Later this month East Ayrshire Council will be launching a new kerbside trolley recycling service – the first of its kind in Scotland.
The innovative trolley system will help improve the quality and quantity of materials captured for recycling and will provide a weekly collection service for paper and card, plastics, cartons, cans and glass alongside food waste.
With funding from the Scottish Government, the new service will be rolled out in the south of East Ayrshire with the first residents starting to receive their recycling trolley from Monday 19 February.
The process will take a number of months to complete with over 56,000 bins to be delivered and blue bins to be collected. Residents in the north of the area will start to receive their trolley from Monday 9 April.
All residents have now received a letter with an annual calendar detailing the changes to their collection days and explaining when the new recycling trolley will be delivered. Some households will move to weekly collections before they receive their trolley and the letter explains how this will work.
Councillor Douglas Reid, Leader of the Council said: “The Council is fully committed to providing residents with a more regular kerbside recycling collection service designed to prevent waste being sent to landfill. Thanks to support from our local communities, East Ayrshire’s recycling rates are above the national average but we still have challenges to face as we work towards meeting the Scottish Government’s next landfill target of 5% by 2025.
“The Waste Services team has investigated new ways of working and discovered an innovative recycling trolley that will allow recycling collections to move to weekly. The trolley will improve the service we provide to you and help the Council to improve our recycling rates.
“I am confident you will benefit from the new weekly recycling collection service.”
Councillor Elena Whitham, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities said: “The new recycling trolley is innovative, it is easy to use, easy to store and we believe it will greatly improve kerbside recycling.
The trolley, which will replace the blue bin, has three separate sections that fit securely onto a wheeled base.
The boxes will take paper and cardboard, mixed plastics, cartons and cans and the bottom box will be for mixed glass. “This will be collected weekly along with your food waste bin.
When you receive your trolley, your blue bin will be collected on the same day, and you will receive an updated service booklet explaining how to use your new containers.
“To help you prepare for your new recycling trolley a short animation is available which clearly explains the changes to your recycling service and how the new trolley will work.”
Information, including frequently asked questions, is available, and Waste Management Services can provide advice – email waste@east-ayrshire.gov.uk or call 01563 554033.