AN Inverurie man has accused Aberdeenshire Council of having a "poorly managed and badly advertised Code of Practice for plastics recycling facilities for domestic residents".
Local businessman Alan Gardner contacted the Herald to complain of a "sustained period of confused collection practices by Aberdeenshire Council".
Mr Gardner said: "We are, we believe, conscientious and concerned citizens who fully support the in
itiative for environmental protection, and try our best to conform to guidelines on recycling waste materials.
"Since commencement of the recycling policy, we have carefully rinsed and cleaned all our glass and plastic containers, using hot water to achieve this so as to make the task of collection a cleaner and healthier one for our collection teams as requested. Sometimes these containers are collected, other times they are not."
He added: "This is a complete farce, and actually results in greater environmental abuse considering the wasted water, and wasted energy to heat the water, simply to have a lottery of collection practices.
"We either recycle plastics, or we do not. All the plastic containers we attempt to include have the recycling triangle. How on earth are we supposed to guess at which plastic the Council can accept?"
The Herald contacted Aberdeenshire Council with Mr Gardner's complaint and a spokesperson said: "All our publicity clearly states that only plastic bottles can be recycled at our depots and recycling points at this time. This straightforward message is designed to avoid confusion with any other plastic recyclables.
"Although the recycling triangle appears on many plastic containers, this does not mean the process can be undertaken in this country, in fact much of it has to be sent further afield which obviously has environmental implications."
The spokesman did add, however: "These collection methods are likely to be reviewed in the future."
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