LITTER louts in Leith and north Edinburgh are to be targeted as part of a £700,000 clean-up.
The money is being spent on a series of measures in the area, including employing two new environmental wardens and 30 extra temporary staff.
It comes as Edinburgh's "litter meanies" are under fire after the Evening News revealed they handed out
an average of just seven fines each every year.
Community leaders say the new recruits will have to do better if they're going to make a difference in Leith.
The area has consistently failed to reach minimum cleanliness standards set by inspectors, despite the city as a whole recently receiving its best ever annual cleanliness rating.
The cash will also be used to create new "barrow beats" covering the length of Leith Walk, Great Junction Street and the surrounding streets.
Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city's environment leader, said: "It is a priority of this administration to improve street cleanliness in Edinburgh. The most recent independent scores show that the city is cleaner than it has ever been.
"However, we recognise that there are some areas where there are a number of litter hotspots and one of these is north Edinburgh.
"We have been able to identify efficiency savings which have allowed us to target more resources including extra staff, vehicles and barrow beats which will make a significant difference to cleanliness of this area."
Parts of north Edinburgh were among those to fall below the "acceptable" Cleanliness Index Monitoring System (CIMS) score of 67 when surveys were carried out last year. Leith Walk picked up a score of just 59.
Charlotte Encombe, of environmental group Greener Leith, called for more fines to be handed out, and added: "This extra money is a great idea and will be very welcome. Leith is one of the messier parts of Edinburgh because a lot of people around here don't put their rubbish in the bin, and we also have a large number of takeaways where people throw their food boxes away.
"I think more fines probably do need to be handed out, particularly among young people, who are the worst offenders. At the moment people just don't think they're going to get a fine. It doesn't have to be £100, but even £15 or £20, because we're wasting millions on clearing up after them."
The Evening News revealed last week that Edinburgh's 32-strong team of environmental wardens hand out an average of just seven fines each every year. The wardens cost the council around £600,000 per year but make less than three per cent of that back from issuing the £50 fixed penalty notices.
Edinburgh's performance is in stark contrast to Glasgow, where more than 11,000 fines have been issued by the city's 50-strong squad of litter wardens since a high-publicity campaign was launched in February 2007.
