At Random
Recycling still not good enough
REGULAR readers will be well aware of my position on the three-weekly bin collection system introduced towards the end of 2016.
It has been a shambles. Now Argyll and Bute Council is trumpeting the new system’s success in reducing the amount of rubbish sent to landfill from the region.
In a recent press release, the council trilled: ‘Argyll and Bute Council’s three-weekly collections are paying off, with the amount of waste going to landfill having fallen by three per cent in 2017, compared with the previous year.
‘At the council’s environment, development and infrastructure committee, members heard how 18,556 tonnes of biodegradable waste went to landfill last year, compared with 20,949 tonnes in 2016 – a drop of 2.5 per cent.
‘Members also heard how 49.4 per cent of waste in Argyll and Bute is now recycled, composted and recovered, compared with 46.5 per cent in 2016.
‘Councillor Roddy McCuish, the council’s policy lead for roads and amenity services, said: ‘These figures are extremely encouraging’.’
Really? I would have thought such a small decline of just three per cent is a cause for concern, not celebration, especially given the myriad - and continuing problems in dealing with rubbish, particularly in Soroba. We have run numerous stories over the past year and more chronicling the catalogue of complaints from readers about the repeated failure of the council to empty people’s bins one of its most basic services.
Yes, we all need to recycle more and reduce the amount sent to landfill but I would argue that pain to gain ratio is rubbish.
A welcome addition to Oban
OBAN is well-served with great places to eat.
The town has some of the finest seafood restaurants you will find anywhere, augmented by an array of other dining establishments which include Italian, Indian, Thai and Chinese for a varied dimension.
Now there is a new - and very welcome - addition in the shape of the BAAB Meze and Grill at the Perle Hotel in the town.
I’m not especially familiar with eastern Mediterranean cuisine, so I was chuffed to be invited to a free sampling night on Sunday yes, I know, I’d go to the opening of an envelope.
It’s an exciting and exotic experience. Boss lady Beth from New Jersey introduced me to chef Jay, who is Russian, and explained her passion for the food of the Levant.
It was fabulous and very competitively priced.
And it’s a cuisine that’s made for sharing, with ‘small plates’ and ‘large plates’.
Anything that enhances the choice and range of restaurants in Oban is a good thing.
We have been enjoying such a tourism boom in recent times, so the advent of BAAB provides a further feather in the town’s cap. And there’s more good news It has been dispiriting recently to have reported the closure of the Kitchen Garden deli and cafe in George Street and, last year, the demise of the Rockport Hotel in Tweeddale Street.
So it is heartening work is progressing well on the new Premier Inn near the Railway Pier. Added to that is the imminent opening of the North Pier Harbour Building, the new maritime centre beside the pontoons which opened last year.
The pontoons have been a roaring success in their first few months – pats on the back to Argyll and Bute Council – and will encourage even more visitors to the area.
Hopefully, the Kitchen Garden premises will soon be occupied again and the Rockport will find a new owner.
What do you think?
WRITE to me at mlaing@obantimes.co.uk or The Oban Times, Crannog Lane, Oban, PA34 4 HB.