Published on:
12
July 2004
We might be talking rubbish but it looks like Clackmannanshire could be leading the way when it comes to waste recycling.
Councillors last week (Thursday) heard that Clackmannanshire is the first Council in Scotland to have introduced a range of kerbside recycling activities to local residents.
The Government set targets that 90% of households have kerbside recycling by the year 2020 - but Clackmannanshire has already reached that figure and numbers are going up weekly.
Councillor Billy Calder, Convener of the Enterprise and Environment Committee said: "This is a hugely important issue and I am delighted that it has been so successful so quickly. We have a great deal to thank local people for. There were a few teething troubles in the early days as the scheme was introduced, but most people wholeheartedly support the scheme and can see the part they are playing in protecting the local environment now and in the future."
The scheme includes blue boxes, collected weekly, for paper, glass, cans, textiles and plastics. In the first two months of the blue boxes moving to a weekly collection the amount of waste recycled has more than doubled.
There are brown bins for garden and clean cardboard waste which is recycled at a joint composting facility in Stirling. Since March of this year more than 1,300 tonnes of Clackmannanshire waste has gone through the site - instead of being buried in landfill. The compost it produces is coming back to Clackmannanshire for residents and the Council to use and will be available at the newly refurbished Forthbank Recycling Centre.
"We couldn't be happier with the results," added Councillor Calder. "We're now diverting large volumes of waste away from landfill and instead we're recycling and reusing it. What's more we're investing time and money in education programmes to work with people, particularly school children, so that they learn good habits to take with them to adulthood."
The Council's staff have worked on the project with Alloa Community Enterprise, and the Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG) to ensure success.
The Scottish Executive said that 25% of municipal waste should be recycled or composted by 2006. Clackmannanshire already has figures of 29% - compared to just 6.8% last year. By getting off to a head start the Council will be well placed to avoid the possibility of heavy fines that could be handed down if the UK fails to meet future EU waste diversion targets.
Graeme Cunningham, the Council's Integrated Waste Manager said: "The figures speak for themselves, in the last 3 months we have recycled over 3,000 tonnes, that's more than the whole of last year put together. We have been able to tackle a range of recycling activities to make such a huge impact, bringing in more blue boxes and brown bins, investing in education and making big changes to the Forthbank Recycling Centre in Alloa. Public support has been overwhelming.
"Figures showing such significant changes are impressive, but we get just as much satisfaction hearing from people who use our recycling services and support what we are trying to achieve because they know it's right."
Despite the success of the scheme, the Council aims to keep monitoring the situation to make sure its continues to work. Graeme said: "Some of the larger households in the area have had difficulty with the scheme and we are aware of that and we're ready to offer advice if and when needed. In most cases it's more a question of letting people get used to the new scheme and for things settle down. But we won't be complacent and over the next year we have plans to ask people how they think the scheme has gone - and could be improved further. The battle isn't over, the amount of waste each household produces keeps on rising and we need to tackle waste minimisation as well. Waste isn't just the Council's problem, everyone has a responsibility to do the right thing with waste."
Ends