Event: 7 Jun 23: CEC Spatial Policy Unit:

Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) Workshop:

(Ruth White, Placemaking and Mobility Strategy and Development Manager, CEC.)

The draft AQAP sits in the delivery channel of the City Mobility Plan, alongside Active Travel, Public Transport, Road Safety and Parking Action Plans. The five sets of proposals are currently out for consultation until 9 July. ( Item 7.5 - Revision to the Air Quality Action Plan - Draft for Consultation.pdf (edinburgh.gov.uk)

In broad terms, there has been progressive improvement in city air quality standards over the past 15 years, but they are ‘nowhere near’ World Health Organisation standards and some ‘trouble spots’ in the city remain. There is increasingly solid recognition of the damage to environment, personal health and welfare arising from pollution. The main local pollutants of concern are nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), to a lesser extent carbon dioxide (CO₂), and fine airborne particulate matter, PM10 and PM2.5 (measuring less than 10 micrometres in diameter and less than 2.5 micrometres respectively).

The overarching legislative drivers come from the Scot Gov Cleaner Air for Scotland Strategy (CAFS) 2, from National Planning Framework 4 and from the National Transport Strategy (National Transport Strategy | Transport Scotland )

There are eight key themes under the AQAP proposals:

Low Emission Zone (LEZ) • Strategic Transport • Behavioural Change to Active Travel • Public Transport • Low Emission Vehicles • 2030 Climate Strategy • Integrated Policies and Guidance • Domestic Emissions.

There is a close convergence here with the broader City Mobility Plan (City Mobility Plan – The City of Edinburgh Council )

The high-cost elements are:

Implementation of the LEZ;

Incorporating AQ considerations into the Public Transport Action Plan, with support for projects to decarbonise the Edinburgh bus fleet;

Improving the St John’s Road / Drumbrae South corridor;

The development of net zero community heating projects;

The development of a Whole House Retrofit (WHR) programme for social housing in the city.

The ‘difficult’ elements relate to personal behaviour change, essentially in car use and in domestic emissions (open fires and wood-burning stoves and the like).

Set in the context of the Net Zero 2030 Climate Strategy, it is difficult to exaggerate the scale of change envisaged for the city. The easy thing is to be cynical about the intent and the effort. However, the direction of travel is clear. The success of the endeavour will rest on funding, human resource at CEC level, the progressive selection of the right priorities on the way, all alongside the right nudges to induce personal behaviour change.

See this CEC Consultation document: Actions to deliver Edinburgh’s City Mobility Plan - City of Edinburgh Council - Citizen Space

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13 Apr 2023: CEC Waste & Cleansing Key Contacts List

Compiled by Angus Murdoch, Technical Coordinator, CEC Place Directorate: 30 March 2023.

Initial reports or enquiries

Use the website where possible. There are a range of webforms for the most common things that people want to do and that’s the best and quickest way to get to the correct team first time.

www.edinburgh.gov.uk is the council website.

The waste landing page lets you do a range of things from reporting a missed bin or request a replacement bin, to register for the garden waste collection or book a special uplift or visit to a household waste recycling centre.

The recycling landing page also has features such as what to put in each bin and our recycling sorter to look up what to do with common items you’re not sure about.

Important Guidelines

Why is waste a problem? sets out why it’s important to reduce waste and, in really simple terms, why recycling is important.

Our waste prevention page provides links to support people reduce their waste production in the first place.

Our real nappies guide provides advice to people considering alternatives to disposables;

Our home composting guide offers advice on how to get started here.

What goes in each bin links to guides, videos, and stair posters for the different services and different bins,

while getting the most from your recycling gives simple advice about common things we’re often asked about or issues we experience;

What happens to your recycling explains where our main recycling and waste streams go and what happens.

The plastics page looks to ease the confusion that exists around those materials, and be clear what you can put in our collections, It also provides advice about other plastics and the various retailer takeback schemes. The soft plastics page give specific information about the retailer takeback schemes for plastic bags and wrappers;

Note also the national recycleyourelectricals website run by the electricals industry. It has a postcode search which gives methods of recycling different items where you live.

Alternatives to website

For many people and many queries, the website is a great resource but we do recognise that some people can’t do that or don’t want to, and we also provide email and telephone contacts:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is the address for all Waste and Cleansing contacts. It goes to the Contact Centre, and they log enquiries and send them to the correct officer or team.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is the email for enquiries about litter enforcement, fly-tipping and abandoned cars. Please note that “streetenforcement” is one word - it’s slightly different from most Council email addresses in that way.

0131 608 1100 is the phone number for various environmental services (not just waste related enquiries) at the Contact Centre.

Escalated and Formal complaints

The vast majority of enquiries and informal reports and complaints are resolved first time, but sometimes problems persist. The Council also has a two-stage complaints process which lets residents make a formal, logged and reference-numbered complaint.

The contact points for this are: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 0131 200 2300.

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30 Mar 2023: Update

From Andres Lices, Senior Engineer, Waste - Communal Bin Review Project Team (23 March):

“Information on the phasing of the project is available on the website.

Phase 4 [including Southside, Newington and Prestonfield] is undergoing the design/planning stage prior to the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO). More information on the timescale of consultation, activities and delivery of each phase will be available at the next report that will be taken to Transport and Environment Committee in May 2023.”

Phase 5 (covering World Heritage Site, City Centre and parts of Inverleith): The TRO process for this phase is currently paused while the Council undertakes a feasibility study of alternative solutions.

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13 Mar 2023: Event: Putting District Heating into action.

Led by Transition Edinburgh ('Pathways to building a fairer, carbon neutral future'), this event offered an illustration of some practical paths to small district / neighbourhood / community heating projects. The slide material isn't available yet, but here are some of the key contact and guidance links for energy help, saving and transition.

Home Energy Scotland – Fixes and funding

We are Local Energy Scotland · Local Energy Scotland – CARES – the Scot Gov Community and Renewable Energy Scheme

Home | Net Zero Nation – Net Zero Scotland – Eat, heat and travel greener.

Transition Edinburgh – Pathways to building a fairer, carbon neutral future - Transition Edinburgh

Upcoming Events – Our Future Edinburgh - Community Climate Action

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3 Mar 2023: Edinburgh Community Climate Fund: Grant Awards.

The next phase of the Edinburgh Community Climate Fund (ECCF) is getting underway.

The City of Edinburgh Council has set up the £100,000 fund to help communities to develop and choose projects aimed at making Edinburgh a greener city.

Community, voluntary and non-profit organisations from across the city have submitted over 50 proposals for up to £20,000 each. These community projects have diverse aims including to reduce household carbon emissions, encourage dialogue about climate change and support the city’s net zero effort.

We need your help to decide what gets funded by voting for your  favourite ideas.

You have a total of 5 votes to use and can only vote once for a project.  Please consider all the projects before making your final decision.

Voting is simple and easy. For adults, you can vote by using myaccount. This is a secure way to access a range of Scottish public services online using just one username and password. We have guidance on registering on our website.

For those under 18 wishing to vote this can be done through Young Scot using your Young Scot NEC number. School libraries will be offering supported voting.

Supported voting will also be available at all public libraries across the city. Please visit your local library for more information and to get help to vote for your favourite chosen projects.

Find out more about participatory budgeting or contact us for further information: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

This is a chance for you to decide how Council money is spent on things that matter to you and your community.

Take a look, and vote for the ideas that are most meaningful to you and your community.

Voting is open from March 3 to March 12. 

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