City's waste line expands

IT is either a brave bid to meet ambitious recycling targets or one bin too far. Ten different bins, bags and boxes are now being handed to residents for recycling in parts of Edinburgh - one of the highest figures in the UK.

And whether you embrace the move or not, it is clear every city resident is going to have to become better at rooting through their rubbish in the future.

A new food waste collection service, which sees home- owners given two extra plastic bins, is now being trialled in some areas of the Capital.

Around 20,000 properties across Edinburgh will take part in the initial trial, which will see slops picked up once a week. At the same time, council bosses plan to introduce fortnightly bin collections in those areas for general waste, with the move from weekly pick-ups expected next year.

But while anything which helps the city hit its target of recycling 75 per cent of waste by 2020 has been welcomed, the council has also been warned it could be in danger of turning people off by bombarding them with bags and boxes.

As well as two food waste containers (one for inside and another for outside), some householders have also been given a special bag for recycling plastic bottles and another for used batteries.

• Would you like a set of the council's food waste recycling bins? Vote here

Add that to the red and blue boxes already handed out for cardboard, packaging and glass, blue bags for newspapers, brown bins for garden waste and orange bags for clothes and some residents now have nine different recycling options to think about as well as a conventional wheelie bin.

Depending on your stance, that puts Edinburgh on a par with the worst/best performing councils in the UK, where the average number of boxes is four. However, the numbers are not uniform across the city, with some tenement residents not having any bins, bags or boxes, relying instead on communal bins in the street.

Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city's environmental leader, is hopeful that the latest initiative can convert even the most ardent refusenik.

"There is real potential for behavioural change," he says. "It's important for residents to know that if recycling is increased there will be a much better service, as well as helping the environment, reducing waste and saving money. Lowering the amount of rubbish we send to landfill is everyone's responsibility. We want Edinburgh to be a great place to live in and visit and these pilots are part of that."

There are plenty who support his position, including Friends of the Earth Scotland, which is backing the food waste pilot. The average household in Edinburgh throws out between 450 and 550 worth of food every year, with just more than 30 per cent of all rubbish in the city currently recycled.

FOE's Davina Shiell says many would-be recyclers often find themselves stymied by the lack of facilities on offer nearby. "We are absolutely delighted the council are doing this as it will make a huge difference," she says. "The more bins they are providing, the more recycling people can do."

Indeed, there is evidence to show that those councils with the most bins are achieving the highest rates of recycling.

Recent government figures show that Staffordshire Moorlands District Council - which hands six different bins, bags and boxes to residents - achieved the highest recycling rate in England (61.8 per cent).

Ashford Borough Council, which picks up only one recycling box in addition to general bin collections, had the lowest recycling rate - 15.29 per cent.

Despite the figures, some argue there is no need for households to be given so many containers for recycling.

Earlier this year the UK government admitted the response of some councils "seemed a little over the top" after it emerged that local authorities are handing out up to nine recycle bins, bags and boxes.

Councillor Eric Barry, who represents Colinton and Fairmilehead, says: "I don't think the council should be telling people what they should do in every aspect of their lives.

"So many different bins seems a bit crazy and I question the real value of some of the collections. If we're going to have half a dozen different lorries coming around and picking up half a dozen different bins, that does seem to be the opposite of what the council is trying to achieve."

For those who continue to resist, it seems almost inevitable that some form of coercion will be tried at some point, especially as the cash-strapped council tries to reduce an annual bill for landfill tax which could rise to 16.24 million by 2014. Penalties are already handed out to those who put their bin bags out on the wrong day, but it seems there are no plans at the moment to punish those who fail to recycle.

But while fines may be a last resort, council officers have already tried a door- knocking campaign, a move which saw them accused of "lecturing people on their own doorsteps." Should they be forced to replace the carrot with the stick, the measures are likely to be far from popular. There will also be criticism of facilities in some areas of the city, which rely on either inadequate or overflowing on-street recycling bins.

Then there's the question of whether the authorities should be encouraging people to re-use more, rather than simply relying on recycling as a cure-all.

For the moment, the council says it will evaluate the current food recycling trial with a view to rolling it out across the city at a later date.

RECYCLING MAKES SENSE

DUNCAN Thorp, a 33-year-old communications and policy officer who lives in a flat in East London Street, is among those taking part in the food waste trial.

He said: "It's up to us as individuals to do as much as we can. The council are in a difficult position because a lot of the time they are seen as the baddies, but recycling can be really satisfying.

"I wouldn't say it was fun, but you can get a good feeling from seeing how much rubbish you've managed to save from landfill.

"The recycling options for my area of town are quite comprehensive. There's always a lot of emphasis on what the council are doing, but it's really up to us as individuals. We're playing our own small part, but it all adds up."