A house builder was asked to consider creating private collection points for recycling bins in its front gardens amid concern kerbside collections were obstructing footpaths.
East Lothian council leader Norman Hampshire made the request at a virtual meeting of the planning committee earlier this week.
But his call for the developer to consider making an off-street space for people to put out their bins was quickly dismissed by council officers who said the point of a kerbside collection was the rubbish being left at the kerb.
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Councillor Hampshire, who is planning convenor, asked a representative of Mactaggart and Mickel, who are building homes in the Letham Mains development, Haddington, if they had been asked by customers for help with recycling.
The local authority recently introduced a weekly kerbside recycling service after adding a fourth recycling receptacle to the household collections. Under the new regime a food waste bin, two separate boxes for glass and paper/card and a white bag for plastic and cartons are collected one day a week. Household waste bins are collected fortnightly on a separate day and garden waste bins remain on a monthly collection.
Mr Hampshire asked the developer: "Would there be a design within your proposal so people had somewhere to put these boxes at the front of their property for collection on collection day?
“Everybody now does it, if you drive round that estate on collection day you’ll see these boxes and if they are on the footpath itself it can cause an obstruction.
"If there was at least a space at the front garden where these could be laid then it would certainly be a big help to the local authority and what we are trying to achieve and to your customers when they buy your properties."
Mr Hampshire asked Mr Hampton to take the request back to his firm as something to consider for future developments.
However a spokesman for East Lothian Council said the current policy would need to be changed and approved by councillors before collections could be made from people's gardens.
A spokesperson said: "Waste Services guidance requires developers to create storage for waste and recycling containers within the boundary of each property.
"Collections however are operated on the basis of presentation at the kerbside. A change in policy would require wider discussion between council departments and ratification at committee level.”
