urbanglasgow.co.uk

james73 · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:33 pm Post subject:

City's record is rubbish (Evening Times)

GLASGOW is lagging far behind the rest of Scotland in environmental performance
with less than a fifth of all waste being recycled, new figures show.

Despite some improvements and initiatives in recent years, the city is still the
lowest of all mainland councils for recycling both household and commercial
waste.

In 2008-09 Glasgow City Council managed to recycle just 16.4% of household
waste, less than half the Scottish average and the lowest in the country.

For years Glasgow has had disappointing levels of domestic recycling, previously
put down to the number of tenement properties making collection difficult.

However, despite the city investing in more blue recycling bins for tenements,
its success rate is still significantly lower than elsewhere.

For other materials, including commercial and building waste, Glasgow also
remains well behind the rest, with complaints that collections for businesses
are inconvenient and costly.

Less than 20% is recycled, well short of a target set by the Scottish Government
of 30%. Only two other councils failed to meet the targets set for them, Aberdeen
scored 32.4% and Inverclyde 28%, and they had tougher standards to meet
than Glasgow.

The city is improving its recycling record and an enormous amount of material
is processed at council recycling plants but too much goes to landfill.

Glasgow recycles 74 tonnes of aluminium cans - almost five million a year - and
collects more than 400,000 tonnes of waste from homes and businesses. However,
only 80,000 tonnes goes to recycling plants and the rest to landfill, costing the
council millions of pounds a year in penalty charges.

Glasgow has, however, almost doubled its household recycling total in the last four
years from only 8.4% in 2005, but in the last year managed only a 1.3% increase.

South Ayrshire has the best record for recycling household waste with almost
half going to recycling plants (48%).

For other waste, Clackmannanshire is top at 44.9%.

Glasgow is looking at a financial burden of more than £40million a year in cost
and charges for excessive use of landfill.

But as first revealed in the Evening Times, it is pinning its hopes on a new 'steam
cooker' system at its Polmadie waste plant in the city's South Side.

The £40m machine would heat and sort waste into recyclable materials, then
compost the rest to organic material for use in city parks.

The plan involves the Scottish Government providing £10m, a private partner
£20m and the council £10m.

James H

_________________
The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....

wee minx · Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:53 pm Post subject:

Not a great vid, but an idea of what its like walking around there, I was fed up after a few hundred yards, and there was miles of it...its not pretty.