Aberdeenshire Council to encourage composting to tackle garden waste

By Kirstie Topp

January 27 2023, 12:36 pm

Plans for a new kerbside garden waste collection in Aberdeenshire have been scrapped due to budget contraints

Aberdeenshire Council is looking to set up five extra seasonal garden waste collection points – but only if it can find the money to do so.

Recent figures revealed more than 8,000 tonnes of garden waste is currently sent to refill in Aberdeenshire.

Residents are currently preparing to move to a three-weekly collection service.

Composting to provide ‘valuable’ resource

In an attempt to address the issue councillors backed plans for the local authority to support community composting, at a committee meeting on Thursday.

This would allow residents to deal with their own garden waste while providing a “valuable” resource of compost to local communities.

Plans for a garden waste kerbside collection service to all households in Aberdeenshire are off the table. Image: Aberdeenshire Council

But council officers said it could cost £60,000 a year to fund.

It has the potential to divert up to 400 tonnes of garden waste from going to landfill.

They also supported creating five new seasonal garden waste points in Cruden Bay, New Pitsligo, Aberchirder, Braemar and Torphins.

The new seasonal points would cost £49,000 to set up and could divert around 190 tonnes of garden waste.

At the moment, residents have to travel to one of the council’s 15 household recycling centres to deposit their grass cuttings and pruning scraps.

A hybrid booking system will be introduced at Formartine recycling centres including the site at Ellon. Image: Kirstie Topp/DC Thomson — Residents can visit a household recycling centre to dispose of their garden waste – pictured above is the Ellon centre. Image: Kirstie Topp/DC Thomson

Alternatively, they can visit one of the 12 seasonal waste collection points that operate from April to October.

Meanwhile plans to start a kerbside garden waste collection service were scrapped due to budget concerns.

A service for all households would cost £3.7m to establish – but residents would have been charged £65 to use it.

‘Burden can’t fall on existing waste system’

Committee chairman John Crawley suggested the council explore budget-friendly options going forward.

He also asked for officers to look at external funding opportunities to enable the expansion of the seasonal waste points.

If funding can be found he asked for the new seasonal points to be up and running in the next financial year.

Aberdeenshire Council does not currently offer a garden waste collection service

Councillor Isobel Davidson said that while she was aware residents had been asking for garden waste collections for some time, she believed the council was “not in the position” to start another waste collection.

Meanwhile, councillor Paul Johnston suggested the local authority seek support from Zero Waste Scotland.

He said: “We need some investment to get good community composting projects which are efficient underway – the burden can’t fall on existing waste system.”