Council admits glass recycling service in Caithness has been poor and promises improvements
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Highland Council today (September 22) issued an update on its glass recycling service and made an apology for its contractor's failures.
Following a long period of disruption to the glass bottle and jar recycling service, the council says that its glass collection contractor, Biffa Waste Services (BWS), had issued a statement on the matter.
A BWS spokesperson said: "Due to an unforeseen resource issue we find ourselves falling short of the required level of service expectations we provide to the Highland Council.
"We are currently recovering the missed collections and are working towards a more robust service offering in the future and investing in additional vehicles and resource contingency planning going forward.
"We are fully committed in working towards an improved service offering for Highland and apologise to the public for any inconvenience caused at this time”.
The issue had been an ongoing headache for Caithness residents throughout much of 2023 with many turning up at local recycling bins to find them full to the brim. In some cases, they placed their glass bottles and jars alongside the row of containers or left them in carrier bags nearby – contrary to recycling guidelines.
Watten residents pointed out the hazards of broken glass at the village's overflowing bottle banks during a recent tidy up event. It was pointed out how the shards of glass could not only hurt children and animals but could puncture the tyres of vehicles trying to access the site. Despite promises the service would be back to normal at the start of August the problems continued for some weeks.
The council said its waste operation teams are now working closely with Biffa to help relieve the pressure and manage the demand at the recycling points.
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Chair of Highland Council's communities and place committee, Cllr Graham Mackenzie, said: "The council would like to take this opportunity to thank the public for their patience and understanding.
"Whilst the service recovers, we would ask that if your local glass bottle bank is full, please avoid leaving your glass by the banks. Please take it away with you until the banks have capacity. Further area updates will be provided as soon as normal levels of servicing have resumed."
The council adds that glass can also be taken to the nearest household waste recycling centre – details of which are on the local authority's website.
Glass is normally collected weekly. It is bulked up in Inverness before going for sorting and crushing at the Sibelco recycling plant at Newhouse, near Motherwell.
