Edinburgh Council urged to improve its recycling

The city council has been urged to improve recycling rates at schools and its buildings after it emerged '¨60 per cent of the '¨authority's own waste is '¨sent to landfill.

Edinburgh Council has been urged to improve recycling.

Only 39 per cent of waste at council buildings and schools in Edinburgh is recycled – while the average rate for Scotland is around 60 per cent.

Green Cllr Steve Burgess said: “The council is 
aiming to improve on its recycling performance 
but is struggling to make enough progress at the 
moment.

“It should be leading from the front by making recycling the easiest 
option in all council buildings.”

He added: “It is not enough just to have a few 
big recycling bins languishing outside a building. There needs to be a real drive to ensure that staff and building users find recycling and waste reduction the natural 
choice.

“The frustrating thing is that in schools, for example, the children and young people are miles ahead – 
they want to reduce waste and it’s vital that the 
council helps them build in this as a good habit at an early age.”

Today the council’s Transport and 
Environment Committee will consider a report about the state of the authority’s recycling performance and look to include action to tackle single use plastic as part of waste in council buildings.