Areas of Fife that received a fourth rubbish bin as part of a region-wide rollout have reported some of the highest recycling rates in the world, according to new research.
Residents in Glenrothes and the surrounding villages chosen to be the first to be provided with a new kerbside collection service managed to recycle around 65% of their household waste in its first couple of months, according to new figures, with the Pitcairn area of Glenrothes exceeding 70% at one stage.
That did not only put the area way above the 38% Scottish average, but almost on a par with the likes of San Francisco in the United States, which is world-renowned for its recycling and surpassed a 75% landfill diversion target last year.
The statistics came after council officials looked at how the four-bin household system had worked in practice since being introduced in Glenrothes and neighbouring places in September last year.
And after studying the figures, they have reported “immediate and significant” improvements in kerbside recycling performance, which they hope to see repeated across the region as the revised rubbish bin set-up extends to other areas.
All Fife households are expected to have a fourth, green bin by 2014 to recycle plastics and cans, while the changes will also see alterations to the colour-coding system and collection frequency.
Chris Ewing, environmental sustainability manager, said conversion of the area’s 22,000 households had gone well and stressed the situation will continue to be monitored in other areas, with north-east Fife and Levenmouth next on the list.
“This level of performance is extremely encouraging, particularly given the disruption to services in December and January, and is testament to the commitment of householders in the area to recycling and improved waste management,” he said.
“Recycling performance in Glenrothes will be the benchmark for the rollout that is under way in north-east Fife at the moment.”
Continued…
In October and November, average recycling rates in the Glenrothes area rose to around 65%, although the severe weather of December and January brought the figure down because of disruption to collections and the suspension of separate food and garden waste collections.
Despite that, though, the return to normal was accompanied by the Getting Glenrothes Back on Track awareness-raising campaign, which put kerbside recycling performance in and around the town back up to 64.5%.
Market research of householders similarly suggested that 93% of respondents were either very satisfied (33%), satisfied (46%) or OK (14%) with the new service, while 95% were positive about the information they had received about the changes.
More than half (55%) also said they would be keen to see some sort of kerbside service introduced to collect glass bottles, which is likely to be one of the topics examined by officials over the coming months.
Mr Ewing explained how analysis had shown there was still “room for improvement,” with the average household appearing to discard the same weight of plastics in the landfill bin as it does in the recycling container.
“What we’re looking to do next is look at what options are available for making further improvements to the service, looking at household demand but also looking at what’s still in the landfill bin and what could be taken out,” he said.
A similar study is expected to be carried out in September this year to gauge the views of householders when the revised service reaches its first anniversary.