SUSTAINABLE STRATHSPEY: Recycling rates on the rise in region after roll-out of new bins service
Why do recyclables never argue? Because they know how to sort things out!
So says the artificial intelligence app, Chat GPT. And it seems that AI might be correct.
We in the Highlands are quite good at recycling and compare well with other parts of Scotland.
It was good to hear this at the well-attended event Waste not – why not? organised recently by Badenoch Climate Action in conjunction with Sustainable Strathspey.
According to current evidence, Borders, Edinburgh and Angus send the least waste to landfill and Wales has the best recycling rate of any of us.
So, it was gratifying to hear from Brian Ritchie that 100 per cent of the materials that find their way to David Ritchie and Sons facility at Granish are recycled – from rubble which when refined is in demand further south, to scrap cars which are exported to Spain for recycling.
Everything finds a commercial market.
The session coincided with the roll out of the new recycling scheme in the strath and Alan McKinnie of Highland Council outlined the policy drivers behind it.
New powers under the Circular Economy Act passed in June by the Scottish Government aim to increase recycling rates by setting targets, restricting the disposal of things that can’t be recycled and encouraging their reuse.
And, a questioner was told, the controversial bottle deposit scheme has not been abandoned.
There is already evidence that the new, smaller residual waste bins that we’ve been given are changing people’s habits.
In areas where they have been used for a year, people are recycling more and wasting less.
But it was domestic food waste recycling – a service not currently available to Badenoch and
Strathspey residents through Highland Council – that generated most interest.
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Currently, 35 per cent of what goes into our non-recyclable bin is food, with a staggering 12 per cent in unopened packaging.
The problem with food waste is that as it decomposes in landfill sites, it releases methane, a particularly nasty greenhouse gas more potent even that CO2.
It’s been said that if food waste were a country, it would come after China and United States as an emitter of greenhouse gases!
But – all is not lost. Ritchie’s can and does process food waste currently by collecting from restaurants and commercial establishments for a fee.
They would love to see households recycling food waste and Brian even brought along the bins to show us.
The food waste is processed, and the methane released is captured and used to generate green electricity.
Residual sludge is also processed and turned into a bio-fertiliser which goes back into the food cycle.
There were huddled discussions after the meeting as some of us began to conceive of neighbourhood collections of food waste… getting enough people together willing to separate their food waste and collectively subscribe to a scheme to have it collected.
These columns like to end on a positive note with suggestions for action.
While domestic food waste collection may still be a little way off in the strath, Sustainable Strathspey and Badenoch Climate Action are on the case. Watch this space!
Kay Caldwell is a member of the Badenoch Climate Action group.
