Skye Blue Bin Recycling Collections Reach End of First Rota

Blue Recycling Bin Collections in Skye and Lochalsh began at the beginning of the month and this Friday will see the end of the first four week rota. The collections are proving a great success with already over 60% of residents putting out their bins on some routes. Unfortunately snow during the second half of the first week meant that it was not possible to uplift all the bins, affecting householders in parts of Trotternish. A number of people were also caught out by the collection times differing from their regular weekly refuse collection.  Householders are reminded to put out their bins by 7am on their collection date.

Encouragingly, contamination of the bins with the wrong material has been relatively low with glass being the most serious culprit followed by plastic bags, Tetrapak (cardboard drink cartons) and plastic other than bottles.

Councillor Drew Millar, speaking on behalf of the Council, said, “I would like to thank the public for their high level of commitment to making the new service such a success. By the end of the first four-week rota over 50 tons of material will have been diverted from landfill and will instead be used to make products, thus saving both resources and energy used in converting them. This is all good news for the environment.”

Householders are reminded that collections are once every four weeks so to take care to check the dates on their calendars to ensure that they do not miss their collection day.  They are also reminded that the bins cannot take glass and they should continue to use their local recycling points for this. Cardboard drink cartons should also not be put in Blue Bin.

All items in the bins should be loose with no plastic bags or any plastic items other than plastic bottles – without their caps. Full details of how to use the bins are given in the booklet that was delivered with the bins.

Any resident needing further advice can contact the Council by telephoning on 01478 612728 or visit http://www.highland.gov.uk/recycle.htm or email - recycle@highland.gov.uk.