As the Capital enters its busiest summer festival season since the Covid pandemic, a Cheshire Council bin man and fringe performer has brought his extravagant performance to Edinburgh to support keeping the streets clean.
Dressed in drag, Joe Leather joined council workers on Cockburn Street today.
Dressed in drag, Joe Leather joined council workers on Cockburn Street today.
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00:00 [Street noise]
00:23 [Street noise]
00:30 So today I suppose we're just reminding people about help keep the city clean when you can,
00:35 take your rubbish away. The city has thousands of people coming to enjoy the many festivals, particularly during August.
00:41 We're launching the Clean for the City for the summer and we have a new team of council staff who are here to help keep the city clean.
00:48 We're here with Joe Leather who used to be a binman in a job he had before, but now he's performing as an act during the festival.
00:56 So it's an absolutely great event for us today to see here is another bunch of council staff here to keep the city clean.
01:02 But I suppose we're encouraging people to take their own rubbish home as well and not contribute to the litter that comes to the city.
01:08 But yeah, I suppose our key point is that there are a whole bunch of new council employees brought in to assist over the summer,
01:14 so there's an enhanced team to keep the city clean. And you know, in general, it probably costs around a million pound extra to keep the city clean during all the city's festivals.
01:22 So it's a huge expense to the city as well, which is why we're also keen to bring in a tourist levy to help complement some of these additional costs the city endures.
01:31 Yeah, so I was helping out the bins today because I worked as a binman over lockdown.
01:35 I've got a show called Waste Man, which is about a binman who dreams of being a drag queen.
01:39 It's on at six o'clock in Assembly George Square Studios underground from the 5th to the 28th, but not the 17th.
01:46 So if you've not got it yet, get yourself along and see Waste Man and keep the city clean and tidy during August.
01:51 Thank you.
01:52 [Cheering]
01:54 It was a funny one because I guess I was in the day, I was in this very kind of masculine-led environment, and then I had an interest in drag.
02:01 So in the evening I was working on makeup and things, doing shows offline.
02:05 And I realised that it's such a big contrast, but that you could kind of be both. You could be a binman or a drag queen or both at the same time.
02:11 So I wanted to create a show exploring that.
02:13 It's just such an important, important job and people don't realise the world could not run without it.
02:18 And it was very special for me doing it over COVID because you kind of, I'd left the stage so I couldn't be on theatre.
02:23 And suddenly I was probably getting more applause from being a key worker than I ever did on stage.
02:27 So I think that recognition needs to continue, definitely.