Waste and Recycling - Latest News and Campaigns

• Moray’s Waste Audit Highlights Recycling Possibilities
• Zero Waste Scotland - Sort-it
• Dog Fouling
• Helping to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
• Latest News
• Campaigns
• Media Campaigns

Moray’s Waste Audit Highlights Recycling Possibilities

In summer 2011, the Waste Monitoring Team of The Moray Council carried out their annual domestic waste audit from households across Moray. The audit involved sorting through the contents of bins from a random 2% sample of properties from collection routes over 5 days, segregating the waste into 47 different categories. While it was not a particularly pleasant task for the team, it is a very important task, as the results can be used to highlight problems and trends, allowing the waste section to see where improvements or changes might be suitable for the current recycling service. 

The audit covered rural properties on 2 days and urban properties on 3 days. The average weight of the rural waste bin was 18.8kg per week compared to 7.35kg per week for the urban bin.  This was to be expected as the rural areas audited were not on the kerbside recycling scheme.  Including recycling, the overall weight of waste produced by urban households was 20.75kg. Surprisingly the heaviest proportion of rural bins was that of garden waste, at just over 25% of the total weight, due to the presence of grass cuttings and plants. This was followed by organic kitchen waste which made up over 18% of the average bin, or a staggering 3.5kg of food waste per household per week!

It was disappointing to find that 13% of the average urban bin was made up of recyclable paper, glass and cans, materials which could easily have been recycled using the blue and orange boxes.  Clearly, there is scope for some householders in urban areas to increase the amount of material that they currently presenting for recycling. Importantly, 36% was organic kitchen waste. Since the audit was carried out, food waste collections have been introduced to those properties on the kerbside recycling scheme, whereby food waste is placed in the garden waste bin. With food waste representing the largest proportion of the average urban bin by far, this new service should significantly reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill.

Rural bins contained a high percentage of recyclable paper, glass and cans at 20%, although this was almost expected due to the lack of kerbside recycling facilities available. Organic garden waste, food waste and plastic bottles accounted for another 46%. 

A major improvement to recycling service provision in Moray will be the introduction of kerbside recycling to all properties across the county which do not currently receive the service. This will start being implemented at the end of October this year and will comprise a brown bin for garden and food waste, a 140ltr blue bin for paper and card, a 140ltr purple bin for cans and plastic bottles and an orange box for glass. If used to their full potential, it should be possible for rural residents to recycle an incredible 66% of their current waste, well above Moray’s current recycling rate of around 40%.

The opportunity is there for the rural residents of Moray to lead the way in recycling, and it will be interesting to see how well they are doing when the next waste audit is carried out next year!

Back to top 

Zero Waste Scotland - Sort-it

Zero Waste Scotland has launched an improved version of their popular ‘Sort It’ website. This is designed to make it easier for the Scottish public to reduce, reuse and recycle more of their household waste (click here to read more)  Click here to visit the newly designed Sort-it website

Towards Zero Waste The Scottish Government has published its first Zero Waste Plan which details the actions and steps that will drive Scotland towards a zero waste society. The plan was unveiled by Cabinet Secretary for the Environment and Rural Affairs Richard Lochhead and introduces the idea of landfill bans on certain materials to encourage prevention and reuse, as well as stating that a waste prevention programme will be developed for all waste in Scotland.

You can read the full plan here.

Back to top 

Dog Fouling

The Moray Council Environmental Protection Department have changed their sweeping and street cleaning functions. The sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed the subtle change to many of the pavement standing litter bins throughout Moray.  In an effort to increase the options available to all dog walkers across the county it is now possible to deposit bagged dog waste in any of the newly labelled bins (click here to read more)  

 Dog fouling is antisocial and can be reported to the Antisocial Behaviour Section either by calling the 24 hour reporting line on 0800 58 77 197 or by using the online reporting form. 

Back to top

Helping to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

The Moray Council continues to maintain a recycling rate of over 40% with the latest figures showing an overall annual rate in excess of 43%.  To help encourage everyone in the area to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle as much as they can, the council works in partnership with the National Waste Aware Scotland Campaign. Details of recent campaigns, including the Reduce Unwanted Mail and Love Food Hate Waste Campaigns can be found at www.wasteawarescotland.org.uk. This can also provide resources and information about other ways to help protect our environment by reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.

