 Ms Burgess said recycling was very important and welcomed the trial |
Thousands of householders in East Renfrewshire have been asked to recycle food waste as part of a 12-month kerbside collection trial. Special compostable bags are being used and then left in a sealed container for collection by the local council. The authority said it hoped to cut landfill and make people think about how much food they threw out. �800 million worth of food is thrown out by Scottish consumers each year, amounting to nearly �370 per home. Six thousand households in Merrylee, Carolside, Kirkhill, Barrhead and Neilston have been invited to take part in the trial. The move means some households will now have five recycling bins but Elspeth Burgess, of Newton Mearns, said she did not see that as a problem. "I think a lot of people probably tend to buy too much food and if they could realise how much food waste they're putting out, it'll maybe help them to cut down," she told BBC Scotland. Each household taking part in the trials will be provided with a seven-litre kitchen caddy and bags to go inside them, as well as a larger seal-able container to keep out foxes and rats. All food waste including scrapings from dinner plates, bones, fish skins, cooked and uncooked waste and dairy products can be put into the bags. The Scottish Government has set councils the target of cutting the amount of refuse they send to landfill to 35% of 1995 levels by 2020. East Renfrewshire Council said more than 500 tonnes of household waste could be diverted from landfill during the trial, also underway in 17 areas throughout England and Northern Ireland. Last year the authority sent 24,427 tonnes of biodegradable waste to landfill. Council environment officer Erica Kemmet told BBC Scotland: "I think people are beginning to recognise they need to take responsibility for their own waste. "We've tried to make it as easy as possible. We do have a same-day collection, so you put your bin out and on the same day you put out your recycling." The Scottish Environment Protection Agency said 63% of the amount of waste the council sent to landfill was biodegradable and, of this amount, nearly half was made up of organic kitchen or catering waste. The Scottish Waste Awareness Group will monitor the scheme's success.
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I think people are beginning to recognise they need to take responsibility for their own waste
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