Date set for Ross fortnightly bin collecion

CALENDARS and guidance booklets are being set out to Ross householders in preparation for the new fortnightly refuse and recycling collections, due to begin on October 3.

The changes will see a fortnightly recycling collection from blue wheelie bins alternating with a fortnightly refuse collection, both on the same day.

The two-year calendars being delivered show clearly which bin to put out each week and the accompanying booklet, as well as explaining how to use the blue recycling bin, also offers guidance on managing waste to avoid any potential problems.

It includes advice on reducing food waste, composting and how to recycle other unwanted items. The Council’s Waste Awareness Team will also be out and about talking to people on doorsteps and pupils in schools.

Residents of areas which currently have blue recycling boxes for newspaper and tin cans and those in Lochcarron, Lochbroom and Achiltibuie, who currently have no kerbside recycling collection service, will be delivered a new blue wheelie bin at the same time as they receive their guidance booklets and calendars.

A small number of properties in the Lochcarron area, which are serviced by a different refuse vehicle due to access issues, will not receive the new service until it is introduced to the last remaining areas of Wester Ross next spring.

Chair of the TEC Services Committee, Councillor John Laing, explained that the new bin collections are part of an ongoing programme aimed at raising recycling rates throughout the Highland Council area.

“By July next year nearly all households will receive a fortnightly kerbside recycling collection from blue wheelie bins enabling them to recycle a wide range of materials from home," he said.

"The feedback we have had on the new collections has been overwhelmingly positive, reflecting, I believe, the commitment of the Highland population to recycling and minimising waste.

“Currently local authorities pay a tax of £56 on every tonne of waste sent to landfill - and this is on top of disposal costs, so landfilled waste is a big drain on Council resources as well as being bad for the environment.”