Facing facts about waste
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SORT your household waste and help save tonnes of cash – that’s the message Moray Council wants to get across to residents in the county.
Since kerbside recycling was first introduced in Moray around a decade ago, much progress has been made in reducing the amount of waste heading for the Dallachy landfill site. But householders are still literally throwing money away without probably realising it. Recycling assistant Ally Gordon explained: "Last year a total of just over 30,802 tonnes of waste went into the landfill site at Dallachy.
"What a lot of people don’t realise is that this is subject to landfill tax at £80 per tonne, which last year cost the Moray taxpayer £2.46 million. This is just the cost in tax terms, but doesn’t include the additional costs involved in transporting the waste, maintaining the site and so on. This has budget implications, especially when money is tight.
"Dallachy has a limited lifespan as a landfill site anyway. It’s due to close in 2020, although it will be monitored for many years after that."
The amount of waste dumped there each day would stagger most people. In the space of around 30 minutes last week during the Advertiser’s visit, two lorries brought in more than 37 tonnes of waste which had initially been deposited at the council’s Mycroft base in Elgin.
Preparing new areas where waste can be dumped at Dallachy (called cells) also brings with it steep costs, with around £1 million required. Costs are also incurred after a cell is full, with the area having to be landscaped and covered in grass.
The intention is that afterwards it is be almost impossible to know it had been used for landfill.
Recycling assistant Duncan Falconer pointed out that there was literally food for thought for householders in terms of improving their recycling performance.
"While there’s been a fair bit of progress, there’s still quite a long way to go to be honest," he said. "Food waste is something we’re particularly trying to highlight at the moment.
"A recent waste audit showed that green bins contained on average 35 per cent food waste which should be recycled in brown bins. Food waste also has the drawback of being very heavy. As landfill is gauged in terms of weight, that makes it even more expensive. And as it decomposes, food waste also gives off gas and fluids.
"Paper seems to be one of the items being recycled most successfully, although we recently diverted a tonne of paper from landfill in the space of just a week. There’s still a lot of confusion out there as to exactly what can be recycled, especially with plastics."
Mr Falconer added that the council was taking a pro-active stance to try to remedy this, including a door-to-door campaign to educate and encourage people to maximise their recycling.
More information on recycling in Moray is available on the local authority website at
http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_77339.html
