On Thursday Aberdeenshire Council’s infrastructure services committee will receive a report on plans to increase recycling.

This includes providing households with a 180L bin for metals and plastics. The current blue-lidded 240L bin would be for paper and cardboard.

Collections would be on a three week rota, with food waste being collected weekly. The change should cut the volume of waste going to landfill. It should also lead to annual savings of £564,000 to £765,000.

There is also a recommendation to councillors to instruct the Director of Environment & Infrastructure Services to further explore a business case for an opt-in chargeable garden waste collection service.

The current waste strategy was agreed some time ago to cover the 2019-23 period, so perhaps matters have changed. Assuming this work is approved, we will see in due course what a fresh deliberation produces.

The full report can be found here, and scroll to Item 11 on the agenda: https://committees.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=495&meetid=19813

Meanwhile the Mearns Leader has carried a useful summary of the report: https://www.mearnsleader.co.uk/news/people/three-weekly-collections-and-an-extra-bin-proposed-for-aberdeenshire-households-3526153