Recycling is working – Thanks to Aberdeen residents

23 May 2017

Aberdonians have recycled an amazing TWO THOUSAND tonnes of mixed recycling materials since the new waste collection service went live in March it was announced today (Monday 22 May).

The astonishing figure is 30% more than was recycled at the kerbside for the same period in 2016.

Pam Walker, Waste Strategy Manager for Aberdeen City Council said: “This is fantastic news and the people of Aberdeen are really embracing recycling. We have demonstrated our commitment to meeting our environmental targets and it’s great to see residents are playing their part in making this a big success for the city.

“We still have some way to go to reach our targets but we are confident that the increase will carry on, now that the service has been delivered to all households we expect to see further improvements in these figures and see Aberdeen continue to move up the recycling league table”.

Over the last few months Aberdeen residents have seen big changes to their waste and recycling service. This has included receiving a new bin for general waste and new collection dates, as well as being able to recycle a wider range of materials, including plastic pots, tubs and trays, and food and drink cartons.

The recycling collected goes to the city’s new Materials Recycling Facility at Altens East where it is sorted before being sent for reprocessing. This facility is expected to recycle upwards of 12,000 tonnes of Aberdeen’s mixed recyclables every year, helping the city to meet Scottish Government recycling and recovery targets.

Mrs Walker added: “Collecting all recycling from a single bin makes life easier for householders and is safer and faster for collection crews. We also anticipate that this collection method will reduce litter and lost containers when there is poor weather and high winds. We would like to thank all residents for their recycling efforts and for taking part in this new waste and recycling service”.

The Waste and Recycling team at the council have been working hard to ensure the new service has been introduced with as little disruption as possible. This has included delivering over 70,000 new general waste bins to kerbside properties across the city. All residents should have received their new bin by now – if not, they should contact the council on 03000 200 292.

Residents can also find out more information about their new waste and recycling service by visiting www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/mixedrecycling. They can find out when their bins will be collected by visiting www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/bindays.