Target for recycling

Monklands residents are being asked to recycle as much waste as possible to help North Lanarkshire keep increasing the amount diverted away from landfill.

Around 46 per cent of household waste across the local authority area is currently recycled — just short of the Scottish Government target of 50 per cent.

The local figure has risen steadily for the past few years and compares to 41.6 per cent recycled in 2014- 15. Blue bins can be used to recycle paper, magazines, envelopes, cardboard, empty aerosols, clean foil, cans, tins, metal lids, cartons and plastic bottles, food trays and tubs.

Householders are asked not to place anything else in the bins, such as textiles, food waste or glass, and are reminded that items should not go inside plastic bags.

A system of tags is also in operation to note unsuitable items — a yellow tag will be placed on bins with light contamination, advising what has been placed there incorrectly with the bin still being emptied, while there will be red tags on heavily contaminated bins, which will not be collected until the following weekend by a waste lorry.

Co a tbr idg e No r th councillor Michael McPake, the environmental services convener, said: “Our recycling rates are steadily increasing thanks to residents using our kerbside collections. We want to make sure everyone knows what can and can’t be recycled.”