Dundee recycling bot!

Dundee has a new recycling chat bot!

Tell it what you would like to recycle for information on where or how to recycle it and the bot will give advice!

This is a new system from Sustainable Dundee, so there may be things you are trying to recycle that the bot doesn't know about yet, but that information will feed in to improving the system.

You can access the recycling bot at www.tinyurl.com/hellobindundee

Paper and cardboard facilities at Riverside Recycling Centre #dundeewestend

Since the reopening of the Riverside Recycling Centre after the initial COVID lockdowns, we have had complaints about the lack of both paper and cardboard facilities.

We have repeatedly raised this and have now had this welcome update from the council's Waste Services Manager :

"I can confirm that paper and carboard can now be placed in the same skip for recycling, as per our new contractual arrangements that were reported to committee last year 

We have been on site today and reminded the attendants of this. 

We previously provided small chain lift skips for separate paper recycling but as part of our efficiency improvements we have replaced these with new small hook lift skips for paper/cardboard. 

These can be serviced by the same skip lorry that does the larger skips and negates the need for two different skip trucks to service the site. 

We will have the signage updated shortly to reflect this as well."

Dundee recycling study

From the Psychology Department at the University of Dundee :

Residents are invited to take part in a study aiming to develop a greater understanding of recycling in the Dundee public.   Any Dundee resident aged over 18 can take part.

To find out more and to take part, go to https://dundee.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/is-it-easy-being-green1

Any questions - just e-mail rrsfhansen@dundee.ac.uk

Recycling calendar improvement proposal

I am very grateful to the West End resident who made the following good suggestion recently :

"I’d like to suggest an improvement on how the Council informs residents about the dates when the various refuse bins are collected. 

At the moment, as you will know, the Council mails out a card calendar, and on their website you can view or download an electronic version of the same card (https://my.dundeecity.gov.uk/service/bin_collection_calendar).

My suggestion is that they also provide a link on this page to a file that can be downloaded and then imported into an electronic calendar - the .ics format is commonly used for this purpose. This would be a progressive, useful, and not difficult addition to the service.

I did a quick search on other council sites, and the first one I found, Stirling Council, supported .ics as well as the card approach, so my suggestion is not fanciful."

I raised this with the council's waste services manager who raised it with the IT department to see if this was possible - and it is!    Here's the helpful response from the waste services manager :

"IT has advised that this is possible and we shall submit an IT bid to have this completed."

14% hike in garden waste collection charge not acceptable

I have criticised the proposal by the Dundee City Council administration to hike the Brown Bin charge to £40 a permit for the 2022 collection year and will be opposing the increase in the brown bin charge when it comes before the council’s Policy & Resources Committee next week.

The £5 increase represents a 14% hike – at a time when inflation is running at about 3%. It is completely unjustified and just a way of the council fleecing another £100 000 out of the Dundee public.

I have always opposed having a tax on recycling and felt that this would be a further disincentive to recycling. We should be encouraging more recycling not less and the garden tax increase will make matters worse. The council is trying to stop collecting side waste and increasing the brown bin tax will simply lead to more recycling going into grey bins, undermining their own side waste policy. This is not a good look. If anything, the brown bin charge should be reduced not increased.

Sustainable Wardrobe Workshop

The Sustainable Wardrobe Workshop is a Gate Church Carbon Saving Project online event a week tomorrow - Saturday 24th April - at 11am.

The project team advise :

"Join us during Fashion Revolution Week to hear how you can make your wardrobe more sustainable and why this is so important, just as all the high street fast fashion brands are preparing to reopen.

We'll be joined by Adele The Sustainable Stylist from House of Colour, who will be sharing her tips with us on how to thrift like a pro.

We'll be sharing information about our Community Wardrobe and other useful local tips.

This will be an interactive session and we look forward to hearing your sustainable fashion tips."

Furter information and how to take part is available here.

Riverside household waste recycling centre #dundeewestend

From the City Council :

"Please be aware that Riverside household waste recycling centre will be shut on Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th March for re-surfacing works to take place."

Other recycling facilities elsewhere are unaffected and a full list is available here.

Recycling update at the Riverside Recycling Centre #dundeewestend

A number of residents have queried with me why currently you cannot recycle cardboard at the Riverside Recycling Centre.

