Council announces waste recycling contract ahead of new bin rollout in Caithness
As Caithness residents await their new recycling bins, Highland Council has awarded a new contract for the recycling of Highland's mixed plastic and metal containers.
Householders in Caithness can expect to receive their new recycling bins at the end of October 2024 after the council announced a delay in the rollout at the beginning of last month.
The contract has been awarded to Perthshire’s Wyllie Recycling Ltd for the provision of mixed plastic and metal container recycling services and haulage in Highland. This includes plastic bottles, pots, tubs, trays, metals tins, drink cans, aerosols and food and drink cartons which are collected in the new green recycling bins.
The council has procured Wyllie’s services for a contract period of up to 5 years with approximately 5,600 tonnes of mixed plastic and metal containers projected to be sent for recycling from the region annually.
Wyllie Recycling Ltd, a Scottish family-owned business, will provide a unique end-to-end recycling service for the council. This means Wyllie’s will collect the mixed plastic and metal containers from Council Waste Transfer Stations in Invergordon, Inverness, Caithness, Portree and Lochaber.
The material will then be transported to their Materials Recovery Facility in Perth which is specifically designed to sort and separate the mixed plastic and metal containers into various material streams.
The separated materials such as aluminium, steel, HDPE plastic and PET plastic are baled and then transported to UK manufacturers and made into new containers. The clear HDPE plastic is used to make new milk bottles and clear PET plastic is used to make new water bottles, all within the UK.
Cllr Graham MacKenzie, chair of the council’s Communities and Place Committee said: “Wyllie Recycling Limited’s impressive end-to-end recycling service will provide reassurance to our residents and business waste collection customers that their efforts in recycling are absolutely worthwhile and that the items they separate for recycling are being recycled here within the UK.
“The programme to implement the new twin stream recycling in Highland is going very well with over 80,000 households now using the new waste and recycling service in the region.”
Households can now separate their recycling into two bins – paper/card into the blue bin and mixed plastic and metal containers into the green bin. This new system significantly helps to improve the quality and quantity of the material that is sent for recycling from Highland.
John Gilmour, commercial manager with Wyllie Recycling said: “Wyllie Recycling are delighted to have been awarded this significant contract by the Highland Council.
“This is a huge achievement and testament to the hard work of all our team. This decision reinforces our position as Scotland’s leading recycling company for mixed plastic and metal containers and our distinctive fleet can now be seen across the Highland region, promoting the council’s clean recycling message."
As a public reminder, the council cannot accept any plastic film and soft plastics in the recycling bins. For more information and tips on how to reduce your waste, please visit: www.highland.gov.uk/recycle.
Highland Council is altering the Caithness collections so that recyclable material is split into two wheelie bins, while waste for landfill will go into a new, smaller bin. Residents will receive a letter letting them know when their new bin is arriving and when their new collections start, states the local authority.
The new grey non-recyclable waste bin will be delivered with a detailed information booklet explaining the changes and what to put in each bin.
A new collection calendar will also be provided with the booklet.
