites are 10am-4pm in October to March and Mon to Fri 10am-7.30pm; Sat and Sun 10am-6pm in April to September.
It’s easy to arrange a special uplift and the first uplift each year is free, with a charge of £17.20 for each additional uplift. To arrange an uplift simply call 0131 200 2000 or go online at: www.edinburgh.gov.uk/internet/environment. It's everyone’s responsibility to keep our City clean, so if you see anyone dumping rubbish illegally then call the Dumb Dumpers Stop Line on 0845 2 30 40 90.