The 'awful' plea over eight-day bin strikes issued to tourists by Edinburgh council leader

Eight successive days of waste strikes are set to engulf 26 of Scotland’s local authorities from August 14, including in the Scottish capital during the festivals. This comes after trade unions rejected the latest offer of a 3.2 per cent pay rise.

Now Councillor Cammy Day, the Labour leader of Edinburgh Council, said tourists should take their rubbish back to their hotels with them as they may have a private waste collection service.

He made the plea during an interview with BBC Good Morning Scotland on Thursday in a bid to avoid the scenes seen during the 2022 Edinburgh festivals.

Councillor Day said: “We’ve seen an awful lot of waste build up from coffee cups and takeaway boxes. We’re encouraging businesses to say ‘take your waste home to your properties or hotels’.

“I’ve seen a lot of people in the city who are tourists living in hotels and B&Bs that will have private waste contractors. Take your waste home and dispose of it locally.”

Cllr Day said he wanted councils across the country to get across this message to local businesses, stressing they needed to do “everything you can” to stop waste building up in city centres.

He added: “This will be an eight-day strike.

“I’m hoping the impact won’t be bad, but there will be hundreds of thousands of people in Edinburgh city centre and that’s where the build up has been in the past. It’s mostly from people buying things at local shops. We’re asking them to be responsible in disposing of their waste to help the city at a difficult time.”

Read more: Bin strike dates: when rubbish will pile up on Scotland streets and what it means for Edinburgh's festivals

Strikes are also set to hit Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire and Fife. Other affected council areas are Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling, West Lothian, Aberdeenshire, East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk, Highland, Orkney Islands, Renfrewshire and Angus.

Back in 2022, rubbish piled up in Edinburgh city centre during a bin strike, which led to Public Health Scotland issuing a health warning.

The industrial action only ended when the Scottish Government stumped up more money for a pay settlement.