Published on:
27
February 2013
Clackmannanshire's residents can be proud of the positive response they have made to previous recycling challenges making the county one of the top performing Councils in Scotland.
However, we cannot stand still on our journey to a Zero Waste Society. We need to keep striving to divert as much waste out of the green bin and away from the costly disposal option of land-filling our waste.
2012 saw the introduction of new Zero Waste laws. The new law means every Council in Scotland must provide recycling services including a new food waste recycling service. Having more recycling services makes it even easier to recycle more of our waste more often.
The more household waste Clackmannanshire residents recycle the greater are the economic and environmental benefits for the Clackmannanshire area. This extra recycling means local jobs are being created with Alloa Community Enterprises, the Council's kerbside collector for the Blue Box and new food waste recycling service. The food waste collected for recycling will be sent to an anaerobic digestion process and converted into green energy and a valuable agricultural fertiliser for Scottish farmers.
The Council rolls out its weekly food waste collection service in March, and is also taking the opportunity to improve the Blue Box collection service. As soon as your weekly food collection starts, your Blue Box recycling collection goes weekly too.
That means your Blue Box and kerbside food waste caddy will be collected every week on your bin collection day. Green bin and blue bin collections will not be affected and remain on alternate weeks. Remember every glass jar or bottle and all textiles, small electricals and batteries count. The more we divert from landfill the better the benefit is for Clackmannanshire.
So what can you expect? Throughout March, look out for the delivery of your kitchen and kerbside caddies and roll of caddy liner bags. Every household will also receive a new service information pack. Your new service information pack is important, as it will include all you need to know about using the food waste recycling service, a new collection calendar for your collection days, a new access card for Forthbank Recycling Centre and, crucially, a booklet that outlines the full kerbside waste service offered by Clackmannanshire Council.
It is important that every household makes good use of all the recycling services the Council now provides. Research by the Council has shown that green bins often contain waste that should be recycled. The missed recycling material in green bins costs more than £140,000 a year, money that could be better used to support services across our communities.
Encouraging every householder in Clackmannanshire to recycle, Enterprise and Environment Convener, Councillor Donald Balsillie, said: "You might think you don't produce enough food waste to make a difference, but please do still take part. Even if you only have a small amount of food waste, it is better for it to be recycled than sent to landfill. Evidence from other council areas indicates that people don't realise how much food waste they really have until they start collecting it for recycling."