Green apples for clean capital

City's environmental credentials are honoured

The Council has received two Green Apple Awards for environmental projects – one for the city’s Reuse Cabins and the other for improvements in street cleansing.

Organised by The Green Organisation, an independent environment group, the awards were presented at a ceremony at the House of Commons in London on 17 November.

Top winners will also have their chance to go to the next round and represent the UK in an event in Brussels – the European Business Awards for the Environment.

Edinburgh’s Reuse Cabins are located in the four Community Recycling Centres and are for the donation of reusable household items. Operated by the Bethany Christian Trust charity, items such as furniture, linens and working electrical appliances can be donated for use by people who need assistance to furnish their homes.

The cleanliness of Edinburgh’s streets has also been steadily improving in Edinburgh over the past years.

Every year, the Council commissions Keep Scotland Beautiful to conduct four independent surveys to measure the cleanliness. Each survey is a snapshot of the cleanliness of a sample of streets over approximately four weeks and the results are a score out of 100.

The overall 2008 score came out as 70, with 90 per cent of streets surveyed found to be clean. An additional survey taken in August, Edinburgh’s busiest month, found the city centre to have the cleanest streets ever measured.

To find out more, visit www.thegreenorganisation.info