They are the stomach-churning scenes that greeted residents and tourists alike during the height of Edinburgh’s festivals season just two years ago.
Refuse workers went on strike for 12 successive days in 2022 over a dispute on pay, in industrial action that resulted in rubbish bags, food waste and all manner of disposable items strewn across some of Edinburgh’s most picturesque streets at the height of the festivals.
The city resembled a tip at the height of tourism season, and with the world’s spotlight firmly cast on the location amid thousands of Edinburgh Fringe shows, as well as the drawcards of the International, Film and Book festivals.
And as another potential pay stand-off looms, history could be set to repeat itself next month.
Union bosses have warned council leaders not to “sleepwalk into crisis” amid demands for urgent action to resolve a pay dispute that could see rubbish piled up in Edinburgh during the summer festivals.
Unions have rejected the two-stage offer of a 2.2 per cent pay increase effective from 1 April to 30 September, and then two per cent for a 12-month period effective from 1 October to 30 September 2025.
Refuse and cleansing workers across many of Scotland’s local authorities have backed industrial action with the first days of strikes expected next month.
The steering group for Cosla, the umbrella organisation for Scottish councils, was set to meet with GMB and other public sector unions, but there are fears that without a breakthrough, industrial action will become increasingly inevitable.
With that in mind, The Scotsman has put together a collection of 12 images that capture the worst scenes from the bin strikes in 2022.
1. The rubbish piles up outside Edinburgh's tenements
Piles of rubbish and overflowing bins are pictured outside a row of tenements in Edinburgh on the final day of the waste strikes in 2022 | Andrew Milligan/PA
2. Food waste detracts from Fringe posters
The rubbish lining the streets in Edinburgh after six days of the bin strikes in 2022 made the usual array of Fringe posters scattered around the city appear insignificant | Lisa Ferguson
3. A tourist bus passes a scene of rubbish
One of Edinburgh's many tourist busses passes the scene on Princes Street, where a pile of rubbish and waste can be seen on the side of the road | Lisa Ferguson
4. A passerby looks at the waste on Victoria Street
Unions were warning waste would pile up two years ago as workers walked out - and here one passerby on Victoria Street in Edinburgh pushes their buggy past a rubbish bag spilling out old blue paper towel | Lisa Ferguson