DUNDEE’S MUNICIPAL waste recycling effort is well above the Scottish average but other councils are failing to keep pace, the GMB union said yesterday.

The union also warned that “private equity vultures” are hovering and looking for an excuse to snap up Scottish councils’ waste disposal contracts, leading to higher costs, asset stripping and a slow down in the country’s recycling progress.

Quoting Audit Commission figures for 2006/07, the GMB said Scotland recycled 18.3% of its municipal waste.

The best performing local authority was Clackmannanshire which re-used 32.2% of its waste.

Dundee came sixth in the league table with Fife 7th, Perth and Kinross 11th and Angus 20th.

Fife actually recycled a greater tonnage of waste than any other Scottish local authority, finding another use for 61,062 tonnes —almost three times as much as Dundee.

At the bottom of the table was Glasgow where just 8% of waste was recycled.

Municipal waste is defined as all household waste, street litter, civic amenity site waste, commercial waste and waste delivered to council recycling points.

The GMB’s national public services secretary, Brian Strutton, said the situation was improving but the country still had a problem with household waste and councils were “nowhere near” meeting recycling targets.

He said, “Looking at the pattern over recent years, it is clear that many authorities are improving and that is particularly true for those at the lower end of the league table.

“Only four years ago, average recycling rates were an eighth, now they are a fifth.

“That’s a good step forward. Unfortunately, there seems to be an upper limit with few councils able to crack the 30% rate.”

The GMB wants councils to see recycling as an investment and is also calling on the Government to talk to supermarket giants about the proliferation of wasteful packaging.

Mr Strutton added, “Councils need also to be wary of the private equity companies that are circling like scavengers around major players in the industry like Biffa.

“The private equity people will asset strip the council contracts, will raise prices and will slow down recycling to get their pound of flesh.”

Dundee City Council’s environment services convener, Councillor George Regan, said Dundee is the only mainland authority in Scotland to send less than half its waste to landfill sites and its recycling record remained well ahead of the country’s three other major cities.