Fighting for better electronic recycling for tenements

Councillor Jack Caldwell and the Edinburgh Lib Dems are calling for improvements to give tenement residents fairness when it comes to disposing e-waste.

At a meeting of the City of Edinburgh Council, Councillor Caldwell won cross-party support for his motion to get e-waste recycling on the agenda for areas with communal bins instead of wheelie bins.

Every year in the UK, approximately between 1.6m and 2million tonnes of e-waste is disposed of.

While the Council provides blue box recycling for individual properties with wheelie bins, no such service is available for residents whose homes are in stairwells or use communal bins, which is the case for many residents across Leith, Broughton, Hillside, Abbeyhill, Easter Road, Bellevue, Canonmills, Pilrig and Bonnington.

Councillor Caldwell said "

The text of his motion read;

"Council Notes

1)         Blue boxes are available to residents with kerbside waste collections to dispose of batteries, old devices and other electronic waste, but that such an option is not available for residents reliant on on-street communal bins.

2)         That officers have previously explored alternative provision but resource for non- statutory provisions remains a challenge.

Therefore agrees

3)         That the next report to the Transport and Environment Committee on the delivery of the communal bin programme should set out options to improve electronic waste recycling facilities for areas served by communal bin hubs and provide recycling equity.

4)         That the Transport and Environment Convener writes to Zero Waste Scotland and the COSLA Environment and Economy Spokesperson requesting clarification on future Recycling Improvement Fund funding and setting out interest in electrical waste recycling improvements across Edinburgh."

Councillor Caldwell and the Lib Dems also accepted a Green amendment to also report back on the development of electronic recycling at local libraries.

The Edinburgh Liberal Democrats will also continue to pursue the case to remove the need for bookings (and to be a driver) to use local recycling centres.