The increased volume of material being sent from East Lothian households to be recycled is producing significant benefits.
Recycling material can be sold on by the council for processing, whereas the process of sending waste that is not recycled is costly.
In 2023/24, £463,000 of income was received from recycled material whereas the cost of disposing waste was £3.545 million.
For 2022, across Scotland the average household waste recycling rate was 43.3% but East Lothian achieved a recycling rate of 53.1%, which was the highest of the four Lothian councils and in the top 10 of all Scottish local authorities.
The council expects to see further improvement on this through an increased focus on its weekly household recycling collection service. On average, around half of the waste collected from green bins could still be recycled – with 30% of this being food waste.
Council Leader Norman Hampshire said:
“In recent years, the amount of waste being collected for recycling in East Lothian has continued to increase while the amount of waste sent for disposal has reduced.
“As well as being a good thing for the environment, this has the added benefit of generating income to help balance our budget and enable us to protect jobs and to continue delivering key services valued by the public.
“This success is thanks to the support of local residents for their significant use of the recycling opportunities which exist – amongst the highest in Scotland.
“However, although less waste is being sent to landfill than in previous years, we do still spend a significant amount on processing waste that is not presented for recycling.
“That’s why we are keen to maximise opportunities for people to recycle as much material as possible, with a view to further protecting and enhancing the environment and supporting the delivery of sustainable services. We are looking for the public’s help to further increase the amount of waste that is recycled.
“The council now provides a weekly household recycling collection service for a wide range of materials including glass, plastics, paper, cardboard and food waste.
“We became signatories to the Scottish Government’s Household Waste Charter in December 2016. As part of our commitment, we have introduced a Charter aligned single weekly service for source separated recycling and food waste. The next stage in the journey is to implement the Charter’s recommendations that a maximum capacity of 80 litres per week is provided for non-recyclable waste. The recent changes to the frequency of the non-recyclable waste collection service will fulfil this and enable us to make further progress in supporting the ambitions of our climate change strategy.”