Councillor Fraser Macpherson has called on the city council to review its waste policies after new figures showed “concerning trends” in Dundee’s recycling efforts.
Mr Macpherson said the removal of bulky waste facilities at Riverside and garden waste facilities at Baldovie is a “totally false economy” after the figures showed recycling of green waste down almost 30% since the closure of Marchbanks Recycling Centre.
He added that Dundee is a “country mile” short of meeting its recycling target for 2013 and figures for the three months to June showed there is a problem.
He has now called on the council to look again at the removal of these facilities.
The Liberal Democrat councillor said there was anecdotal evidence of many residents now putting items into their general waste bin that would previously have been recycled and the figures at the recycling sites now bear this concern out.
Another issue is increased private vehicle movements across the city as people are having to drive further to recycle.
“The council claims the very significant additional private car emissions will be ‘largely offset’ by less council HGV emissions but I don’t think anyone seriously accepts this.”