A Scots mum has blasted council chiefs after a broken lock on her communal bin store has led to wildlife tearing open dozens of bin bags. Tyree Bowen, from Edinburgh, claims the entrance to the communal bin store at her block of flats has been faulty since she moved in five years ago.
That has left it open to foxes and vermin to scavenge among the waste, she added. The 25-year-old, who lives in the city’s Muirhouse area, says a second entrance to the bins in the building itself means the smell of rotten food and waste fills the stair.
Tyree claims her neighbours make the issue worse by “lazily” throwing their own rubbish on top of the mess. She said her mental health is being affected by the lack of cleanliness and the foul smell.
Tyree told Edinburgh Live: “It is a complete design fault, I don’t know who came up with that,” said Tyree. "It also makes people pretty lazy when throwing their rubbish away as they just chuck it in there with no care.
“That’s how a lot of this has happened with the mess. The door onto the street is constantly broken so foxes are getting in and ripping all the bags. There is obviously mice and rats too. It is just very unhygienic and I’m really concerned to be honest.
“The council just say they will get someone round to clean it up, which has happened a few times but then it falls back into the same state. If there was a better system for it then it would be avoided altogether. I’ve been here for five years and the door is always getting broken. As you can get into it from the street people are probably just using it as a dumping ground.”
Tyree said the majority of neighbours are angry about the constant mess while she won’t let her five-year-old daughter Harlie near the bin store.
She added: “I just don’t want her going in there. I go in myself but it gets trailed on the stairs so whenever we’re coming down there is often food lying on the steps and in the hall.
“Sometimes it will lie them for for weeks. The cleaners will come out and just sweep mouldy food to the corner and leave it. The smell is disgusting, it really is horrible and it’s actually depressing having to come home and look at this mess all the time.
“I have quite bad OCD so when it comes to cleanliness and germs I’m generally really tidy so you can imagine how this is impacting my mental health. As the bins aren’t getting emptied regularly even I have no choice but to put my bin bags on top of it all.
“It’s just like going around in circles. My friend told me she saw a mouse in there, I haven’t seen any personally but they’re definitely in there as it’s the perfect spot for them.”
A council spokesperson said: “We are very sorry to hear about this and are investigating the matter as a priority. Alongside addressing the non-collections of waste, we will also deal with the illegal fly-tipping of bulky items that is occurring at this location.”
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