Rubbish at recycling Some people were‘just throwing stuff out in the street’
A Lanarkshire project which runs short walks every week has issued an open invitation to locals to join them this summer.
Get Walking Lanarkshire hosts 30 health walks which are free, friendly strolls lasting no longer than an hour and led by trained volunteers.
The low-level walks are a great way to meet new people and enjoy the mood-boosting benefits of regular walking.
Get Walking Lanarkshire co-ordinator Paula Hubens told the Reformer:“As restrictions ease further
Provisional figures have revealed recycling rates in South Lanarkshire have fallen to their lowest level for at least eight years.
Just over 40 per cent of household waste in the region was recycled in 2020-21 – almost 10 per cent below target.
Council leader John Ross has said that the issue is “a problem and something we need to look at”.
A meeting of the council’s performance and review scrutiny forum heard on Tuesday, August 17, that recycling rates had fallen to 40.9 per cent in 2020-21, partly due to the effects of the coronavirus lockdown.
Facilities officer Ian Guild said that “people had took to just throwing stuff out in the street” while council services were impacted during the early stages of lockdown.
Recycling rates in South Lanarkshire peaked in 2016-17 at 53 per cent but the council has never been able to reach the 50 per cent target since and there could be as many as 5000 homes in the region that aren’t offered a kerbside recycling service. and we head into the peak summer months, now is the best time to join your local health walk. Our walk leaders and walkers are excited to welcome new people along to the walks and for them to reap the social, mental and physical health benefits from getting outdoors and walking with others.
“All health walks follow the Covid-19 government guidelines and we hope this will provide new walkers with the reassurance they need.”
In the Cambuslang and Rutherglen areas on
Councillors Alex Allison (Clydesdale East) and Robert Brown (Rutherglen South) were concerned that the council did not offer a “full service” to residents.
Cllr Allison said: “Looking at the total household waste that is recycled, it is an amber target.
“I’m led to believe there are 5000 residencies in South Lanarkshire that we don’t offer any recycling facilities for.
“There are a lot of areas in the rural area where the service is not offered. The response I got last time I asked was lack of funding to provide the extra vehicles.
“What I think might be beneficial as well for us is to find out what it would cost to give a full service within South Lanarkshire.”
He asked what was being done to extend the kerbside recycling service however, facilities officer Ian Guild said that “I don’t have the answer”.
Cllr Brown added: “We had a major advance in terms of the blue bins and all that sort of stuff a little while back.
“That is kind of stuck on some of the tenement buildings and also, as I have discovered in my own ward, there are quite a number of little bits and pieces of terraced
Tuesdays the walks begin at 9.30am at Fernbrae Meadows, where you will meet on the grassy area on Burnside Road, in between Fernhill Road and Fernbrae Avenue. And on Fridays at 9.45am walkers can meet outside Morrisons Cambuslang at the right side of the store.
Also on Fridays at 10am there is a buggy walk, at Fernbrae Meadows, meet next to the car park, off Fernbrae Avenue.
To book, or for more information contact Get Walking Lanarkshire by email, call 07903 358424.
The council are trying to hit Government targets
housing which haven’t been accommodated in the scheme.
“I wonder if it is actually the time we should have a comprehensive look at this in terms of what can actually be done to bring our recycling levels up further.
“I think we still have some national targets to meet anyway. I know there are some problems and it’s not an easy problem to resolve.
“I would’ve thought actually we should now be in a position to look at what we do with the tenement
buildings, what do we do with the remaining terraced housing.”
Council leader Ross agreed and asked a “more full” report could be provided to forum members they “all got an idea of just exactly the extent of this and where we are going with it”.
He added: “I am certainly not against us having a real look at this and seeing if we can bring something forward and resolve this situation.
“I quite agree with you. It is a problem and something we need to look at.”
Mr Guild said: “We had some issues with the household waste recycling centres in the early days of lockdown. That was resolved so there was always that opportunity for people to dispose of their waste through that.
“If you are actually just talking about providing bins, I know we still have issues in places like East Kilbride where terraced houses can’t take any bins.
“It’s down to the make up of the town in some places.
“We did experience some of our less well-behaved residents behaving quite badly through the months of lockdown.
“Obviously, last year there is a reduction. People had took to just throwing stuff out in the street if you want me to be really blunt about it.
“Hopefully, when we see the next set of figures, there may be an improvement there just because people started behaving more responsibly as things opened back up.
“It may not be as stark as the figures suggest but I will speak to waste managers because there maybe things in the background I am not aware of.”