Opinion – Environment convenor urges more recycling

by Councillor Lesley Hinds Convenor for Transport and Environment on The City of Edinburgh Council

We have all seen pictures of landfill sites – vast, unsightly mounds of rotting rubbish. Each household in the Capital throws an estimated 0.5 tonnes every year each onto them.

While it is easy for us to put rubbish into the bin and then forget about it, a huge operation involving many members of staff takes place behind the scenes to ensure that it is all disposed of properly.

Thanks to the public’s efforts, around a third of what we produce is already recycled, which is great. However, with the amount of non-recycled rubbish growing, the need to reuse more is actually increasing.

National targets set by the Scottish Government state that we should be aiming for 50% of waste recycled by 2014 – a mere two years away.

Rubbish is an unavoidable by-product of our daily lives, and while Capital residents already do very well, it is still very easy just to chuck waste into the bin and forget about where it is going to end up.

This is why the City of Edinburgh Council has created a more manageable way to deal with the domestic waste produced by the city. Managed Weekly Collections will begin in September and will mean that all low density houses will see their waste pick-ups change – around half of the city’s residents. The changes will ultimately make it easier for household to recycle.

It is estimated that a third of what we throw away is food waste, and luckily, here in Edinburgh, residents can have theirs picked up from their door, every week and recycled. This excellent initiative means that even less should be thrown out as domestic waste. A surprising selection of rubbish can be disposed of in food waste bins, therefore reducing the need to fill up our domestic waste bins quite so much. Overall, 70% of what is thrown away can be recycled using existing services.

If we keep up the good work and continue to be diligent about reducing, reusing and recycling, then we can easily shrink the amount sent to landfill each year. And the money saved in landfill tax will be able to be reinvested into local services.

You can find out more about recycling and when your rubbish will be collected here on the council website.