A new kerbside waste and recycling service is to be rolled out later this month across much of Dumfries & Galloway. Following its introduction in Wigtownshire in November last year, the service will be rolled out to the Stewartry in late March, Nithsdale in April and then to Annandale & Eskdale in May.
The majority of households will receive two 240 litre recycling wheelie bins – a blue-lidded bin for paper, card and cardboard; and a red-lidded bin for plastics, metals and cartons. As well as showing information on how to use them, the recycling bin lids have notches to help visually impaired residents differentiate bins – the blue-lidded bin has one notch and the red-lidded bin has two notches. Flats and other properties which cannot accommodate the standard size bins will instead receive shared recycling bins or reusable recycling sacks.
The new service will operate over a four-week cycle, with residents’ recyclable and non-recyclable waste collected on an alternating weekly basis with only one bin set out for collection each week.
The roll out will be accompanied by investment in additional Recycling Points, enabling residents to recycle glass bottles and jars at more than 100 locations across the region, including the existing Household Waste Recycling Centres. These items will not be collected at the kerbside as Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme is due to launch in 2022 and is anticipated to return 85 per cent of glass drinks bottles to retailers.
The Ecodeco Mechanical Biological Treatment facility, located on the outskirts of Dumfries, will continue to process the region’s non-recyclable waste. The main output of the plant is an energy from waste fuel.
Once the kerbside recycling service has been rolled out to all areas, a food waste recycling service will then be introduced in late Summer/ early Autumn to the following towns Annan, Dalbeattie, Dumfries, Gretna and Lockerbie. Stranraer already receives this service.
Commenting on the introduction of the new service, Councillor Andy Ferguson, Chair of Dumfries and Galloway Council Communities Committee, said: “After the successful reintroduction of kerbside waste recycling in Wigtownshire, we’re delighted to be launching this new service across the region.
“Following the Council’s ‘climate emergency declaration’ two years ago, increasing the region’s level of waste recycling has been identified as one of a number of actions to ensure we achieve net zero carbon status in Dumfries & Galloway by 2025. This new service will also contribute to the Scotland-wide target of recycling 70% of all waste by 2025.”
Councillor John Martin, Vice Chair of the Communities Committee, said: “Given the challenges presented by Covid-19, we are taking a number of precautions to ensure this new service can be delivered effectively without compromising the safety of our refuse collection colleagues or the wider public.”
More information about the new service, including dates for when the service will be rolled out to different areas across Dumfries and Galloway, can be found at: www.dumgal.gov.uk/wasterecycling
