New household waste collection from Spring 2023
Aberdeenshire Council progresses Spring 2023 launch of enhanced household recycling service with 3 weeks waste collection
Aberdeenshire Council continues to progress the introduction of its new household waste collection strategy by providing residents with more recycling capacity and reducing non-recyclable capacity to better match the materials they throw away.
The new service will assist residents to recycle as much as they can, helping to significantly increase recycling rates across the region and cut the volume of unnecessary waste going to landfill.
Moving to align the service with the Scottish Household Recycling Charter will also make the service fit for any future policy changes. The Scottish Household Recycling Charter aims to bring consistency to local authority recycling services and the quality of the materials collected.
Aberdeenshire Council welcomes £3.4 million in funding from the Recycling Improvement Fund, a £70 million Scottish Government fund to support local authorities to improve their recycling infrastructure. This money will progress our new 3 weekly collection schedule to be rolled out from Spring 2023 onwards, comprising:
- Week 1: Non-recyclable waste collection, sometimes referred to as your landfill bin, plus food waste (using existing grey/black bin and food waste caddy)
- Week 2: Paper & card plus food waste collection (using existing, blue-lidded recycling bin plus food waste caddy)
- Week 3: New containers collection plus food waste collection (this will be food & drinks cans, cartons, plastic bottles, pots, tubs & trays, all using a new bin, plus food waste caddy)
Despite providing kerbside services and information on how to use them, more than 60% of recyclable material is thrown away by households in Aberdeenshire – with around 28% of the contents of refuse bins currently being made up of food waste.
The new cycle is expected to divert up to 6,000 tonnes of materials into recycling, with annual revenue savings for the council anticipated in the region of £700,000, which will be reinvested into Council services.
The council is also investigating the potential of running a pilot scheme of the planned service changes within an Aberdeenshire community later this year, prior to the full-scale roll-out.
Additional staff will be employed throughout the process to work alongside our collections crews who will be receiving training around the new scheme. Community Waste Officers will also continue to provide advice and guidance for any resident who may be unsure of the new operation.
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