Aberdeen has seen waste recycling hit record levels since the city’s council implemented its alternate-week collection system. The new system was launched in May and the benefits showed immediately. Not only was May a record month for recycling, but in the weeks before the new system and even since, residents eager to maximise the usefulness of the new system deluged the council with requests for extra recycling containers.
May was Aberdeen’s best month ever for recycling. The recycling rate hit 32 per cent. Initial figures indicate rose to 33 per cent in June. The figures for May and June are both 3 per cent above the recycling rates recorded in the same months last year. In May 2009, 2,697.31 tonnes of waste was recycled. That went up to 3,243.42 tonnes in June of last year.
In the run up to the new system’s introduction, Aberdeen residents put in thousands of requests for recycling containers. Black boxes handle tins, glass and plastic bottles. Brown bins are for garden and kitchen waste. Paper and cardboard go into white bags. The council supplies the containers for free to residents of areas that get the council’s kerbside recycling services.
The new alternate-week service is being provided to about 70,000 households in Aberdeen. Housing and Environment Convener Councillor Aileen Malone said she was delighted to see how many city residents embraced the chance to increase the amount of waste they recycle. The new collection frequency only affects households that already have wheelie bins and kerbside recycling services. The new service aims to get more residents considering what they’re throwing away and whether or not it could instead be recycled.
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