An Edinburgh mum has spoken of her 'disgust' after selfish users dumped dirty needles, rubbish and methadone bottles outside her flat.
Sheree Cameron, who stays in Leith, was horrified to find the drug paraphernalia scattered beneath her ground floor window yesterday after she returned to her home with her three-year-old daughter.
Shocking photos taken by the 24-year-old show syringes scattered on the ground amid takeaway wrappers and bloody tissues.
"It was right outside my front door, just a foot away scattered beneath the bathroom window and my daughter witnessed all of it," Sheree told Edinburgh Live.
"I'm totally disgusted at finding this outside my house and I phoned environmental health immediately, as did my upstairs neighbours who were just as shocked at it."
And she told how some of the grim litter even identified those who left it behind.
Sheree added: "There were empty methadone bottles, tissues with blood on them and just general rubbish as well - the bottles had the addresses of those who left them there on them.
"I wasn't taking the risk of my child coming near it at all and headed straight into the flat - our door is round the back from the main street so people have made the effort to come round here and leave it."
The waste has since been cleared this morning but Sheree said she fears any repeat might pose a risk to her family.
She added: "It just doesn't feel safe to let my daughter out to play when this is being dumped just outside my flat.
"She saw it all when we came back into the flat - I don't want my child having to see stuff like that because of other people.
"I phoned environmental health at 4.30pm yesterday (Tuesday 13 April) and they were unable to attend until this morning."
Cllr Karen Doran, Environment Vice-Convener, slammed the anti-social behaviour as a potential health hazard.
She told Edinburgh Live : “Discarding waste like this is very irresponsible and even more so when it could be potentially harmful for anyone picking it up.
"We’d encourage anyone coming across this kind of waste in public places to use the ‘report it’ section on our website to make us aware and we’ll make sure it’s cleaned up as soon as we can.”
The news come after a an Edinburgh engineer shared how he fears for his safety while working in Leith due to 'near misses' from used needles.
The fibre infrastructure worker most recently took a picture of needles while working at a box on Laurie Street and told Edinburgh Live that the problem is a Leith-wide issue.
He told Edinburgh Live: "It's a Leith issue to be honest as I've built the majority of the network throughout Edinburgh and it's always Leith where you find them.
"There's a box outside the addiction centre and they go and get their needles safely but somehow the addicts are disposing of them incorrectly."
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