Council bosses have apologised to a blind woman after she claimed her bins had not been emptied since September.
Amy Gilbert is fed up of the “unacceptable” service from the council’s waste management team.
The 28-year-old, who lives in The Jewel area of Edinburgh, says her bin had not been emptied for more than three months and the issue has resulted in her garden becoming a tip.
Her front garden was filled with bin bags and cardboard boxes and she says the service has been “despicable”.
On Wednesday, council officers eventually turned up to empty her bins but she was left shocked when she discovered they had not removed the surrounding mountain of rubbish.
She said: “My bins had not been emptied for around 13 to 14 weeks.
“It wasn’t just me, my neighbours are in the same situation.
“Myself and my friends contacted the council so many times and we just got fobbed off.
“It is just completely unacceptable.
“The rubbish was not in the bin only because the council had not collected the bin waste in the first place.”
She added: “I can’t keep going like this.
“What happens if the bin isn’t collected next week? I pay council tax, what for?
“I suffer from anxiety and the rubbish there was clearly a fire hazard. For elderly or disabled people especially, they shouldn’t have to cope with this.
“It’s despicable. God knows what the people think of me when walking past my house with all that rubbish.”
In October, the SNP-Labour city council administration rolled out new four-day waste collection rotas alongside its new paid-for garden waste service.
But more than 8,000 complaints were tallied up in five weeks – leaving residents with piles of rubbish.
Opposition councillors this week called for the city’s environment convenor, Cllr Lesley Macinnes, to be replaced following a “hollow apology” for the current service levels.
Ms Gilbert’s remaining waste was removed yesterday.
She said: “Three guys came along and a lorry to clear my garden.
“I couldn’t believe it.
“It’s been so long since my garden didn’t look like a tip. I’d like to thank my friends Shiona Mc-Cloud, Rachel Taylor and John MacDonald for all their help during all of this.
“It can be very difficult when you’re on your own but they have worked tirelessly to support me as much as they possibly could.”
A council spokesperson said: “We are aware that there have been issues on this route and apologise for any disruption to collections.
“While drivers do not pick up side waste, we appreciate that in this instance it was due to delayed bin collections.
“As a result the local supervisor has visited the resident to clear any additional rubbish from their garden and has assured them of a reliable collection service going forward.
“For elderly or disabled people especially, they shouldn’t have to cope with this.”
By Arthur Vundla
