A campaign to improve recycling rates in Perth and Kinross - which received a hostile response from some residents - has won a national accolade.
Perth and Kinross Council’s Waste Services team’s ‘Stick to the Six’ campaign clinched the silver award at the APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) Striving for Excellence Awards in the waste and recycling category.
The campaign explains that paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and containers, cans/tins, and cartons are the only items accepted in household blue bins.
All households eligible for kerbside waste collection received information detailing what types of waste to keep out of their blue bins, as well as targeted checks and intervention on the ground by staff.
Where the contents failed, the “contaminated’ bins were left unemptied at the kerbside with red failure notices stuck on the lid urging householders to sort their recycling waste more carefully next time.
According to the most recent PKC figures from April 2022, contamination levels in the region have dropped from 30 per cent to 15 per cent.
The council claims the “significant improvements” in contamination rates in blue bins across the region have happened thanks to the campaign.
The award comes after the council’s scheme was negatively scrutinised by many residents towards the end of last year.
In October the PA spoke to one Perth pensioner who blasted PKC for leaving him with two full recycling bins for over two weeks.
The following month residents on Ballantine Place, Perth even had their blue-lidded bins removed by the council after ‘contaminating’ them with the wrong rubbish.
Logie Crescent resident Thomas McLean, whose blue-lidded bins had not been collected on two occasions, feared people might have been forced into fly-tipping if blue bins in his street continued to be left unemptied.
In November it was also revealed Perth and Kinross Council had been hit with over £100,000 in fines in a year for recycled waste that has been ‘contaminated’.
Depute director of communities Clare Mailer added at the time that the level of contamination in household recycling had increased above the 20 per cent threshold.
In response, PKC’s head of environment and consumer services Mark Butterworth said the refuse department would seek to improve engagement with residents.
The local authority’s hard work looks to have paid off with the silver award recognition.
Convener of the environment and infrastructure committee Councillor Andrew Parrott said: “This is fantastic recognition for the hard work our Waste Services team and waste collection crews on the ground are doing to encourage householders in Perth and Kinross to change their approach to recycling household waste.
“We all live busy lives and ‘Stick to the Six’ is intended to make the process of kerbside recycling simpler for residents, minimise contamination in recycling bins and help our communities play their part towards reducing climate change.
“It’s great that the public’s response to the campaign has been a positive one and their continued support for services and initiatives to reduce, reuse and recycle more waste is very welcome.”
Further details about the ‘Stick to the Six’ campaign are available at www.pkc.gov.uk/sticktothesix
