New bins make it easier to recycle ‘on the go’ in Inverness

Hundreds of new recycling bins are being installed in busy public places across Scotland as the country marks the start of Recycle Week. 

They include new facilities in the Rose Street multi storey car park, Inverness, which will enable locals to separate newspapers, plastic bottles and cans for recycling. 

The new facilities have been funded by Zero Waste Scotland, as part of a £250,000 drive to make it easier for people to recycle when they are ‘on the go’.  In total, over 40 locations have installed new recycling bins thanks to the funding, including Edinburgh’s recently-refurbished Royal Commonwealth Pool, Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park, and Camperdown Country Park in Dundee. 
Today (18 June) marks the start of Recycle Week, a nationwide drive to encourage people to recycle more, which this year is focusing on recycling plastic bottles. 

Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish Government are urging people to use the new recycling bins when they are out and about during Recycle Week.
Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Richard Lochhead said: “Making recycling easy, whether you’re at home or out and about, is vital if Scotland is to achieve its zero waste ambitions.   This funding supports local authorities, businesses, and the third sector to provide new recycling bins, however it’s down to everyone to use them.

“Scotland’s household recycling rate have jumped from 5% to nearly 40% in the last 10 years alone.  While this is fantastic progress, there’s still room to recycle more at home as well as when we are out and about.  The small effort it takes to separate our waste for recycling is very valuable to Scotland’s economy.”

Iain Gulland, Director of Zero Waste Scotland, said: “Many of the items that end up in litter bins, such as newspapers and drinks bottles, can be easily recycled.  Not only is this better for the environment, there’s real value left in the goods we throw away.  High quality plastic bottles can be sold at over £190 per tonne, so throwing them away to landfill is a lost business opportunity.

“Ultimately, we want to make it easy to recycle, whether at home, at work or out and about.  These new facilities will make it easy to recycle in some of the country’s busiest and most popular public areas.

“However, it is important that people use recycling bins correctly because putting in non-recyclable items risks damaging the quality – and value – of the recyclable materials.”

Graham Phillips, chairman of Highland Council's transport, environmental and community services (TECS) committee said: “We are delighted that Zero Waste Scotland has provided us with funding to invest in the new public recycling bins.  People in the Highlands have demonstrated their enthusiasm for recycling so it is great to have this opportunity to build on this eagerness to make a difference.   We strongly encourage everyone to recycle as much as they can, helping Scotland to make the best use of its valuable resources and work towards achieving the 70% recycling target for 2025.”   

About Recycle Week
Recycle Week runs from 18th -24th June and the theme this year is plastic bottles.

Scotland uses a staggering one million plastic bottles every day.

Over 90% of local authorities now offer a kerbside recycling service for plastic bottles, but we only recycle around a quarter of all the bottles we use. 

Recycle Week is calling for everyone to recycle all kinds of bottles – whether you’re at home or when out and about.  For more information, visit www.recycleforscotland.com. 

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