Waste reduction, recycling and composting
Waste Reduction in Aberdeen City
Waste Strategy
Aberdeen City Council is committed to reducing household waste.
The Council's waste strategy was approved in December 2001 and the waste strategy is currently under review.
An Area Waste Plan for North East Scotland has been approved by the Scottish Executive in 2003. The Plan contributes towards the National Waste Plan for Scotland to ensure more sustainable approach to waste management.
The full plan and its summary can be view on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency web site on http://www.sepa.org.uk/nws/guidance/awp.htm
The Strategic Waste Fund
Aberdeen City Council in September 2003 received a £25 million funding from the Scottish Executive's Strategic Waste Fund, for its 20-year integrated waste management plan. £1.8 m a year.
The overall aims of the plan are to:
- Maximise waste reduction, reuse and recycling
- Increase public awareness and understanding of waste management issues, the intention being to bring about a cultural change towards sustainable waste management methods
- Achieve Landfill Directive targets regarding diversion of Biodegradable Municipal Waste
- Maximise diversion of all waste types from landfill and obtain more value from the waste
Implementation is now under way to improve recycling and waste reduction across the city. This includes-
- An extensive education and awareness campaign visiting community events and schools throughout the city.
- Kerbside recycling collection service now available at 74,700 properties in the City for glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles, food and drinks can and paper and cardboard.
- Kerbside collection of garden waste now available at 61,800 properties in the City with a garden.
A Materials Recovery Facility is located at Sclattie, Bucksburn. This facility segregates and processes aluminium and steel cans and plastic bottles collected at recycling centres and from the kerbside recycling collection. The items are separated the baled and then transported for recycling.
For more information e- mail: WasteAware@aberdeencity.gov.uk or Tel: 08456 005333
Composting Facility
The Council is currently developing a funding proposal for an 'in-vessel composting system'. This will be submitted to the Scottish Executive in early 2005. Currently the Council is only collecting and composting garden waste. This proposal would allow us to add kitchen waste to the garden waste collection and would comply with the Animal By-Products Regulations 2004. The target would be to collect 13,000 tonnes of compostable material a year. The compost would be used in horticulture or agriculture as a soil improver.
Recycling Rates
Recycling Targets for Aberdeen City have been set by the Scottish Executive.
Aberdeen City Council has begun an intensive campaign to increase recycling across the city with a range of new recycling initiatives. The following table shows the recycling rates for recent years.
| Year | Recycling Rates Achieved |
| 2000/01 | 3.6% |
| 2001/02 | 5.8% |
| 2002/03 | 6.3% |
| 2003/04 | 10.6% |
| 2004/05 | 15.5% |
| 2005/06 | 21.8% |
| 2006/07 | 26.8% |
Aberdeen Forward
Aberdeen Forward is a local environmental company set up to encourage local groups and organisations to take an active role in improving the way waste is managed in Aberdeen City. Grants and advice are available.
For more information contact: Aberdeen Forward, Tel: (01224) 774171, E-mail: admin@abzforward.plus.com or web http://www.aberdeenforward.org
Business Environmental Partnership North East
The Business Environment Partnership a not-for-profit organisation promoting cost-savings through environmental improvement amongst businesses in the North East of Scotland. For more information visit their website: http://www.bepne.org.uk
Contact Details
Peter Lawrence (Strategic Contracts Manager)
4th Floor
Balgownie One, AECC
Conference Way
Bridge of Don
ABERDEEN
AB23 8AQ
Telephone: 01224 814629
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