Cleaning strike reveals recycling in council garbage

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.recycle.co.uk/news/590000.html

May 24th, 2008 by Lucy Rees

A strike by one council’s cleaning staff has revealed that the local government office is not recycling nearly as much as it is pushing its citizens to do. As a result of the strike, large piles of refuse were visible outside the council building, including recyclable materials like paper, aluminium and glass.

At the same time, a study indicates that rates of recycling in the area are declining.

This is not the first time that councils have been called out on their recycling habits. The Herald discovered tons of paper and glass was being sent to landfills by town halls and schools in 2006.

Andrew McIlwrick, of Prestonfield, Milngavie, said: “The rubbish outside one Milngavie school has everything — cans, bottles, paper and cardboard all in one massive pile of waste in torn black sacks — showing there is obviously no intention of any of it ever being recycled.

“Prior to this strike there would have been no opportunity to witness the wonderful council policy in action.”

One reason that recycling rates are falling may be the weekly bin collections. Councillor Eric Gotts says the bin collections were removed while the Liberal Democrats were in power, but have returned. “Since the controversial decision to re-introduce weekly collections, there has been an increase of over 900 tonnes of extra waste going to landfill. This has cost the council almost an extra £30,000 in landfill tax alone,” he said.