South Ayrshire installs green waste bins
posted in News |South Ayrshire Council has placed over 45,000 Citybac™ Bio bins with its residents, both in apartments and houses.
This is said to have made a significant contribution towards the council’s nudging recycling rates of 25%.
The Citybac™ Bio has been developed by Plastic Omnium, a specialist in waste containment solutions, and enables green waste to be stored in a way that allows it to be recycled after collection.
“If green waste isn’t isolated during the collection process, it becomes unrecoverable”, explained Peter McCann, UK sales manager of Plastic Omnium.
“Most local authorities have addressed this issue by providing composters either freely or at favourable rates to householders, but that’s of little use if you live in an apartment or don’t have space for a composter in your garden.
“Our Citybac™ Bio wheeled bin drains waste and lets the air in in such a way that the waste remains recyclable before it’s collected. The container itself is impregnated with an innocuous, antibacterial agent to prevent unpleasant smells.
“Add to that the smart design which keeps air flowing while the water drains into a reservoir below to keep the waste dry, and you can see why it’s virtually odour-free and fine for indoor use,” he added.
Stratton MacDonald, assistant manager for waste strategy at South Ayrshire Council, said: “As the kerbside collection of garden waste is every four weeks, it was important that no offensive odour was produced.
“It was also important that the bins could contain four weeks worth of garden rubbish, so we were very pleased with the reduction of mass that occurs in the Citybac™ Bio - it actually starts the composting process.
“The feedback from householders is also very positive - some households with bigger gardens have even requested a second bin. They love the fact that the bin is light and they can wheel it around with them while doing the gardening.
“We would never have considered providing sacks for garden waste collection as they’re too heavy to lift when full, and bags can lead to contamination.
“Recycling rates have increased from 6% to 22% since we started these schemes and we anticipate hitting 25% by next year.
“This significant improvement could not have been achieved without Plastic Omnium’s Citybac™ Bio, with approximately half of recyclables being garden waste,” added Mr MacDonald.
Plastic Omnium also supplies banks and bins.
Published in Recycling & Waste World, 11th May 2006