Why recycle?

Recycling waste materials provides a real opportunity to put less waste to landfill, but needs your participation to help sort out waste materials at source.

Recycled materials can replace the use of virgin materials and provides environmental benefits including less air pollution, energy use, reduced impacts of extracting materials and more efficient use of finite resources.

Recycling also provides employment opportunities, encourages producers to take more responsibility for their wastes and improves economic competitiveness.

Benefits of recycling include:

• Cutting down the amount of material we use
• Reducing transport movements and air pollution
• Landfilling less of our waste
• Reducing energy consumption from making new materials
• Creating new jobs from recycling initiatives
• Encouraging people and businesses to take more responsibility for the waste they produce
• Improving competitiveness as businesses use their materials more efficiently

Where is the waste going for recycling?

• The contents of the blue bin are processed in Irvine currently at a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where the paper, card, plastic bottles and cans are separated out and sold on to recycling markets.
• The contents of the brown bin are currently taken to a centralised composting plant in Skares, where it is turned into compost before being used in landscaping works etc.
• The glass is taken to our own waste transfer station at Walker Road in Ayr, before being bulked up and transported to the glass recycling plant in Alloa where it is turned into new glass bottles.