Kirkcaldy Area Committee
24 March 2010
Agenda Item No. 12
Report by: Head of Environmental Services
Wards Affected: Wards 10, 11, 12, 13
Purpose
To provide an update on the current flatted properties pilot operating in Kirkcaldy
East and outline its proposed expansion.
Recommendation(s)
It is recommended that members note the contents of this report and that members comment on the report as appropriate.
Resource Implications
Included within the approved Zero Waste Plan
Legal & Risk Implications
No implications
Policy & Impact Assessment
No Implications
Consultation

Environmental Services Operations

Local Residents

Elected Members

Local Services

Legal Services

Development & Estates

1.0 Background
In April 2009 four separate areas of high density housing in the Kirkcaldy East area were provided with bespoke recycling units to act as a form of kerbside recycling.
Over the next 11 months, the pilot was monitored using consultations with the residents along with recording various forms of data. The data was used to assess the effectiveness of the pilot and to evaluate the potential of further expansion to other areas of Fife.
2.0 Issues and Options
Several forms of monitoring were utilised to provide an overview of data from the pilot. Outlined below is a summary of the data that has been collected and analysed.
2.1 Recycling Capacity
2.1.1. Recycling crews have been monitoring the recycling capacity used every time a recycling bin in the pilot area has been emptied.
2.1.2. On average 59% of the provided capacity was used.
2.1.3. It has therefore been decided to reduce the number of recycling units in a street to reflect this monitoring.
2.2 Tonnages
2.2.1. Over the 11 month period of the pilot from April 2009 until February
2010, 34 Tonnes of waste has been collected and recycled.
2.2.2. The monthly average material collected is therefore 3.1 tonnes of recyclates per month or 1.6 kgs per household per week.
2.2.3. If this pilot was rolled out to 5000 properties it is expected that over
400 tones of material would be collected for recycling per year.
2.3 Recycling by material type
2.3.1 Paper and plastic bottles are the two most commonly recycled materials. Food and drink cans are recycled more infrequently.
2.3.2 18 litres of paper and cardboard were recycled on average per household per week whilst 22 litres of plastics were recycled. Only 8 litres of food and drinks cans were recycled.
2.3.3 This information will enable an informed decision to be made with regards to how many bins should be issued to each street or block of flats.
2.4 Waste capacity
2.4.1 Once recycling units had been provided to the flatted properties, waste capacity was reduced.

2.4.2 Landfill waste capacity was reduced to approximately 120 litres per household per week as a result of being provided with recycling units.
2.4.3 Initial monitoring shows that waste to landfill has decreased by 20%.
2.4.4 Feedback from our Operations team indicates that they have had no significant issues since this alteration to landfill waste took place.
Two residents’ surveys were carried out by Waste Aware Scotland on behalf of Fife
Council to identify what views the residents held with regards to recycling in general and the pilot scheme in particular.
2.5 Pre-pilot survey – March 2009
2.5.1 84% of people felt that they were willing to participate in the proposed recycling scheme but only 49% of residents currently recycled.
2.5.2 The main reason for residents not currently recycling was due to the fact that recycling facilities were too far away.
2.5.3 61% of people felt that paper and cardboard would be the item they recycled most. 45% of residents felt that plastics would be their second most commonly recycled item.
2.5.4 Of those who would be willing to participate in the pilot, almost half
(45%) felt that there would be challenges such as vandalism and contamination.
2.6 Follow up survey
– October 2009
2.6.1 The follow up survey gathered information on residents recycling habits now as well as their attitudes to the pilot since it was implemented.
2.6.2 92% of residents now recycle in some way, prior to the pilot only 49% of residents recycled. The pilot has almost doubled (88%) the number of residents participating in recycling.
2.6.3 90% of residents stated that the new service was good or very good.
2.6.4 64% of residents felt that they had reduced the amount of waste going into the general household waste bin by half or more
2.6.5 More than three quarters of the residents recalled receiving a leaflet and almost all respondents felt that the information was clear, understandable and contained enough information to enable them to participate in the pilot.
2.6.6 Most residents (83%) found the jute storage bag useful. Those that did not use the jute storage bag often used a plastic bag in its place.
2.6.7 93% of residents liked the locations of the bins and 85% felt that the location helped them to recycle more items.
2.6.8 Prior to the pilot being implemented residents felt that the main item that would be recycled would be paper and cardboard followed by plastics. This has now reversed with more residents recycling plastic bottles as their main item (87%) followed by newspapers (73%)

2.6.9 Those residents that still use a local Recycling Point did so mainly to recycle glass bottles and jars.
2.6.10 44% of residents would like further materials to be collected as part of the recycling service. The majority would like to see glass bottles and jars collected and this is now being investigated.
2.6.11 Prior to the pilot being implemented, almost half the residents (45%) envisaged problems such as vandalism. However when the survey was followed up only 23% of residents felt that there had been issues such as this.
The monitoring and residents surveys indicate that the pilot scheme to introduce recycling into flatted properties has met the services expectations in terms of tonnages received. The tonnages match that of other local authorities in Scotland and if glass can be introduced then the tonnages collected should increase further.
Residents Surveys have also identified that the vast majority of residents are happy with the service and feel that it helps them to recycle more materials more often.
It is now the intention to expand the pilot to a further 500 properties in the Kirkcaldy area around May. This will include mainly council owned properties but it is hoped that a small number of private properties can be included in the expansion also.
Environmental Services are in discussions with Estates to identify any potential issues that may arise from siting communal recycling bins on private land.
The aim is to roll out this service to 1000-1500 properties every year until 5000 properties are on this service.
3.0 Conclusions
Overall the pilot seems to have been successful and although it does not lead to a large increase in tonnages of material collected for recycling, it does lead to significantly more people taking part in the recycling.
It is hoped to expand the pilot to include another five hundred properties in the short term and continue to monitor its progress. Providing the same system works in this new area then it will form a template for expansion to further similar properties across Fife.

List of Appendices
1. Summary results of pre-pilot survey
2. Summary results of post pilot survey
3. Flatted property Committee report 5/12/08
4. Tonnages Collected spreadsheet
5. Estimated expansion costs and savings spreadsheet
Report Contact
Paul Doherty
Technical Officer (Zero Waste)
Environmental Services, 2 nd floor Kingdom House, Glenrothes, KY7 5LY
Telephone: 08451 55 55 55 + 440279 Number
Email – paul.doherty@fife.gov.uk