Poor Recycling
Glaswegians are facing daily challenges when trying to dispose of their single use cups responsibly according to Keep Scotland Beautiful.
The environmental charity released figures yesterday revealing that although 73% of people in Glasgow drink from single use cups only 12% of them actually recycle their cups properly.
This highlights the mass confusion there is surrounding one of the most commonly circulated single use items.
Keep Scotland Beautiful’s report also revealed that an estimated 95 million single-use cups are used every year.
Despite 70% of people making an effort to recycle their cups, a lack of awareness and suitable facilities has resulted in over two thirds not recycling properly.
A spokesman for the council responded to this saying: “Awareness could be better, it’s absurd what people think is recyclable.”
Keep Scotland Beautiful have launched The Cup Movement Campaign and have teamed up with major brands such as Costa, Starbucks, McDonald’s and Pret to highlight their in store recycling facilities which are available for any cup no matter where it was purchased.
The #TakeItBack initiative was launched yesterday by the environmental charity to encourage people to take their cups to any of the 68 Glasgow city centre store locations where cup recycling is available.
Campaigns and social innovations manager of Keep Scotland Beautiful Paul Wallace said: “There is a demand for better cup recycling facilities, people are clearly thirsty for change. I hope that this initiative will encourage more people to #TakeItBack and increase the number of single-use cups being recycled.”
“If we are serious about reducing the millions of single-use cups that are being used and discarded in Scotland every year we need to increase reuse and recycling behaviours.”
Councillor Richardson, city convener for sustainability and carbon reduction said: “The Cup Movement in Glasgow is about reducing the consumption of disposable cups, promoting reusable alternatives and making disposable cups easier to recycle.
“Glasgow City Council was the first organisation to sign up and has already incentivised the use of reusable cups at its facilities, with staff being encouraged to make use of the offers available.
“Throwing away a disposable cup is a waste and I hope this event encourages more people and businesses to get on board and help spread awareness of this crucial campaign.”
However, poor cup recycling facilities are unfortunately not the only waste complaints that Glasgow City Council receive.
It placed fourth worst for the amount they managed to recycle in 2018.
According to figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Glasgow City Council only managed to recycle 24.6% of its waste last year.
Scottish Green Party politician and Glasgow city councillor Martha Wardrop said: “It is very disappointing that Glasgow is the 4th worst recycling council in Scotland. In the face of a climate and ecological crisis, Glasgow’s recycling rate is going down not up.”
A spokesman for the council said: “We fully accept that improving the city’s recycling performance has been challenging.
“The council is developing an updated waste strategy, although the figures aren’t great at the moment, there is scope for optimism.”
Glasgow City Council is working with Zero Waste Scotland to adopt Scotland’s Household Recycling charter, a scheme designed to introduce consistent recycling rules across the country.
Programme manager for recycling at Zero Waste Scotland Adrian Bond: “It’s designed to bring in more consistent recycling services across Scotland and all but two councils have signed up. We will continue to work with councils and the public to build participation levels in recycling.
“Across Scotland, we’d like to see more progress in areas where recycling rates are slowing or falling behind.
“We’d encourage the council to continue to invest in high-quality recycling services and build on wider communication to increase participation levels in local recycling systems.”
The council are following this advice by supporting the new Cup Movement initiative and are adding the #TakeItback message to the blue on-the-go recycling bins in the city centre which do not offer cup recycling.
