Fifers urged to put rubbish in correct bins as £2 million spent per year processing incorrectly dumped waste

Households across Fife are being asked to ensure rubbish is disposed of in the correct bins.

It as figures show more than £2 million is spent per year to process waste which has been incorrectly thrown away.

Food and garden waste put in blue bins made up more than a quarter of Fife's total landfill waste in 2017, which is 12,000 tonnes.

More than a million pounds had to be spent on both processing this and paying landfill tax.

The more than £2 million figure includes glass and plastics incorrectly dumped.

Fife Council's Environment Convener Councillor Ross Vettraino commented on the cost of dealing with glass incorrectly thrown away.

He said: "It cost the council over £60,000 in income and about £300,000 in landfill tax.

"That is money that the council could have spent on other services, on essential services, such as social work or education or roads maintenance."

Councillor Vettraino also thinks there are no excuses for households across Fife to put certain types of waste in the right bins.

He added: "There can absolutely be no doubt about where glass and food and garden waste should go.

"Glass goes into one of the glass bins at one of the 280, roughly, recycling points in Fife and the garden waste goes into the food and garden waste bin." 

But despite the challenges the local authority faces, the Glenrothes Central and Thornton councillor is optimistic Fife can meet Scottish recycling rate targets of 70% by 2025 and hopeful future generations will be more environmentally conscious.

He also said: "If we can get education established in the primary schools so that people are growing up naturally respect the planet and put the right refuse in the right place, I think that will help greatly."