The City of Edinburgh Council has won two Green Apple Awards for environmental projects. The awards will be presented at a ceremony at the House of Commons, Westminster on 17 November, when top winners will also have their chance to go to the next round and represent the UK in an event in Brussels - the European Business Awards for the Environment.
The first ‘Green Apple' is for the Reuse Cabins. These innovative cabins are located in the four Community Recycling Centres and are for the donation of reusable household items. Operated by the charity Bethany Christian Trust, items such as furniture, linens and working electrical appliances can be donated for use by people who need assistance to furnish their homes.
The Reuse Cabins have diverted 493 tonnes of furniture and appliances from landfill since they were introduced four years ago, and have directly benefited over 11,000 people who have received donations. They have also helped inform people using the Community Recycling Centres about how reuse can be an alternative to landfill.
The second ‘Green Apple' is for the improvement in street cleansing. Although Edinburgh's record of cleanliness was set back over the summer months by weeks long action by rubbish collectors, Edinburgh streets were deemed to be steadily improving in Edinburgh over the past years.
Every year the Council commissions Keep Scotland Beautiful to conduct four independent surveys to measure the cleanliness. Each survey is a snapshot of the cleanliness of a sample of streets over approximately 4 weeks and the results are a score out of 100. The overall 2008 score came out as 70, with 90 percent of streets surveyed found to be clean. An improvement of the score of 57 in 2004. An additional survey taken in August, Edinburgh's busiest month, found the City Centre to have the cleanest streets ever measured.
Council Leader, Jenny Dawe said: "I'm delighted that we have been recognised with these two awards, especially for the staff, whose belief and confidence in their own work deserves reward. The success of our recycling initiatives and concerted efforts on street cleaning are excellent examples of good working practices that help us move further towards our priority of making Edinburgh a cleaner and greener city."
In addition to the awards, the Council will also be invited to join the National Green Heroes, an elite group of national achievers who use their experience to help thousands of others - and the environment - around the world.