Starting this month, the council is exchanging the existing 240-litre grey bins for slim 140-litre containers. The roll out of the new containers began last week, and is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2017, although deliveries will not be taking place during the summer holiday.
Service
Residents are to continue receiving a fortnightly collection of residual waste, alongside a fortnightly collection of recycling, collected commingled via a 240-litre blue wheeled bin, and a four weekly collection of garden waste.
Residents can apply for additional residual waste capacity where there is medical grounds to do so.
According to West Lothian council, the council is likely to result in savings of around £238,000 per year, thanks to reduced disposal costs, with all of the local authority’s residual waste sent to landfill. The council spent a total of £3.8 million disposing of residual waste in 2015.
A waste composition analysis of residual waste carried out by the authority showed that as much as 78% of material discarded by residents could have been recycled through the existing recycling service.
Recycling
Recyclables collected from the kerbside include plastic pots, tubs and trays, bottles and bags, paper, card, cartons and metal containers. Glass is not collected from the kerbside – but can be deposited at household waste recycling centres.
The council collected a total of 73,485 tonnes of waste from householders in 2014, 33,715 of which (45.9%) was recycled. In total the council landfilled 38,009 tonnes (51.7%) of residual waste. The council has targeted an increase in recycling of up to 10% as a result of the move.
Commenting on the move a West Lothian council spokesperson, said: “Every tonne of waste sent to landfill means that there is less money to spend on vital services for local people. By spending more money on sending waste to landfill, we are essentially throwing money into the bin.
“West Lothian’s recycling rates have risen over recent years however there is a lot more that householders can do to recycle and to reduce the amount being sent to landfill. If all materials were to be correctly recycled at the kerbside, the council would save £1.65 million per year. If you include material that could have been recycled at Community Recycling Centres, textile bank or glass recycling sites, the saving would be £2.26 million per year.”
The spokesperson added: “All Scottish councils need to achieve higher and higher amounts of recycling as Scotland seeks to recycle 60% of its household waste by 2020 and 70% by 2025. To put it simply – all councils must increase the amount of waste that is recycled and decrease the amount of waste that is sent to landfill. Councils must look at the options available to them and reducing the size of the grey (landfill) bin has proved to be successful in other areas of Scotland.”
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