South Ayrshire Council is tops at recycling according to the latest figures published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for the period April to September 2005.

The Convener of the Council's Commercial and Business Committee, Councillor Alistair Kerr said: "This is great news for the Council, for the residents of South Ayrshire and for the environment.

"To have come out top of all local authorities in Scotland for the period July to September for recycling and composting of waste is a great achievement. Now that the new household waste system is being operated in all of South Ayrshire the percentage that is being recycling is showing a marked improvement.

"Disposing of waste at landfill sites is very expensive, is not good for the environment, and by reducing, reusing and recycling waste everyone can make a difference.

"I would like to thank the residents of South Ayrshire and Officers of the Council for their commitment to the new household waste collection system, and urge everyone to keep on recycling."

In 2004 the Council started to change the way in which it collected household waste. This meant that people in South Ayrshire had to start sorting items and placing them in different containers so that they could be recycled. The changes required to be made because of a European Union Landfill Directive that requires a reduction of the amount of waste that is being disposed of by landfill. The only way to achieve this was to radically change the way waste is disposed of in South Ayrshire..

Funds received from the Scottish Government's Strategic Waste Fund are being used to finance the implementation of new systems for collecting waste, the total amount of funding received is £19,623 million up to the year 2020.

Recycling is environmentally friendly and will drastically reduce the amount of land required for landfill, which is a very expensive way to dispose of waste. These changes will help the Council to meet the targets set by the European Union.

The Council has numerous recycling centres where householders can choose to take additional waste and dispose of it free of charge. Anyone who is unable to take additional waste or large items such as freezers for disposal can have up to five free uplifts of waste from their house each financial year.

Any householder who has any questions about the collection of household waste, or would like to find out where their nearest recycling centre is should can log on to the Council's website at www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk for information or contact the Council's Customer Services staff on 0845 601 2020.

February 2006