MORE THAN 150,000 homes in Tayside now have a kerbside recycling service, according to the area’s waste plan annual report.

Street collections led to 46,000 tonnes of rubbish being re-used in 2007/08, while another 23,000 tons went to recycling centres.

Figures this week show the three local authorities in Tayside had all beaten the Scottish average for the proportion of rubbish recycled.

The report states the region produced 280,000 tons of waste, 80% from households, the rest from commercial sources.

Of that, 96,000 tons was recycled or composted— more than a third of the total. Another 56,000 tons were burned at the DERL waste-to-energy incinerator in Dundee. That left 126,000 tons to be landfilled.

The average household produced 1.2 tons of rubbish—more than 7lb a day. Commercial premises average 9.8 tonnes per year.

There are 196,000 homes that have a rubbish collection service, 154,000 of which also have a kerbside recycling service too.

Another 1000 homes have composting bins and 30,000 tonnes of waste were composted across the region. There are 18 large recycling centres and over 200 recycling points.

The year saw 53 neighbourhood recycling points launched in Dundee and a successful pilot of a scheme to allow cardboard to be placed in blue bins normally reserved only for paper.

Angus also began trialling cardboard recycling in Arbroath and more than 100 recycling bins have been distributed to primary and secondary schools.

Several Perth and Kinross towns took part in a food waste trial and a Perth drinks carton recycling project proved popular. Other measures included distributing 2500 reusable jute bags in Dundee and setting up a “freecycle” website in Perth and Kinross to advertise unwanted items and save them from being dumped.