Kincardine and Mearns will be first for three-bin change: Here’s what you need to know about new rules coming soon

By Kieran Beattie

March 2 2023, 5:00 pm

Kincardine and Mearns will be the first area of Aberdeenshire to get a new, third bin as part of the council's new three-bin system. Image: DC Thomson/Aberdeenshire Council.

The first region of Aberdeenshire for a controversial move to three bins per household on a three-week cycle will be Kincardine and Mearns.

Aberdeenshire Council has confirmed than more than 20,000 bins are ready to be rolled out next month in the first phase of its new kerbside waste collection system.

Once fully up and running, the £4 million changes will mean more than 120,000 homes across the region will have a new, third bin with an orange lid, designated for certain types of recycling only.

Here’s the three bins every household will have after the changes roll-out in their areas, as well as the food waste caddy. Image: Aberdeenshire Council.

And instead of having your general waste bin emptied every second week, it will only be picked up by the council every third week.

Read on to find out when to expect your new bin if you live in Kincardine and Mearns, and when the new collection cycle will finally commence.

New third bins will start being delivered to Kincardine and Mearns households from mid-April

Ros Baxter, waste manager at Aberdeenshire Council, alongside one of the new orange-lidded bins, and the existing ones used by Aberdeenshire households. Image: Wullie Marr / DC Thomson

Ros Baxter, waste manager at Aberdeenshire Council, explained that the roll-out of the new three-bin change will be done depot by depot across the council area.

She said: “We have six depots across Aberdeenshire, and the first depot we’ll be rolling out to is Stonehaven.

“The Stonehaven depot basically covers the Kincardine and Mearns area, from Portlethen to Laurencekirk.”

Affected households in Kincardine and Mearns will start receiving postcards this weekend telling them that the changes will be coming in about six week’s time.

Ms Baxter and some of the 20,000 bins which will soon be rolling out across Kincardine and Mearns. Image: Aberdeenshire Council.

This postcard alert process will be repeated as the new scheme rolls out throughout the rest of Aberdeenshire in the coming months.

The new orange-lidded bins will start arriving at Kincardine and Mearns households from April 17.

But, the new three-week collection cycle won’t be officially starting in the region until around five to six weeks after April 17.

Homes won’t be expected to use the new orange-topped bin until the date of the new rules going live, which will be confirmed at a future date.

When will the new three-bin changes arrive everywhere else in Aberdeenshire?

The new orange-lidded bins will be introduced with the intention of increasing recycling rates. Image: Aberdeenshire Council.

“We had hoped to finish by Christmas,” explained Ms Baxter.

But instead, the roll-out of the new waste system to everywhere else in Aberdeenshire won’t be completed for another 12 months.

Ms Baxter continued: “We’re going to spread it out a little bit more, and actually it will be done by the end of March next year.”

The waste manager said the regions of Aberdeenshire next in line for the bin shake-up aren’t confirmed yet, as the council is “still working through the plan”.

Concerns for space for some households

Some have raised worries about finding enough space to keep a new bin at their properties, but the council says it will provide some ‘leeway’ in some cases. Image: Aberdeenshire Council.

The upcoming bins revamp has sparked a lot of controversy, including some from people worried about where they will find space for their new bins.

Ms Baxter said the council has a “team of community waste officers” working to address the worries of residents about where they’ll put the new bins, as well as other issues.

She said: “One of the things they are doing is looking in particular at communal areas.

“If there are particular areas that have difficulties with space, and I know there are some areas of Stonehaven that struggle with space, they will be looking specifically at different solutions for those areas.

“But, it’s on a case by case basis.”

She said “on the whole”, she expects people will manage just fine with extra bins, but “there will be some leeway in terms of alternatives”.

These alternatives include bigger shared bins in some cases, or “a small number of bag collections”.

“Generally, we want people to accept the new bin if they can,” she said.

What’s the point of these changes, and will they actually work?

Ms Baxter believes the new orange-lidded bins will help cut down on the volume of waste that doesn’t end up getting recycled in Aberdeenshire. Image: Wullie Marr/DC Thomson.

The council is introducing this huge change to how waste is collected with the intention of boosting recycling rates in Aberdeenshire.

By reducing how often residents will be able to get rid of general waste, and increasing how much recycling they can do, the council hopes to reduce the volume of waste the region doesn’t recycle.

“Many other places have done it across Scotland,” said Ms Baxter.

“I think around a third of councils have already reduced their residual waste capacity, so we’re not the first by any means.”

The waste manager said the council will be assessing the project in 2024 to see how well it’s done against its aim of increasing recycling levels in Aberdeenshire.

The council carried out an analysis of what people put in their general waste bins last June.

It found that about 66% of what households currently put in these bins can in fact be recycled.