I raised this with environment management at the City Council and the Assistant Waste Services Manager has advised :

"The current waste acceptance restrictions at the two recycling centres and the reasons for them are detailed here.

Due to the requirements for social distancing, both Riverside (two zones) and Baldovie (three zones) are running at significantly reduced capacity. 

As pretty much every resident has access to a paper/cardboard kerbside or communal bin, the decision was taken to should prioritise other waste commodities e.g. wood, waste electronic equipment etc. as we don't have other locations where these waste types can be disposed of. 

There are various mini recycling centres across the city that accept paper/cardboard. Obviously when the pandemic is over, we will reinstate all services at both sites."

Food recycling update

A number of constituents have asked the position regarding the possible restoration of the food recycling service.

The council's Head of Environment has updated me as follows :

"At the present time we are unable to recommence with the re-introduction of food waste collections, due to having to utilise available staff resources in order to ensure that the other collections are maintained. Unfortunately, the requirement to ensure safe physical distancing into waste collection operations slows down the collection operation significantly and requires more vehicles, staff and time to complete daily routes.

In order to reintroduce food waste collections, there is a similar requirement to allocate specific resources and to introduce engineering controls within cabs of the Refuse Collection Vehicles. Similar to many other local authorities, we are not yet in a position to return to regular collections of all waste streams at this time.  

However, please be assured that my waste team are working hard to look at ways that we can re-introduce food waste collections over the coming months and I will provide you with more detail when I am able to update you further."

Update about recycling centres

From the City Council :

Dundee City Council is to expand its recycling service to residents by extending operating hours and accepting more waste materials.

From Monday 22nd June, residents will have to access Baldovie Household Waste Recycling Centre from 9am to 8pm from Monday to Friday, and 9am to 5pm on the weekends. The Riverside recycling centre will also expand hours to 9am to 5pm daily.

The facilities will begin accepting clothing & textiles, batteries, fluorescent tubes, oil, TV’s & monitors, soil and turf in addition to the previous materials, such as general waste, garden waste, wood, metals, rubble, fridges & freezers, and gas cylinders & bottles.

Additional vehicles will be granted access to the centres from Monday if they have the relevant permit. This will include vans, pick-ups, 8 to 11 seated mini-buses and vehicles with a single-axle trailer being accepted on site.

The revised service comes as the Council continues its recovery phase from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Household Waste Recycling Centres will maintain its strict guidelines and physical distancing at all times.

A number of rules must be followed in order to maintain a safe and controlled environment.

These include :

• Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms or self-isolating should NOT visit any HWRC site;

• The number of cars on site will be strictly limited;

• No commercial vans or twin-axle trailers will be allowed;

• Individuals should only visit when necessary, avoid queues and consider revisiting when quieter;

• No business waste will be accepted;

• We will be unable to provide assistance on site so only load items you can unload yourself;

• No walk-in disposals of waste will be allowed;

• The two-metre physical distancing rule must be respected at all times.

Further guidance on the Household Waste Recycling Centres is available on the Dundee City Council website here.    

Residents are advised to check the website and social media channels before traveling, as rules are subject to change.

Recycle your Christmas tree!

♻️🎄If you have a real Christmas tree, 

please remember to recycle it! ♻️🎄

The City Council has published some helpful advice about recycling your Christmas tree.

You can read this here.

Recycling changes from next Monday #dundeewestend

I have now spoken with many residents in the areas of the West End affected by the recycling changes from 16th April.

The only parts of the ward unaffected are the streets around the West End Lanes and Perth Road area closest to the lanes as they were in the last phase of the recycling rollout last year and already on the revised recycling arrangements.   

The rest of the West End Ward was covered by the original Phase 1 and 2 recycling rollouts in 2015 so are affected because of the introduction of the Scottish Government's Code of Practice  (in relation to what can be recycled together) so  the household system will change for everyone in Phases 1 and 2,

So from the 16th paper/card = blue bin;  tins/plastics = burgundy bin.    Burgundy bin will no longer be used for glass which will be recycled at neighbourhood "bring" sites and not at a household level.   Along with Bill, I met with environment officers to discuss the siting of the glass “bring sites” – I am anxious that these are sensitively sited away from residents’ homes.   If any of the sites cause complaints or problems after 16th April, the officers assure me that they will be re-sited or removed,

I was pleased to discuss issues with residents at the “drop in” event the council’s Neighbourhood Services held at Blackness Library and happy to discuss the matter further with any resident.

