New Kerbside Recycling Collections Coming to Inverness

The Highland Council is gearing up for new kerbside collections of food tins, drink cans, paper and garden waste which are due to start in Inverness in November.  The new recycling service will be offered to the majority of properties in Inverness that do not already receive a recycling collection. This will make it much easier for householders to recycle more of their household waste at home. 

The Scottish Executive recently awarded the Council £1.83M to help fund the new kerbside recycling service.  Two new vehicles have been purchased to allow collections from just over 16,000 households in Inverness on a fortnightly basis.  One week, homes will receive a collection of garden waste and the following week they will receive a collection of food tins, drink cans and paper. 

This is Phase 3 of the new kerbside recycling service and will be rolled out to approximately 20,000 in Inverness and Ross-shire in the next couple of months. This will bring the total number of properties served by the kerbside recycling collection service throughout Highland to 68,500.

The introduction of the new service will contribute towards reaching the Council’s recycling rate of 21.6% by April 2007 set by the Scottish Executive. All UK Council’s also have challenging EU Landfill Allowance targets to meet by 2010.  The amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill must be reduced to 75% of 1995 production levels.  

The existing kerbside collection routes in Inverness which started in April 2005 are proving very successful with householders wishing to recycle.  Between April and June this just over 1000 tonnes of garden waste and approximately 300 tonnes of paper were collected from households on the routes in Inverness. The amount of food tins and drink cans collected from city households has also improved with approximately 10 tonnes collected between April and June. 

Householders on the new routes should look out for a leaflet coming through their door describing how the new collection system will work.  Each household will be supplied with an additional brown wheelie bin for their garden waste and a blue box for their food tins, drink cans and paper.  The normal refuse collection will be unaffected. Further information will be provided with the boxes and bins as they are delivered over the next few weeks.  The recycling collections for flats and multiple occupancy properties will be rolled out in the near future.

For more information about recycling in your area please telephone 01463 230634, or email -  recycle@highland.gov.uk.