Moray Council holds strong position in recycling rates despite national drop through pandemic
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MORAY Council has retained a position among the strongest performing local authorities in Scotland for recycling rates.
However, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) 2020 data, released on December 7, recorded that both the amount of waste recycled and the waste recycling rate nationally was the lowest since 2013.
Pandemic lockdowns and restrictions were put down as the most likely reason for the drop.
During the pandemic Moray kerbside collections were suspended for three weeks and reinstated on a lesser frequency. Recycling centres were closed for 10 weeks, followed by restrictions on what waste was accepted and the introduction of a temporary booking system.
Moray Council reported a recycling rate of 54.9 per cent for 2020 – a reduction of 4.1 per cent since 2019.
The local authority dropped one place from its 2019 position of third in the country, to fourth, three per cent behind the top performing Angus Council.
However, while the amount of waste generated by residents increased nationally, Moray bucked the national trend with residents generating 0.43 tonnes per person last year compared to 0.49 tonnes in 2019.
Council waste manager Mike Neary said: "It's unfortunate we slipped from third to fourth position in Scotland, but I sincerely believe we would have dropped even further if it hadn't been for the enormous effort of our residents and for that I'd like to extend my appreciation to all.
"I must also thank our staff, who worked on the front line through very challenging times to ensure services were maintained.
"Our drivers, loaders, processing crews, team leaders and office staff have all persevered through unprecedented circumstances to make sure our recycling has been collected, sorted and processed efficiently.
"We're now in our busiest period for recycling, just before and after Christmas, so thank you in advance to residents for creating as little waste, particularly landfill, as possible and recycling it appropriately."