You can read more about the changes here.

Recycling changes - drop in events #dundeewestend

Further to my recent update about recycling changes in much of the West End other than the Perth Road Lanes area, this is just a reminder that the first drop in information session event for the West End is tomorrow.

Here's our local details and a poster below - all welcome!

Blackness Library                                 19th March                                4.30pm to 6.30pm

Tesco Riverside                                    29th March                                12 noon to 3pm

West End recycling changes #dundeewestend

In you live in the areas of either Phase 1 or Phase 2 of the recycling rollout (introduction of current recycling services back in 2015) what you put in your waste and recycling bins is changing - including how often they are collected. 

This affects most of the West End Ward apart from the Perth Road Lanes area which was in Phase 4 (last year – 2017).

The council is making these changes because the Scottish Government's Household Recycling Charter has been introduced and it changes what will go into the blue bin and the burgundy bin. 

Residents affected will have by now received a mailing from the council explaining the changes which are effective from 16th April 2018.     You can read more here.    

You should continue to use your bins as normal until then and the council is running information sessions as indicated below – including at Tesco Riverside and Blackness Library – all welcome!

Council to make changes to recycling collections

Dundee City Council is to alter the recycling arrangements for thousands of Dundee households from April in order to ensure that the recycling offer is consistent across the city.

I recently asked for an update on the recycling roll-out as Phases 1 and 2 undertaken in 2015 are done differently than the later phases.      Phases 1 and 2 includes all of the West End Ward apart from the area around the Perth Road Lanes, together with parts of Broughty Ferry, Menzieshill, Lochee and Charleston and affects some 24 000 households.

In Phases 1 and 2, paper, card, plastics and tins were recycled together in the same blue recycling bin with a burgundy bin used for glass recycling.    However, since then the Scottish Government’s ‘Charter for Household Recycling in Scotland’ has insisted that paper and card should not be collected along with tins and plastics, so from April, the 24 000 households on the ‘old’ method of separation of recyclables will be switched to putting tins, metals and plastics into the burgundy bin.   Glass will no longer be collected in a household recycling bin but at nearby neighbourhood recycling points.

It is unfortunate that a change is necessary to what goes into each recycling bin for 24 000 households in the early phases of the recycling rollout back in 2015 but the government’s ‘Charter for Household Recycling in Scotland’ did change the goalposts in terms of what can be collected together.   It is necessary to ensure that the recycling offer is the same for everyone right across Dundee – the later phases’ households rolled out last year are already on the new method of recycling and use of bins.

It is vitally important that this change in recycling arrangements this coming April goes smoothly for households and is well-explained and communicated to residents.    This is particularly important as the later phases of recycling changes last year had not gone according to plan at implementation and had led to many complaints and concerns from residents.    

I have also sought assurances that any outstanding issues from Phases 3 and 4 have now been implemented – such as the siting of Eurobins and requests from residents to move or site them better.

I am happy, as always, to speak with any West End resident with any outstanding bins or recycling problems or concerns.

Copy of detail sent to councillors by the council’s Implementation Project Manager :

“I am writing to advise you of the forthcoming changes to recycling collections in parts of the West End, Broughty Ferry, Charleston, Menzieshill, Lochee and all surrounding areas which were previously included in Phases 1 & 2 of changes to waste services in 2015.

As you know, in recent months we have been introducing a slightly different version of the 2015 changes across other areas of the City. The reason for the difference was the 2016 introduction of the Scottish Government's "Charter for Household Recycling in Scotland" which details a preferred single collection methodology for all councils in Scotland. 

The aim, in asking all Councils to adopt this standard collection model, is to make recycling systems easier for residents to use and understand as well as increasing the quality and quantity of recycling collected. 

In order to comply with this Charter, Dundee City Council subsequently amended the collection model from the 2015 version and introduced this across other areas of the City in 2017. 

We now wish to revisit the areas covered by the original changes and bring them in-line with the rest of Dundee.

These changes will commence on Monday 16th April and will comprise:

• Blue bins - these will revert to PAPER & CARDBOARD only & collection frequencies will be amended;

• Burgundy bins - these will be repurposed from glass bins to METALS, PLASTICS & CARTONS & collection frequencies will be amended;

• Glass collections - these will change from kerbside collections via a burgundy bin to bring site collections via an enhanced network of these sites.

