New funding for Scotland’s councils to make recycling easier

RECYCLING glass and other household waste across Scotland should be easier soon thanks to an extra £1.2m fund to help councils reach official targets, it was announced today.

Local authorities can apply for a share of the money between now and April 2013 to increase the number of glass collections from homes and improve household waste recycling centres.

The additional cash is aimed at helping councils meet the Scottish Government’s deadline for recycling 50 per cent of all household waste by the end of next year.

It follows figures showing a drop in the overall household recycling rate over the last three quarters of 2011, down from 43.7 per cent to 36.7 per cent - a difference blamed on seasonal differences in levels of garden waste for composting.

Speaking at the Scottish Waste and Resources Conference, Cabinet Secretary for Environment Richard Lochhead said: “Our vision for zero waste is a long-term ambition, but getting to the point where the majority of our household waste is recycled will be a major milestone, especially considering that before devolution our recycling rate was just five per cent.”

Iain Gulland, director of Zero Waste Scotland, which manages the funding, said: “Getting more valuable materials out of landfill – which carries an increasing cost – and putting them back into our economy, where they can create value, is just common sense.

“People across Scotland want to recycle more, but in some areas, particularly rural or high-density urban areas, it can be challenging. By targeting improvements to recycling centres and by funding more glass recycling in particular, we believe we can make a real difference in a short space of time, helping people to recycle more things, more often.”

So far seven of the country’s 32 local authorities are said to have met the household waste target.

The extra money follows a £5 million fund from Zero Waste Scotland earlier this year to support household food waste collections.

Longer term, the government has set a target for Scotland of recycling 70 per cent of all waste by 2025.

In June a report revealed that more than half of the rubbish thrown away by schools, hospitals and shops in Scotland could be recycled but wasn’t.

The study highlighted that valuable resources were being sent to landfill sites with more than 50 per cent of the almost 400,000 tonnes of waste discarded by the three sectors each year having the potential to be used again.