Highland Council joins Scotland's battle to wage war on waste

21st September 2017

The Highland Council has signed up to join Recycle Week's army of ambassadors in a bid to get Scotland recycling more.

Recycle Week, which takes place from 25 September to 1 October 2017, is the annual UK-wide campaign to raise awareness of the vital importance of recycling. Over the course of the week Zero Waste Scotland will be encouraging people from all over the country to become waste warriors and do their bit by recycling as much as they can.

Highland Council will be encouraging the public and its staff to increase the household recycling in Highland from 44.5% to 60% by 2020. The Council will be using Social Media, newspapers, magazines and it's website to bring the importance of recycling to the attention of the public.

Good progress has been made in Highland: we are in the top 6 Councils in Scotland for recycling rates, having recycled 60,000 tonnes of household waste in 2016. Kerbside collections account for 50% of this, with the Recycling Centres and Recycling Points accounting for the other 50%. However, 55.5% of household waste is still sent for disposal in landfill sites or incineration. The Highland Council aims to reduce this amount and will be using Recycle Week to highlight the benefits of recycling with their employees and the residents of the Highland area, promoting ways in which every person can do their bit.

Commenting on their involvement Councillor Allan Henderson, Chair of the Council's Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee said: "Recycle Week is such a fantastic and worthwhile campaign to be a part of and we are looking forward to getting our employees and residents involved.

"We will be getting as many people involved as possible and would encourage other organisations and businesses in Highland to sign up too and join Recycle Week’s army of ambassadors."

Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland said: "Recycle Week is the perfect opportunity for us to get as many people as possible from across the country recycling more and we are grateful to Highland Council for joining us in spreading the word.

“Recycling in Scotland has vastly improved over the past few years but we still have some way to go to meet the Scottish Government’s target of recycling 70% of our waste by 2025. It is a target that can absolutely be achieved if every one of us makes that extra effort to ensure we are recycling as much as we possibly can."

To sign up to Recycle Week please visit www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/recycleweek2017