North Lanarkshire Council’s environmental services team is delighted with the results from the first round of blue bin collections under the new collection scheme.

 

A very high presentation rate, coupled with very low levels of contamination, shows that the council’s communications campaign has been successful and that residents are making a real effort to adopt the new system.

 

Council officers were on patrol throughout the North and Central parts of North Lanarkshire last week (2-6 June) to monitor the first collection of the new and improved recycling service, and were greatly encouraged by what they saw.

 

“There were very few homes that did not present their blue bin for collection, and very low levels of contamination of those bins,” said Kenneth Wilson, Head of Land Services with North Lanarkshire Council.

 

“It shows that all our hard work in communicating the scheme is paying off – people know how the new system works and want to be a part of it.

 

“There were no issues on the day that were not sorted out quickly and easily, and we fully expect that as the scheme goes on we will see ever-increasing levels of compliance.”

 

And that’s good news for council tax payers, as the increase in recycling will lead to less waste sent to landfill and less chance of the council being fined for exceeding its landfill allowance.

 

Early indications from the first week’s collections are that more than100 tonnes of recyclable material was sent of recycling every day. That has allowed the council to project an expected figure of almost 89,000 tonnes over 2008/2009. That’s equivalent to 39.2% of all waste being recycled – an increase of 7% on the current figure.

 

“This is a fantastic result,“ said Kenneth Wilson. “It puts us well on the way to meeting Scottish Government targets for recycling, and it means we can donate even more to our chosen charities through Recycle for Good.

“I’d like to thank our residents for taking the scheme on board and for showing emphatically that it is the way towards a more sustainable and efficient way to handle our household waste. Their contribution is vital to the success of the scheme, and their efforts and participation are very much appreciated.”