Tenements targeted in recycling drive in city flats

Tenement living has long been a barrier to good recycling rates in Scotland

A similar scheme in Glasgow has been rolled out/

Now tens of thousands of pounds is being spent in Aberdeen to improve the way rubbish is sorted by the city’s tenement dwellers.

Residents will no longer struggle with numerous wheeled bins, bags and boxes for waste and recycling.

Instead, on-street communal bins for general waste and recycling will be put in place.

The new bins will be rolled out to 14 priority streets in Torry, Mastrick, Old Aberdeen and Kincorth, with 564 properties to benefit.

The recycling rate in these areas is currently around 10 per cent.

The Scottish Government target is to have 70 per cent of waste recycled by 2025.

This is the third such project that the City Council has carried out using the Tenement Infrastructure Fund set up by Zero Waste Scotland.

So far Aberdeen has received almost £180,000 worth of funding from the organisation which works on behalf of the Scottish Government to improve recycling rates.

Aberdeen City Council Zero Waste Management Sub-Committee Convener, Councillor Jean Morrison, said: “Aberdeen City Council is proactively working towards becoming a zero waste city as we move towards a situation where we recycle more than we throw away.

“The mixed recycling service will play a major role in that by making the recycling process easier for residents which in turn will lead to an increase in recycling rates.”

Edinburgh and Glasgow have come up with similar schemes to improve the way waste is managed in the back courts of the cities.