Scottish Government & Local Authority Recycling Charter welcomed

Proposals for a recycling charter between the Scottish Government and local authorities could lead to more consistent recycling schemes across the country and higher recycling rates. Dr Richard Dixon, Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, commented:

“This announcement is a welcome signal of intent from Scotland’s local authorities to work together to boost recycling across the country. The public love to recycle but sometimes get confused about what they can and can’t take to which scheme or leave out for collection. This especially true if you move to a new area or are on holiday, so more consistency across Scotland will help every-one.”

“Recycling is a crucial part of creating a circular economy and this charter will also encourage people towards further reusing and reducing consumption of resources.”

Notes to Editors

1. Scottish Government press release: http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/New-dawn-for-recycling-edges-closer-1a9…

2. Last month an official report backed the idea of Deposit Return System for Drinks Containers, which would boost re-use and recycling rates: http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/packaging-deposit-scheme

3. Circular Economy was described in a recent Zero Waste Scotland Report as : “By recirculating products rather than disposing of them after use, the circular economy retains product and material value much better than the linear economy we have today and as a result, reduces demand for both raw resource inputs and waste disposal, two activities with high carbon impacts.” http://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/CarbonImpactsOfTheCircularEconomy

4. Friends of the Earth Scotland is:
* Scotland's leading environmental campaigning organisation
* An independent Scottish charity with a network of thousands of supporters and active local groups across Scotland
* Part of the largest grassroots environmental network in the world, uniting over 2 million supporters, 75 national member groups, and some 5,000 local activist groups.
www.foe-scotland.org.uk