Fifers generated half a tonne of household waste each in 2017

New statistics released by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) this week show that each and every one of us in the Kingdom is accountable for 0.48 tonnes, contributing to a total in Fife of 178,478 tonnes of waste in 2017.

However, more than half of that (97,546 tonnes) was recycled by Fife Council, making the region the 12th best performing council of the 32 local authorities in Scotland with 54 per cent.

The Scottish average recycled waste for 2017 was 45.6 per cent, a modest 0.6 per cent improvement on the previous year.

With the options for non recyclable waste ranging from incineration to landfill and other processing, last year Fife committed 38.5 per cent (68,786 tonnes) of its household rubbish to landfill, someway below the Scottish average of 45 per cent.

The amount that Scotland committed to landfill in 2017 increased by 90,816 tonnes (2.4 per cent) to a total of 3.83 million tonnes put in the ground last year.

In addition, the total quantity of waste incinerated in Scotland in 2017 rose significantly by 12.2 per cent to 766,574 tonnes, continuing a year-on-year trend and confirming an increase of 356,515 tonnes (86.9%) from that incinerated in 2011.

With councils across the country now committed to the Scottish Government’s Charter for Household Recycling, the pressure is on to improve recycle rates by as much as 35 per cent by 2025.