The Scottish Government has announced that it is allocating funding to support the modernisation of recycling in Glasgow, as well as reducing CO2 emissions.
As part of the Recycling Improvement Fund, over £21 million has been allocated to Glasgow City Council so that they can begin introducing a new twin-stream service for the separate collection of recycling.
Lorna Slater, Circular Economy Minister, said:
“By investing more than £21 million towards improving facilities in Glasgow, we will help make it easier for households to recycle ad increase local recycling rates.
“This is the largest single investment to date from our £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund. With Glasgow being Scotland’s biggest local authority area, it will also make an important contribution to the national recycling picture.
“This is a big year for recycling, with Scotland’s deposit return scheme going live on 16 August and our ambitious Circular Economy Bill being published soon for Parliament to scrutinise. These actions will boost recycling across the country, and make a major contribution to the fight against the climate crisis.”
Glasgow City Council has also committed £20 million of its own budget to support the development of a new Materials Recycling Facility which will ensure there is sufficient capacity to process the increasing amounts of recycling being collected. This is important, as Glasgow manages the largest share of household waste of any local authority Scotland so the new project will save over 6,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.
Councillor Ruairi Kelly, City Convenor for Neighbourhood Services, said:
“This funding award is great news for Glasgow and a huge vote of confidence in our plans for recycling in city.
“Our Blochairn centre is showing its age and the funding will help us to build a new recycling facility that ensures material from household recycling bins sorted much more effectively. We will also invest in an expanded recycling service for kerbside collections.
“These measures will ensure more of Glasgow’s waste goes on to be recycled, which is good for Glasgow’s recycling rates, but also for sustainability in Scotland as a whole.”
