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The Old and New Towns of Edinburgh were declared a World Heritage Site (WHS) by UNESCO in 1995. They stated these parts of the city ‘represent a remarkable blend of two urban phenomena: organic medieval growth and 18th and 19th century town planning’. 

At the Transport and Environment Committee in , proposals for improving the waste and recycling service within the WHS were approved. The WHS was split into Phase 5 (Old Town and George Street corridor) and Phase 6 (New Town, West End, part of Stockbridge and the remaining areas within the WHS). Phase 5 was completed in late 2025.

Why the waste and recycling services need to change

We have ambitious targets to become carbon neutral by 2030 and to meet these we need to ensure our recycling rates and quality of recycling are improved. We want every resident in Edinburgh to have equal opportunities to recycle their waste whether they use communal bins or gull proof sacks. These services need to change because they currently do not provide enough capacity for recycling. This leads to misuse of and issues with communal bins such as overflowing bins and increased litter.

Background information

Work has taken place since 2021 to plan improvement in this area and some of the details and documents are included below.

• we have worked with Edinburgh World Heritage and Historic Environment Scotland to ensure waste and recycling services do not undermine the character of the WHS
• public information sessions took place in November 2021 in several locations across the Old Town and New Town, with information about current and proposed services for waste
• the  is available
• independent research into potential alternative recycling options was published and submitted to committee as part of the update to  in November 2023
• a trial of green gull proof sacks for recycling has taken place since October 2022 in a small number of streets in the New Town. This has been successful and has been used to inform future plans for streets with the gull proof sack service

Bin hub design for the World Heritage Site

We have engaged with various heritage bodies and have agreed the following changes to reduce the visual impact of bin hubs in the World Heritage Site:

• the standard metal bars at each end of the bin hub are usually chrome but we have sourced and purchased a bespoke black metal design for these bin hubs.
• a dark green lid will be used for the mixed recycling bins.
• the standard glass recycling bin lid is purple but within the WHS the lid will be mostly black apart from a purple flap.

Phase 6 - New Town and West End

Initial proposals and consultation timeline

The planning for Phase 6 began following the November 2023 Transport and Environment Committee has included the following below. A full overview of the Phase 6 consultation is included in of the January 2026 report.

• May 2024 - It was noted that Phase 6 (known as Phase 5 Area B and Area C), pending the outcome of the trial of green sacks would have a similar consultation to Phase 4
• November 2024 - Information on the consultation approach was included in the We worked closely with Neighbourhood Environmental Services and other colleagues to identify the most suitable option for collecting waste and recycling on a street-by-street basis
• January 2025 - Initial proposals were shared with Ward Councillors and Community Councils
• February 2025 - Letters were sent to over 9,000 households and consultation ran for 6 weeks which included an online survey and public information sessions for residents. Over 1,600 comments were received during the consultation period
• June 2025 - The consultation outcomes and final service recommendations for each street were reported to .
• July 2025 - Letters were sent to residents advising of additional consultation in eight streets and updated bin hub locations in all other streets. The additional consultation period was open for 3 weeks and saw over 800 comments received
• November 2025 – January 2026 Briefings for Ward Councillors, Community Councils and Street Associations provided information on updated plans for Phase 6.

Current proposals (February 2026)

We have updated our plans for bin hub locations based feedback from resident associations, Community Councils and Ward Councillors. These are available at the link below

Phase 6 bin hub plans - February 2026

Letters have been sent to residents to let them know about these updated plans.

Next steps

Communal bin hubs: We will commence the process of arranging a Traffic Regulation Order before works to install bin hubs can begin in late 2026.

Gull proof sacks: We are in the process of buying the required sacks and expect to be in contact with residents soon on how to exchange their red boxes for green sacks.

We will also be carrying out monitoring of gull proof sack participation in a small number of streets and have contacted those residents directly.

Further information

If you have any questions or require further information about any specific planned works, you can contact the project team.