Community safety and crime

We litter pick on beaches, roadside verges, streets, rights of way and most places where the public have access.  We remove over 3500 tonnes of litter and debris from our roads and streets and a further 1000 tonnes from our beaches every year.

We have added 600 new street bins in recent years. We won't put bins on every corner of every street as we'd rather see people take their litter home with them - but where bins help reduce litter, we try and provide one.

Our teams of street sweepers and machines tackle the general mess that builds up on our streets from things like grit, mud and leaves. We work on the basis of the worst areas getting the most effort to keep them clean.

If your street is clean - don't expect to see our sweepers very often. If your street is dirty or strewn with letter - we'll try to visit it as often as we can to keep it clean. We vary our working routes according to the season taking account of falling leaves, school related litter and weekend revellers.

Community litter picks

We are determined to reduce the amount of litter in our streets and parks and as well as running East Lothian Litter Initiative (ELLI) as a long-term plan to tackle the problem we are also working to bring forward various elements of the National Litter Strategy. For more information on litter you can read the East Lothian Litter Initiative (ELLI) pack including the volunteers code of practice.

East Lothian litter initiative pack

Litter and dog waste bins

• you can put used poop scoop bags in our litter bins - so you don't have to find a dedicated dog bin to properly dispose of your pet's poop
• carry your waste to the nearest bin or take it home with you
• litter bins are emptied regularly - report any full bins to the Landscape and Countryside team
• to report dog fouling or for information on poop scoop bags see our page on dog fouling

Report litter