Dunbar in East Lothian is set to become the first Scottish Zero Waste Town as part of a new initiative from Zero Waste Scotland to encourage residents to use resources more efficiently.
Announced by Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead today (August 6), the pilot project aims to recognise collective efforts from residents and businesses to reduce waste and recycle more.
It will include a number of community-led initiatives such as:
- Opening a facility to help make re-using goods easier;
- Local engagement drives to help households waste less food and use food waste recycling collections;
- Educational programmes with local schools; and
- Initiatives to reduce litter such as on-street Recycle on the go bins which fit in with the towns historic landscapes.
The project will be coordinated by local community group Sustaining Dunbar, which will work closely with Zero Waste Scotland, East Lothian Council, local groups, businesses and residents to coordinate a comprehensive approach to transforming attitudes to waste in the town. If successful, it could be replicated elsewhere.
Real progress
Commenting on the project Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead said: Its fantastic that Dunbar has set an example and become Scotlands first ever Zero Waste Town, demonstrating the communitys firm commitment to making real progress in resource management at a local level. This innovative programme will help the town recycle more, send less to landfill and use our precious resources more efficiently. I wish everyone involved in this initiative the best of luck and I hope it will create valuable experiences that other communities around Scotland can benefit from as we strive to make Scotland a zero waste country.
Iain Gulland, director at Zero Waste Scotland, added: Getting everyone in Scotlands communities on-board with our vision to eliminate waste, for the benefit of local economies and the environment, is absolutely vital. Scotland has set ambitious targets to achieve a recycling rate of 70 percent and reduce the waste produced by 15 percent by 2025. To achieve this, everyone must play their part.
Working to becoming a Zero Waste Town will be a great way to bring communities together, working towards a shared goal. Hopefully the pilot project in Dunbar will provide great examples of best practice which we can recreate in other towns across Scotland.
Dunbar was selected for the pilot project following submissions from across Scotland after an open call for interested communities in 2013.
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