Back to top

Latest News

Household and Commercial Bin Collections

During Severe Winter Weather we will…

• continue to undertake the regular scheduled collection of household and commercial waste wherever it is deemed safe to do so.  The decision on whether it is safe for a refuse collection vehicle to access a specific location/street  has to be determined locally by the driver of that vehicle, taking into account the prevailing driving and weather conditions at that time and the physical nature of the area that has to be negotiated.
• If the driver decides that it is not safe to access an area, then they will report this to their manager and the Council’s customer service staff to enable them to field any subsequent enquiries.  If significant numbers of residents/business are affected then an alert will also be posted onto the Council’s web page to provide information to the affected people.
• If underfoot conditions are safe enough to do so, bins will be manually pulled out of side roads to be emptied but may not be returned to their previous position. Alternatively, we will try to return and collect missed bins within 24 hours of the scheduled collection date where possible.  Details of arrangements to catch up with collections will be posted on the Council’s web page and  communicated to the public through the local media.  You may be asked to leave your bins out for collection for the remainder of the week.

During Continuing Severe Weather…

• If it is not possible to empty your bin due to continuing bad weather conditions, then we will aim to return later during that same week to collect missed bins and if necessary this may include working weekends. If we are still unable to service your bin we will remove excess waste you leave at the side of the bin on the next scheduled collection.
• In exceptional adverse weather conditions it may prove necessary to temporarily suspend all refuse collection arrangements in a particular area.  The collection of residual waste will then take priority over green waste. We will continue to attempt to empty your recycling boxes. As soon as conditions improve the service will resume.

Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs)
If, due to severe weather, the sites have to close for practical or health and safety reasons, then details of the closures will be posted on the Council’s web page as an alert and communicated to contact centre staff.  Notices will also be displayed at the sites detailing the closure.  Every attempt will be made to ensure that sites re-open as quickly as possible following such a closure.

Self Help 
It should be noted that the majority of HWRCs remained open throughout the whole period of extreme bad winter weather last year.  Residents that have not received their normal refuse collection service as a result of snow/ice creating access problems for refuse vehicles can, if they wish to do so, take their waste to their nearest HWRC.

If you need to contact us 
please ring 01343 557045 or 
Email waste@moray.gov.uk

Where you can find the latest information 
Details of any special arrangements will be issued on The Moray Council website and through the media where possible.

Love Food Hate Waste
In Scotland we throw away 566,000 tonnes of food waste every year and of that 68% could have been avoided if we managed our food better. This expensive habit costs each household an average of £430 each year.

• Over £1 billion worth of food is wasted by consumers in Scotland each year. That's an average of £430 per household
• Scottish households throw away 566,000 tonnes of food every year.
• Two thirds of all food waste could have been eaten.
• Half of the good food thrown away is untouched, with one in seven items still in their packaging.
• At least £18 million worth of food thrown out is still in date.
• If we stopped wasting all this food, we could prevent the equivalent of 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year in Scotland. This is the same as taking 1 in 4 cars off the road.

Visit Waste Aware Scotland’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign  which offers assistance with planning your meals and food shopping which helps you use food more effectively and avoid waste.

Remember to put your kitchen food waste into your brown recycling bin. 

Waste Aware Guide - New Format

In order to reduce the impact of unwanted mail the Waste Aware Guide and domestic Collection Calendar have been developed in an electronic format and are available for download by clicking on the links.  Whilst planning the change in format it became clear that an opportunity existed to redesign the layout of the collection calendar which now lends itself to one calendar no matter the recycling implementation phase.

To arrange a paper copy of the guide/updates please contact waste@moray.gov.uk or telephone 01343 557045 

Battery Recycling Points

A Positive Step for Recycling The sharp eyed amongst you may have spotted the arrival of battery recycling points at the Buckie, Elgin, Forres and Keith Recycling Centres recently, in order to meet the requirements laid down in the EU Batteries Directive which is due to become UK law shortly. The Directive requires that 25% by weight of portable (household) batteries placed on the market each year are collected for recycling by 2012, rising to 45% in 2016. This is a very challenging target as the current collection rate in the UK is estimated to be around 2.3%. The average household uses 21 batteries a year, all of which could be recycled. In recent surveys 85% of those asked responded that they would be encouraged to recycle if they knew where to take unwanted batteries. Moray Council are working in partnership with Recycling Electrical Producers Industries' Consortium Ltd (REPIC Ltd) to recycle non-lead acid batteries presented from householders. Alyce Whitby REPIC Ltd Business Development said, "I'm delighted that REPIC Ltd is working with Moray Council and adding a new service to their Household Waste Recycling Centres. We already provide services for recycling waste electrical products in line with the Waste Electronic Electrical Equipment Directive. The Batteries Regulations begin in earnest in 2010 so this additional service and new containers mean that Moray can be among the first councils to establish batteries collections at their Recycling Centres." All non-lead acid battery types can be recycled through this scheme. Typically these will be batteries which an average person could carry in one hand without difficulty - single cell batteries, such as AA, AAA, button and 'square' batteries, regardless of whether they are singe use or rechargeable and those used by consumers or professionals in mobile telephones, portable computers, cordless power tools, toys and household appliances. Given the wide range of battery types and codes please note the following list of battery types which can also be recycled:

