Figures show only six fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for public littering have been issued in the capital since 2021. And they reveal a dramatic drop in enforcement over the last ten years, from 630 FPNs being issued to people for discarding waste on the street in 2014/15. This fell slightly to 613 in 2015/16, before plummeting to 114 the year after and 20 in 2017/18.
The council’s Lib Dem group leader Kevin Lang, who requested the data at a meeting last month, said those who litter “need to know they run the risk of being caught and fined”. He said “more active and visible patrols” were needed “especially in known litter hot-spot areas”. In Scotland, offenders are fined £80 if they’re caught dropping litter, with local authority environmental wardens responsible for issuing tickets.
Edinburgh’s environmental wardens service has been cut back significantly in recent years. There were 38 employed across the city in 2014, ten of which were recruited specifically to focus on littering and dog fouling, which the council said led to a “significant rise in fixed penalty notices for that period”. In the decade since, the team has more than halved to 18 wardens who have a wide range of responsibilities aside from catching litter bugs.
But with a single fine handed out in each of the last two years, it appears enforcement has all but stopped. Cllr Lang said: “We know the actions of a small minority can have a big impact on the majority. “That’s why it’s so.