I pressed the case for more bottle banks in Portlethen at today’s meeting of Aberdeenshire Council’s infrastructure services committee. I said it was ridiculous that a town of some 8500 people has so few bottle banks, and we would have had one fewer if Asda had not had a change of heart to allow the one in its car park to remain. They were fed up with fly-tipping. A study of the town is under way to see what potential there is for more bottle banks.
A wider review of the recycling service is under way to see what improvements can be made. This is important because recycling overall languishes at 41% on the household waste being collected in Aberdeenshire. The total always falls over the winter, but this is far below where we should be. Bizarrely a council south of the border has one of the best recycling collection rates in the UK by using exactly the same system as Aberdeenshire.
I hope everyone is making good use of the new recycling centre at Badentoy. Of course the downside is that it is not accessible by foot, so you need a vehicle. And not everyone has a car.
Clearer signage would be very helpful.
Thanks for your comment – would that be clearer signs on the bottle bank containers to say which glass goes where? I’ll follow it up if you can give me more detail.