Dear Spurtle
I, along with many other residents of Cumberland Street (West), have been highlighting the intolerable problem of discarded waste and fly tipping around our communal bins for the past few years. I fully endorse the comments made by Mette Baillie that some residents need to think about the consequences of their actions when they dump their waste, or fly tip by the bins, rather than find a nearby bin with capacity or, heaven forbid, take their waste back home again (Breaking news, 5.7.14). After all, before the deployment of communal bins in 2011 residents had to retain their household waste until collection day. Passing the problem of discarded waste and fly tipping onto a neighbour is unacceptable antisocial behaviour.
I understand the reluctance of some residents to have bins deployed in their streets, particularly when they see the state of the streets around existing overflowing bins after a visit by gulls or antisocial residents. The deployment of unsightly communal bins is the price we all have to pay to dispose of our household waste at will in a high density population environment such as ours. We get two collection per week, some parts of the country only get two per month! Hopefully if residents now use the additional communal bins responsibly and as intended, we may see an end to this tedious and environmentally damaging situation. I do hope so.
I would like to thank Spurtle for their consistent support in high lighting this issue over the years. We live in wonderful city and it is tragic to see irresponsibly discarded waste detract from the magnificence of the New Town.
Regards
Dr Ian Shaw
(Cumberland Street)