Savvy Scottish man launches Edinburgh bin schedule app to 'clear up confusion'

Paul Fraser created an app for residents to easily track when their bins will be collected.
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A computer programmer has created an Edinburgh bin schedule app as part of his mission to create bin apps for every council in Scotland.

The application allows residents to enter their Edinburgh postcode to see when their bins will be collected, and receive automated reminders the night before collection.

Paul Fraser, 37, from Fife, was motivated to code his own app when he got fed up with keeping track of the bin schedule in Fife council.

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The Dunfermline resident said: “The schedule in Fife is not as straightforward [as in Edinburgh]. It’s on a three-week repeating pattern and I could never remember when collection for each bin was happening. You have to go through multiple stages of navigation on their website to find the list.

"I thought, 'There must be an easier way.'"

Paul started by sending Freedom of Information requests to all 32 Scottish councils for their bin schedules. He then used ChatGPT to help code the raw data into a smartphone application.

After releasing his app for Fife Council’s bin schedule - called Fife Bins - the application accrued over 2200 users and was met with rave reviews from Fife residents.

One five-star reviewer on the App Store said: “This app has made life so much more streamline checking what bin it is. Super clear and easy to use.”

Another commented: “Hats off to the developer for coming up with such a handy app. Navigating Fife Council’s website for this info is cumbersome.”

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The new Edinburgh Bin app is Paul’s fourth bin app after Fife, Stirling, and North Ayrshire.

Edinburgh’s app went live on the morning of October 15 and Paul reported that it already had over 200 users by the same evening.

Paul said Clackmannanshire Council is next on his list for a bin app, but he aims to release applications for all 32 councils in Scotland.

The programmer commented on how it felt for residents to incorporate his tech into their daily routine.

He said: “I just made it for me and my brother and it got such attention right away. I always wanted to make an app but never took time to sit down and do it. Finally, I did and it snowballed.

“I have all these metrics and I can see when people open the app to check the bin schedule, and it’s just constant all day. It’s pretty awesome to see that people are using your app.

“They’re on it every day, it’s wild. And it’s really something to witness the spike in activity around 7pm the night before bin day.”

Paul’s app is also accessible for those with visual impairment. He coded a text-to-speech component for the information to be available to all residents.

While Edinburgh Bins is currently only available for iOS, Paul said a version for Android is coming soon. The app is available on the Apple App Store.

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