Information on the changes will be communicated to residents in the next few weeks by means of "teaser" letter which outlines the new system and lists the dates for a series of Drop-In information sessions which have been arranged. 

A subsequent full information leaflet and revised collection calendar (where applicable) will then be delivered to affected households approximately 1 week prior to the new service starting. Copies of these communications will of course be forwarded to yourselves in due course. 

These communications will fully explain what residents should do if their bins contain the OLD material mixes (e.g. glass in a burgundy bin) at the time of the first collections. There will be no requirement for residents to empty any materials out of the bins themselves.”

Food recycling - Perth Road Lanes - further update

I recently updated residents about the impending food recycling extension to cover the Perth Road lanes and surrounding area.

There was a drop-in session yesterday for residents that I previously advertised and I thought it would now be useful to give a list of the streets wholly or partly included in the new food recycling extension :

     AIRLIE PLACE

     BALTIC GARDENS

     BELLEFIELD AVENUE

     FORDS LANE

     GREENFIELD PLACE

     HIGH MILL COURT

     MAGDALEN MEWS

     MAGDALEN PLACE

     MAGDALEN YARD ROAD

     MCGONAGALL SQUARE

     MCVICARS LANE

     MID WYND

     MILLERS WYND

     OSBORNE PLACE

     PATONS LANE

     PATRICK PLACE

     PENNYCOOK LANE

     PERTH ROAD

     RITCHIES LANE

     ROSEANGLE

     RYEHILL LANE

     SEABRAES COURT

     SEABRAES LANE

     SEAFIELD CLOSE

     SEAFIELD LANE

     SEAFIELD ROAD

     SHEPHERDS LOAN

     SPINNERS WYND

     SPRINGFIELD

     ST PETER STREET

     STEP ROW

     STRAWBERRYBANK

     TAYFIELD PLACE

     TAYLORS LANE

     THOMSON STREET

     UNION PLACE

     WESTFIELD AVENUE

     WESTFIELD LANE

     WESTFIELD PLACE

     WINDSOR PLACE

I have details of the locations of communal on-street recycling units in the area so do please contact me if you wish further information on this (recycling@frasermacpherson.org.uk).

Last week, I attended a briefing for councillors about the proposed final extensions of all other household recycling across the city (paper, cardboard, metals, plastics, etc) and this will take place in two phases - commencing April and June.    The above area is the only part of the West End left to have this extension (the rest of the West End being covered from 2015) and I will update with further details on this soon.

Food recycling extension in the West End - map

Last week, I advised that there will shortly be an extension to the food waste collection service to the Perth Road Lanes and surrounding areas.     

The update also contained details of a drop-in event at Blackness Library for residents – you can read the earlier update here.

A number of residents have asked the precise area covered and therefore please note this map and boundary below :

This extension of the food waste recycling to this area (plus Brown Street) in the West End completes the roll out of food recycling in the West End Ward.

Food recycling - Perth Road Lanes

There will shortly be an extension to the food waste collection service which will be sent out this week to householders in the Perth Road Lanes (as well as some other areas outside the West End including the City Centre, Docks, Hilltown, Lawside, Coldside and parts of Stobswell).

The poster below gives details of Drop In sessions (including one at Blackness Library) that will be manned by staff from the council's Waste Section, who will be happy to answer any queries and pass on further details relating to the new service.    

Ahead of the service launch at seek commencing 27th February, a detailed service information leaflet will be delivered to all households, along with their new food waste caddy. 

Christmas Card recycling

People are being urged to recycle Christmas cards and wrapping paper to help plant trees across the UK.   

A scheme run by the Woodland Trust saw 600 million cards recycled in recent years and stores including Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's have set up similar projects.

Recycling boxes will be in stores throughout January (from today), with a tree to be planted for every 1 000 cards recycled.

The M&S stores in Murraygate and at the Gallagher Retail Park are participating and you can read more about the scheme here.

Perth Road Recycling unit - bottom of Ryehill Lane

I recently received a complaint that the Perth Road Recycling unit at the bottom of Ryehill Lane is badly needing a clean up.

I contacted the City Council and Neighbourhood Services advises :

"We have been out to view the containers and agree that it could do with a good clean. I have arranged for it to be power washed as soon as possible. We will continue to monitor the site over the next few months and take appropriate action."