Published on:
01
September 2011
2,200 tonnes of newspapers, magazines, plastics and glass is needlessly being sent to landfill by Clackmannanshire residents instead of being recycled.
Clackmannanshire Council carried out tests on what householders put in their green bins to discover if resources are being missed by the blue bin and blue box services. The results show some householders aren't recycling as much as they should be.
Overall, a huge 37% of green bin waste could still be recycled if every household made full use of their blue box and blue bin. Top of the missing recycling list was paper and cardboard which made up 17% of green bin waste sent to landfill. Close behind were plastic bottles, food containers, cans and glass that made up a further 16% of resources being wasted. The lost recycling resources that are sent to landfill is costing the community over £120,000 every year.
Councillor Carrick, portfolio holder for sustainability, said, "Every household that doesn't recycle is costing their neighbours dear. As well as the extra cost to the community, resources that aren't recycled mean lost opportunities for local jobs and damage to the environment. I would urge every resident to use their blue bin and blue box to the maximum. We simply cannot afford to throw these resources away."
Over a whole year, to empty just one lorry of green bin waste costs the Council about £250,000. Last year the total cost of Clackmannanshire's waste disposal was more than two million pounds.
The Scottish government is proposing new laws in the Zero Waste Scotland Regulations 2011 to boost recycling. The new rules will mean collecting separated household waste for recycling will become the law next year. In future the Council will have to ensure that the maximum amount of recycling material is separated and that householders do not leave recycling items in their green bins. This means the Council cannot empty green bins where there has been no attempt to recycle by the household. Green bins that have glass bottles or jars, paper, cardboard, cans and plastics that should be recycled will not be emptied until the contents are properly sorted into blue bins or blue boxes.
The new law will also apply to business waste and the Council is currently introducing more blue bin collections for its commercial waste customers.
The Council will also introduce household food waste collections by 2013. An estimated 3,000 tonnes of food waste is thrown away by county residents every year. Discarded food made up 36% of the green bin waste analysed by the Council.
As part of the Council's efficiency measures, the garden waste recycling facility at Glenochil Nursery is being closed from Monday 12th September. In comparison to the large quantity of garden waste handled by the Council the amount of garden waste coming from the Glenochil recycling site was relatively small. Instead, a full range of recycling facilities, including garden waste drop off, is available at Forthbank Recycling Centre, Bowhouse Road, Alloa which is open 7 days a week from 8am until 8pm during the summer months. Free compost is also available at Forthbank.