ABOUT 80,000 tonnes of waste is collected and disposed of in Dumfries and Galloway every year.
But council officials say that figure still needs to improve.
Their new waste strategy for 2023-2030 reveals 64,525 tonnes of waste are collected from households each year in Dumfries and Galloway, of which 41 per cent, or 27,319 tonnes is recycled.
On average, each household produces 780kg of waste each year.
A further 15,507 tonnes is collected from businesses or the council’s own sites, with 3474 tonnes of this being recycled.
However, Dumfries and Galloway still falls below the national average for recycling at 42.7 percent and significantly short of the national target of 70 percent recycling of all waste in Scotland by 2025.
And the strategy says: “We need to go further and do more to ensure we are recycling as much household waste as possible and operating a service which is sustainable, both environmentally and financially.”
It also lists five key themes for reaching green targets: waste prevention, reuse and recycling; optimising kerbside collections; household waste recycling centre; optimising processing of residual waste; and maximising efficiency.
The strategy states: “Our vision is for our region’s waste production to be reduced, and our repair, reuse and recycling to be increased creating a region which is cleaner and greener helping safeguard our future.”
