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For the 12 months ending September 2008 Fifers recycled and composted 41.3% of their waste. Only three of Scotland's 32 councils could top that feat.
When looking at the actual weight of waste that councils managed to divert from landfills, Fife was miles ahead. It recycled and composted over 104,000 tonnes, more than 20,000 tonnes ahead of the next best.
Commenting on the figures, Councillor Ross Vettraino, vice-chair of the environment, enterprise and transportation committee said: "This is another piece of great news and yet again thanks go to the people of Fife for their efforts. It means that we have been able to avoid the threat of substantial fines for landfilling more than we are allowed. More importantly it means that we have been able to reduce the amount of dangerous greenhouse gases escaping from dumped waste."
Councillor Vettraino also explained that the new figures would help shape the discussions of the newly established member officer working group tasked with finding the best way to recycle more including food waste.
He said: "With representatives from all the political parties and the expertise of our officers, we're reviewing our household waste collection services. Even with such great recycling figures and the huge improvements we've made, its estimated that we could still be hit with fines amounting to £2 million as soon as 2012 and rising to nearly £4 million in 2015 if we don't stop dumping stuff that could be recycled."
According to Chris Ewing, the council's environmental sustainability manager, around 40,000 tonnes of food waste, up to 14,000 tonnes of paper and 5,000 tonnes of garden rubbish are still dumped every year.
He said: "We also dump up to 15,000 tonnes of plastic. We need to find a way of landfilling a lot less of this. And we need to provide householders with services that enable them to help us do it. That's what the member officer group is looking at."
The member officer working group are considering all options to improve services for householders.
"The scale of the issue facing us is enormous, but I'm confident that with the full participation of all the working group members we can have a meaningful debate before any decisions are made," Councillor Vettraino concluded.
For more information contact
Cllr. Ross J Vettraino OBE, Vice-Chair, Environment, Enterprise & Transportation CommitteeTel: 08451 55 55 55 + Ext 44 21 48 Contact Ross J Vettraino OBE online
By Post: Fife Council,
Chris Ewing, Environmental Sustainability Manager
Tel: 08451 55 55 55 + Ext 44 04 46 Contact Chris Ewing online
By Post: Fife Council, Kingdom House, Kingdom Avenue, Glenrothes, KY7 5LT
