In the aftermath of the severe weather, and perhaps just ahead of the next round of winter, The City of Edinburgh Council is concentrating its efforts on the recovery of street cleaning and tackling the potholes that have emerged in the Capital.
Preparedness for the weekend
– Given the icy conditions forecast for the weekend grit will remain in place on pavements and streets.
– The weather forecast is for further snowfall over the weekend and gritters will be pre-salting where appropriate with 22 gritters out and a range of other vehicles being used
– Contingency arrangements are in place to ensure that schools will open on Tuesday
– Gritting routes will also prioritise areas around Special Schools
– Contractors are on standby if extra resources are needed to clear snow
– Street cleaning staff will be working over the weekend to respond immediately to snow clearance work if necessary
Pothole Repairs
– There will be a major increase in resources to target potholes with squads starting work on the worst affected areas on Monday 10 January
– Permanent repairs will be carried out from the 10 January as this is when quarries will reopen. The hot material needed to carry out permanent repairs needs to be collected from quarries, which closed over the festive period.
Street Cleaning
Over the severe weather spell, street cleaning staff were redeployed to tackle snow and ice clearance in priority areas and now we will be focussing on cleaning pavements/ streets, litter collection and dog fouling. Street cleaning staff will be supplemented by contractors to tackle this and Council enforcement staff will be out working with dog owners to remind them of their obligations.
Refuse Collection
After the festive holiday period and severe weather refuse collections and other waste services in the Capital are largely back to normal.
– All green wheelie bin collections are now back to usual timetable. Residents can still use brown garden waste bins for refuse provided they are due for collection before the 21 January. After this date garden waste bins will not be collected if they contain any domestic refuse.
– The suspended garden waste collection will resume from 25 January on the winter schedule and residents should refer to Green Box Day website for details of their collection
– The 40 temporary skips will remain in place until 17 January and will be withdrawn over the course of that week. Environmental wardens are patrolling these sites and will take a strict view on illegal dumping and flytipping. The Guardian has a useful map of where these skips are. You can find it here.
– Christmas trees can be taken to one of our four Community Recycling Centres or put out in brown garden waste bins from 25th January if residents wish their trees to be recycled. Christmas trees can also be put out beside domestic waste for collection.
