Glass recycling start-up looks to smash Glasgow market

A domestic glass recycling firm co-founded by a Dundee lawyer during lockdown is set to expand into Scotland’s largest city.

Doorstep Glass Recycling’s service is aimed at “environmentally conscious but time-poor” customers who want to avoid regular trips to bottle banks.

The company, established by Ryan Russell – a partner at MML Legal – and fellow University of Dundee graduate Danny McAteer, currently makes collections across Aberdeenshire, Dundee, Fife and Perthshire, and is now looking at expanding into Glasgow from the end of March.

The business provides an all-weather box for glass to be stored in and collected regularly.

The glass recycling service is expanding from its home town of Dundee into Glasgow from next month. Picture: contributed.

The inspiration for the Dundee-based enterprise came after Mr Russell visited his local bottle bank during lockdown and noticed people were queuing up to use it and it was often overflowing.

He said the business is aiming to improve recycling rates in the areas where it operates, adding: “Our service will reduce the number of vehicles attending recycling centres, having a positive impact on local emission targets.”

The venture has also committed a percentage of profits to support local food banks in Dundee, Perth and Kinross, and St Andrews. It recently donated 1,000 Christmas meals to the food bank in Dundee.

Last month, Scotland’s minister for the circular economy Lorna Slater insisted it is "full steam ahead" for the deposit return scheme (DRS) to launch by its delayed date of summer 2023.

She said a combination of Brexit and the pandemic had delayed the DRS, but stressed that the original collection targets of 80 per cent in 2024 and 90 per cent in 2025 would be retained.

Speaking to the Scottish Parliament's net zero, energy and transport committee, Ms Slater said the DRS, which will see shoppers pay a 20p deposit when buying drinks in cans and bottles, with the money returned to them when they return the empty containers for recycling, will take tens of millions of pieces of waste out of circulation. All retailers who sell drinks for takeaway will have to operate a return point.

Such schemes are already established in many countries where they are helping to tackle climate change and reduce litter.

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