Flat's the way to do it!

Millie O’Hare is doing her bit for the city’s recycling effort – and you can too! More than 60 per cent of Edinburgh’s residents live in tenements or flats and more than 1,000 paper and packaging banks are located throughout the city to make it easy for people to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill.

Tenement facilities

The recycling campaign continues by focusing on the services available to residents in tenements and flats.

More than half the properties in Edinburgh – 60 per cent – are either tenements or flats which usually don’t have as much space for wheelie bins or recycling boxes.

All new flats built within the city must have recycling facilities included in the plans. However, it’s more difficult to introduce recycling facilities into buildings within the city centre and World Heritage site due to space, planning and noise constraints.

To give people living in flats and tenements the chance to recycle as much as possible, more than 1,000 paper and packaging banks are located throughout the city. A review is also underway to make sure these are located in the right places and to introduce more wherever possible.

Because of space constraints on the streets in these areas, it can be difficult to provide blue and red recycling boxes.

If you live in a block with eight or less flats and think there is room for the blue and red box recycling service, get in touch with the recycling team who will assess whether it’s feasible for you and your neighbours.

Need to know

For more information about Edinburgh’s full range of recycling services, visit www.edinburgh.gov.uk/waste or e-mail waste@edinburgh.gov.uk or phone 0131 529 3030.