• Alkaline manganese
• Zinc-carbon
• Nickel Cadmium (NiCad)
• Lithium Ion (Li-ion)
• Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH)
• Single-use Lithium
• Silver Oxide
• Zinc Air

Transport Litter Day of Action
Moray Council and Grampian Police joined forces with Bear Scotland in support the Transport Litter Day of Action on 28th October. The purpose of the day was to highlight the blight of roadside litter and carry out enforcement primarily on routes maintained by roads operators, BEAR Scotland, Scotland Transerv and AMEY.

The litter on our roads is not only a clear environmental risk it also presents a significant risk to the safety of staff who routinely clear litter from the verges of the 710 miles of Morays rural roads and sweep 1000 miles of urban roads.

The Council and Grampian Police staff will be working with Bear Scotland to visit areas known for littering and will be taking direct action against those caught littering.  

In response to the Litter Day of Action John Russell, Chairman of the Economic Development & Infrastructure Services Committee said, “ Despite being one of the cleanest counties in Scotland clearing roadside litter in Moray is an ongoing task which consumes considerable staff time and is a needless drain on limited financial resources. The Environmental Protection department does an excellent job clearing litter dropped by a few selfish individuals and is grateful for the efforts made by the majority of the caring residents and visitors across Moray.

The allocation of litter and dog waste bins has been under review recently and is subject to significant improvement in options available, with litter bins in the vast majority of the lay bys, litter and dog bins well distributed throughout the county and every likelihood of a bin at the end of a journey.  I urge everyone, whether travelling in a vehicle or a pedestrian to consider the impacts of littering on our natural and built environments and seek to use a bin at every opportunity.”  

Compost Bins

Autumn is here, and this busy time for gardeners everywhere is an especially busy time for your compost bin. Now is the time for the final cut of the lawn, pruning shrubs, tidying the borders and raking up leaves. And all of this garden waste can go straight into your compost bin. This organic material will rot down to give you fresh compost to use in your garden next year, which you can use to feed your plants to make them even healthier. Too many leaves can choke a compost bin and slow the process down, so why not think about making leaf mould? Simply gather up excess leaves into a bin bag, pour some water in, make a few holes in the bag and set it aside in an out of the way spot. If you open it up after a year you will find a great mulch that can be spread over the soil, and if you leave it for two years you'll find a lovely, rich, crumbly loam that will be a perfect soil conditioner. You can also use any compost from your bin that is ready this autumn. It can protect crowns of tender plants, improve soil drainage and makes a great bulb planting medium when mixed with garden soil. If you are planting spring glowering bulbs simply dig in your sieved home compost with the soil and scatter the bulbs randomly, planting them where they fall for a natural look. For really good compost you need a 50/50 mix of 'green' materials like grass clippings and fruit and vegetables, and 'brown' materials like autumn leaves and scrunched up or shredded paper and cardboard. If you think that your bin might be too dry, don't be afraid to add some water every now and again.

Back to top 

Campaigns

Love Food Hate Waste - Over £1 billion worth of food is wasted by consumers in Scotland each year. That's an average of £430 per household! If we stopped wasting all this food we could prevent the equivalent of 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year in Scotland. This is the same as taking 1 in 4 cars off the road. For information on reducing your food waste, including advice and recipes from some of Scotland's top chefs and food writers please visit www.wasteawarelovefood.org.uk

Stop Unwanted Mail - There are five easy ways that you can reduce the amount of unwanted mail you receive and benefit the environment. 

Back to top

Media Campaigns

Moray Council is currently one of the most successful Scottish Authorities with regard to recycling and waste diversion which is testament to everyone who participates in any recycling options whether they be at the Kerbside, Recycling Points, trade collections or Recycling Centres. Apart from the promotion of sensible waste management and recycling the work of the authority includes street cleanliness, litter awareness, dog fouling awareness.  The following adverts were used to promote many areas of concern to everyone whether public or the authority alike.

• Household Recycling clip - Transcript  (MS Word, 22KB)
• Trade Recycling clip - Transcript  (MS Word, 22KB)
• Fly Tipping clip - Transcript  (MS Word, 22KB)
• General Litter clip - Transcript  (MS Word, 22KB)
• Cigarette Litter clip - Transcript  (MS Word, 22KB)
• Dog Fouling clip - Transcript  (MS Word, 22KB)

Back to top