Recycling

Recycling converts waste materials into useful new materials and objects. It conserves natural resources, saves energy, reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill or incineration, helps protect the environment and is a part of the solution to tackling our global climate emergency.

Recycling is better for the environment than burning waste to produce energy and certainly better than sending materials to landfill. If you can reduce the amount of waste you produce or find a re-use for an item rather than placing it in a bin, it saves all of the CO2 emissions and costs of collecting, transporting and processing.

Recycling can also lead to local employment opportunities from recycling initiatives. It encourages producers to take more responsibility for their waste and can improve economic competitiveness.

Your efforts to separate your waste into the new bins will help Scotland and the region to meet its ambitious recycling targets and to promote the circular economy.

Paper, card and cardboard collected from your blue lid bin or sack is sent to reprocessors for recycling into newspapers and packaging.

Plastics, metals and cartons from your red lid bin or sack is sent to reprocessors for recycling into new products.