BLUE bin household recycling will soon be rolled out to almost 4,000 additional Inverclyde properties in tenements and other hard-to-reach areas.
Inverclyde Council is expanding the service so that more people can recycle at home.
Blue bins will be delivered to homes in batches from early September with new fortnightly collections due to begin in early October.
Households that currently receive refuse sacks instead of a black wheely bin will receive blue recycling sacks rather than a blue bin.
Properties involved in the roll-out will change to a fortnightly black bin general waste collection, rather than the current weekly one, with their new blue bins being lifted on alternating weeks, in line with the rest of Inverclyde.
Affected households will receive letters with information about the changes.
The blue bin is for dry mixed recyclables such as paper and cardboard (including food and drinks cartons); steel and aluminium tins (ferrous and non-ferrous), including aerosol cans; plastic bottles; and food containers.
The council successfully bid for a grant of £95,000 from the Scottish Government’s Recycling Improvement Fund towards the estimated £112,000 total investment.
Councillor Michael McCormick, Inverclyde Council’s convener of environment and regeneration, said: “This is a welcome expansion of the blue bin service that will make it easier than ever before for a significant number of households to recycle from the convenience of their own home.
“This extension to household recycling will help reduce waste and increase the volume of materials that can be used again, ultimately reducing Inverclyde’s carbon footprint in line with the council’s net zero plans and ambitions.
“We now need people to get behind this rollout and recycle for Inverclyde and for the good of the environment.”
David Gunn, recycling improvement fund manager at Zero Waste Scotland, said: “A high-performing reuse and recycling sector has enormous potential to help Scotland develop the sustainable, resilient, and economically prosperous future we all want to see, and that makes investing in our reuse and recycling infrastructure a vital step towards achieving our circular economy objectives as a nation.
“The Recycling Improvement Fund empowers local authorities to do just that, recognising their expert knowledge of the wants and needs of their residents as well as their vital role in creating the conditions for a successful circular economy.
“At Zero Waste Scotland, we’re proud to be supporting local authorities across the nation to make significant improvements to their reuse and recycling services, influencing impactful, lasting behaviour change among citizens and supply chains and accelerating Scotland’s progress towards a cleaner, greener, circular economy.”
