Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

The 3 reasons why Moray homes are the best at recycling in Scotland

We find out why the region is better than all the rest at stopping rubbish ending up in landfill.

Conveyer belt of rubbish with work crews behind.
Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

Homes across Moray have been crowned as the best at recycling in Scotland, but what makes the region best with the bins?

Figures published by Sepa show residents in Elgin, Forres, Buckie and the rest of the region know better than anyone else what goes in the right bucket.

Moray is one of 11 of Scotland’s 32 councils to recycle more than half of its waste – but tops the charts at 57.8%.

The Press and Journal spoke to Marc Macrae, Moray Council’s economic development and infrastructure services committee chairman, to find out why. 

How does rest of north compare to Moray at recycling?

Moray – 57.8% of household waste recycled

Scottish average – 43.4%

Aberdeen City – 41.8%

Aberdeenshire – 40.2%

Highland – 37.2%

Western Isles – 31.8%

Orkney – 23.2%

Shetland – 20.7%

1. Moray embraced recycling early

Could it just be as simple that people in Moray are simply smarter at recycling than others?

Well, that might be the end result, but it is a bit more complicated than that.

Moray has had a well-established four-bin and glass box system for many years now.

While Aberdeenshire Council is in the processing of rolling out an orange-lid third bin for metals and plastics, Moray residents are used to a settled system.

Conveyer belt of recycling with one person supervising.
Metals are manually inspected by Moray Reach Out in Elgin to minimise contamination. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

Confusion about what goes in what bin can lead to contamination and mean some waste is not recycled.

And the less contamination there is means councils can then sell on the material easier.

Mr Macrae said: “I think it is the case that people in Moray do understand what to do.

“Moray Council was an early adopter of recycling with the blue and the pink bins, and something we’ve been running awareness campaigns on for a while.

“I think it is the case that people here, particularly youngsters, make a real effort to put things in the right bins.”

2. More is now recycled in Moray

Moray Council already had one of the best recycling rates in Scotland, but in 2021 added to that by cycling even more plastics.

Previously only type 1 and type 2 could go in the pink bin, but two years ago changes were made to expand that to include type 5, which are predominantly pots, tubs and takeaway trays.

Moray Council also operates a paid-for garden waste collection, which is offered in Aberdeen and Highland but not in Aberdeenshire.

Mr Macrae said: “People used to have to be very careful about what you recycled, but we can do more and more now.

Cubes of compacted cardboard with forklift in foreground.
Compacted cardboard ready to be recycled at Moray Council’s waste depot in Elgin. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

“The multiple bins might have been a pain in the start but we have created that attitude now of recycling.

“We’ve also just introduced bins for council staff to small electrical items, like kettles and hairdryers, to make sure less of them end up in landfill.

“One thing I’d like to see recycled more though is vapes, I see them everywhere. Some of them can be recycled as electrical items.”

Despite the improvements, some plastics, including poly bags, crisp packets and polystyrene, still can’t be recycled from home but can be taken to collection points usually found in supermarkets.

3. Has change to three-weekly collections helped?

The Covid pandemic forced councils to roll back on many of its services as staff self-isolated and to allow for physical distancing.

Bin collections continued through lockdown but with a reduced three-weekly schedule.

That change was made permanent in 2021 as part of budget cuts to save ÂŁ129,000 with collections able to be done with one less vehicle.

Digger scooping up rubbish in dump.
Moray Council residents have been praised for sorting the rubbish into bins before it reaches the dump. Image: Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

However, has it also encouraged households to make best use of the bin space they have?

Mr Macrae said: “I think there’s probably a bit of that. During the pandemic people were getting so much stuff delivered to home that there was a lot of paper and cardboard.

“The pandemic also gave us a lot more time at home and probably allowed people to work out what went where.”

Conversation