Scrapping waste scheme flies in face of climate emergency

A Scottish council which paid out nearly £7 million to terminate a waste disposal contract, is set to scrap a recycling service for thousands of homes because it costs too much.

Tory MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Finlay Carson said the move shows the chaos at the heart of SNP policy on the environment.

Dumfries and Galloway councillors will tomorrow be asked to fold the household recycling project in Wigtownshire, rather than rolling it out across the rest of the region as it originally planned.

The move comes just a week after it was revealed the SNP-Labour run council had paid out £6.8m to end a 25-year waste contract with Shanks Dumfries and Galloway, which 
was due to run until 2029.

The council terminated the contract last year, after Shanks cited an annual loss of £3m, and took control of waste services back into council hands. It was also recently revealed the same council had spent more than £300,000 renting storage space for logo-embossed recycling bins – which will now never be used.

According to a report by council officials, households in Wigtownshire, will no longer be asked to participate in a scheme to separate their recyclable waste, but instead will be moved to a “single collection system”.

The Scottish Conservatives said the move flew in the face of Nicola Sturgeon’s declaration of a “climate emergency”.

Tory MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Finlay Carson said the move “shows the chaos at the heart of SNP policy on the environment”.

He added: “People in this part of Dumfries and Galloway were fond of the previous kerbside recycling system and felt they were making a positive impact in the process.

“That’s exactly how you positively involve the public so everyone – from government down – feels like they’re making a useful environmental impact.”

And Mark Ruskell, Scottish Greens’ environment spokesperson, said: “It’s a crying shame that Dumfries and Galloway residents have been denied the chance to recycle household waste for so long.

“Now it seems the council is looking to impose a one-bin system which flies in the face of the government’s own rules. The Environment Secretary must intervene to stop this and give people the recycling services they want, and which a climate emergency demands.”