This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Recycling reaches for the sky
27/09/2006
Over half a million people living in tenements and high rise flats will be better able to recycle their household waste.
Environment Minister Ross Finnie said new funding will make it more convenient for people to use recycling facilities.
Up to £47 million from the Executive's Strategic Waste Fund will be available to six councils with high numbers of people living in flats.
Mr Finnie said:
"We know everyone in Scotland wants to recycle. The number of people regularly recycling is on the rise and I want to say thank you for that.
"However, recent research shows that people living in flats and high rises are not participating as much as we would like. That's because services for many flats are local recycling centres or kerbside collection points some distance away.
"Successful pilots across the country have shown that we can provide convenient, cost-effective recycling facilities for people living in flats. This now means that another half a million Scots really can reduce, reuse and recycle."
The six schemes are:
- Dundee City Council will provide on street recycling containers for 7,200 properties across the city. Total allocation £1.3 million
- City of Edinburgh Council - final discussions are underway regarding provision of on-street recycling services to an additional 60,000 households in multi-occupancy properties. These discussions will be concluded shortly. Total allocation tbc
- The allocation for Falkirk Council will assist in the provision of a door-to-door collection service to 6,000 households living in high-rise buildings in Central Falkirk and Grangemouth. Total allocation £1.4 million
- Glasgow City Council will provide a fortnightly backcourt collection service to 120,000 tenement households across the city. Total allocation £27 million
- South Lanarkshire Council will provide a blue bin recycling scheme to 15,000 households in Thorntonhall and West Craigs. Each household will be provided with a blue recycling bin which will collect paper, card, cans and mixed plastic bottles. Total allocation £3.3 million
- West Dunbartonshire Council will provide a fortnightly doorstep collection service to 12,000 households. Each household will be provided with a box and bag for storage of paper, cans and plastic bottles. Total allocation £2.9 million
Around 33 per cent of households in Scotland are multi-occupancy properties, concentrated in large towns and cities.
The Strategic Waste Fund allocation of up to £47 million will be available between 2006 until 2020. Strategic Waste Funding has been awarded by the Executive to all 32 Scottish local authorities to assist in the roll out of kerbside collection schemes. The majority of these schemes focus on the collection of recyclate and green waste from single-occupancy properties.
Aberdeen City Council took part in the pilot scheme but will not be providing recycling facilities specifically to multi-occupancy properties at this time.