The Scottish council's waste services manager, David Hopper, has said that the council is doing so well there is a good chance it will surpass Daventry and Lichfield's current recycling rates next year. At the moment, Daventry and Lichfield are recycling between 40 and 45% of their household waste.
But Stirling believes its new kerbside collection scheme, which was phased in over the summer, will see it topping these results.
Mr Hopper said “We are hoping to be recycling at least 45% in a year's time, once the council's green waste service is rolled-out to almost every household. We are in a high socio-economic area and people are very keen to recycle.”
He added: “I think we can at least match the better English councils like Daventry and Lichfield.”
At the beginning of the kerbside scheme, the council was collecting just over one hundred tonnes a week. Now the blue box recycling service for mixed dry recyclables is offered to about 95% of households, and the amount collected has risen to 1,000 tonnes a month.
In addition, over 60% of residents currently get a brown bit for green waste and cardboard, with all areas – excluding some city centre households – due to start on the scheme by the end of October. Mr Hopper said that any excess green waste will be stockpiled during summer so there is some left to mix with cardboard over the winter.
Stirling currently has a recycling rate of about 30%, an increase on its 17% figure in 2002/03. “Half of the recycling rate was reached through composting and the other half through mixed dry recyclables,” explained Mr Hopper.
Vehicles
He hails the council's new 11-strong fleet of collection vehicles as one of the main reasons for the recycling increase. The Izuzu trucks have King Highway trailers with nine compartments. Mr Hopper said: “The trucks are just over eight tonnes and we can collect about three and a half tonnes of material which easily matches what the bigger 19 tonne trucks are collecting.
“This is because we have nine compartments on the truck and so we can separate material more, we don’t have the problem of one section filling before the other because we just use the next compartment.”
After collection, mixed dry recyclables are taken to the council's new 1.5 million waste transfer station near Fallin, where bulk carriers take it to the Avondale recycling and landfill site in Falkirk, which can handle 120,000 tonnes of waste. A 10,000 tonne composting facility is also at this site.
A new spot for a civic amenity site has been identified at Craigforth on the A84 trunk road. A planning application has been put in with a view to opening next spring.
Councillor Gillie Thompson said: “The Scottish Executive has yet to set local councils new recycling targets for the next 20 years, and when they do we will need to look closely at our current operation to see how we will meet those targets.
“Judging by the operation so far, I am very confident that we will meet and very possibly exceed them.”
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