Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘Recycling needs
Council has catching up to do, says campaigner
DUNDEE has its work cut out to meet upcoming recycling targets thanks to “confusing” arrangements for residents in the city.
That’s the view of Andrew Llanwarne, coordinator of Friends of the Earth Tayside, who said the city had a responsibility to make recycling as simple as possible for residents.
The environmental campaigner was responding to the news that Dundee recycles only 37.7% of its waste.
Once known as Scotland’s “recycling city”, it now lags behind other local authorities such as Angus and Perth and Kinross, who recycle 59.2% and 54.2% of their waste respectively.
Dundee City Council aims to be the first authority to be “fully compliant” with voluntary Scottish Government guidelines on recycling, and neighbourhood services convener Councillor John Alexander said yesterday the city was “on target” to meet goals of 50% by 2018 and 70% by 2025.
However, Mr Llanwarne said: “It’s clear that Dundee needs to catch up with other local authorities.”
He called for varying bin arrangements across the city and a lack of education to be addressed — but stopped short of calling for penalties or charges to be imposed.
“It has to be made easy. The more complicated and inconvenient it becomes, the less likely people are to do it,” he said.
“Look at the blue bin — I put metal, plastics, paper and card in mine but it’s different in other parts of Dundee where they can only put in paper and card. It’s confusing.
“If you fine people, it puts their backs up. In Angus last year, they introduced a £25 charge for garden waste and people just started using their grey bin instead.”
Dundee diverts large amounts of waste from landfill and sends it to the incinerator at Baldovie. However, Mr Llanwarne said that shouldn’t be an “easy option”.
He said: “If you put biodegradable waste like paper in the ground it breaks down and releases methane, a worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.”
Mr Llanwarne’s thoughts were echoed by Sally Romilly, network coordinator for Greenpeace Dundee.
She said: “I had heard that Dundee had fallen a bit behind with recycling.
“People will find excuses not to change t heir behaviour if it’s difficult.
“But I can understand that it’s not just as easy as that, especially in areas which have a lot of housing close together and people complaining about all the bins on the pavement.
“There’s no quick and easy fix. I don’t think we can meet the target next year, but it should be doable by 2025 — if more people know what the targets are and how these can be achieved.
“It’s going to take a generation to work but we’re half a generation down the road since the ‘recycling city’ award.”
Kenny Kerr, managing director of Dundee Energy Recycling Ltd, which runs the Baldovie incinerator plant, said poor sorting of recycling can