Most Scots want to recycle rubbish but cannot, survey claims

Most people living in Scotland want to recycle their household waste but say there are not enough facilities allowing them to do so, according to a new report. However, Scotland’s actual recycling rate suggests that those surveyed in Scotland (in common with many other polls) tend to over-estimate their own recycling performance.



The Scotsman newspaper reports that more than 80 per cent of Scots who were interviewed in the biggest survey ever undertaken into attitudes towards recycling and reducing waste said they would definitely participate in kerbside recycling.



The survey, conducted by the Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG) under the slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle”, also revealed that 50 per cent of those questioned already recycled their waste household goods, and a further 32 per cent carry out home composting. Taking two years to complete and collating more than 9,000 face-to-face interviews with adult householders throughout the 32 local authorities, the report represents a survey level of one in every 447 households in the country. Ross Finnie, the environment minister, said the report confirmed more needed to be done both to increase awareness among Scottish consumers of the opportunities to manage their household waste in a more sustainable manner.



Nora Radcliffe MSP, the deputy convener of the transport and environment committee, announced an extra £100,000 of funding for SWAG. However, most people interviewed told how they believed there was scope for improved facilities to help change behaviour and perceptions in relation to recycling – demonstrating that the Executive will have to pull out all the stops if it is to make its target for 2006. In the spending review announced earlier this year around £200 million of funding was earmarked to bankroll the Executive’s stated commitment to recycling and to banish the notion of Scotland as the “dirty man of Europe”.



Mr Finnie said the additional funding, to be phased in over the next two years, would help SWAG design an extensive waste awareness campaign, entitled Waste Aware Scotland. The initiative campaign will be available for local authorities to use as they roll out new recycling facilities, he said.