Aberdeenshire residents waste less and produce higher quality recycling a year on from the rollout of orange lid bins, it was revealed at the council's Infrastructure Services Committee on Thursday 15 May. The council welcomed £3.5 million in total funding from Zero Waste Scotland’s Recycling Improvement Fund to progress the bin collection changes in alignment with Scotland’s Charter for Household Recycling. The charter pledges to maximise the capture and quality of recycling as well as reduce the capacity for waste that cannot be recycled. The rollout took a year to complete, from 17 April 2023 to 22 April 2024. As a result of the kerbside collection changes... ♻ The quality of paper, card, and cardboard recycling (blue lid bin)—which is approximately 70% of the overall kerbside recycling—has improved dramatically and is consistently below 3% contamination. ♻ The overall recycling rate is up by 2.8%, increasing from 40.2% in 2022 to 43% in 2023, with a further increase expected from 2023 to 2024. ♻ Residual waste (black lid bin and recycling centres) being collected and disposed of has decreased by 1,031 tonnes from 2022 to 2023 and a further 1,861 tonnes from 2023 to 2024. ♻ The council is saving of around £2m per year due to the cleaner recycling from the separated bins and the reduction in residual waste. A saving that is now incorporated into the Waste and Recycling Services budget. ♻ The reduction in residual waste has also saved an equivalent of 1,685 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The next steps are to further increase the recycling rate for Aberdeenshire, where food waste is appearing as more than a fifth of all the stuff that ends up in kerbside black-lid bins. It is a lot of food that is being bought but never eaten. Using the free food waste caddies instead would turn food waste into biogases for heat, power, or even biofuel for vehicles; and digestate for fertiliser for agriculture. Some food waste is also converted into compost for local farms. Food waste is collected each week from the kerbside and residents can get an indoor and outdoor food waste caddy for free from their local recycling centre or service point if theirs is broken or if they need more than one. Learn more: https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/news/2025/may/aberdeenshire-residents-waste-less-and-produce-higher-quality-recycling-a-year-on-from-bin-rollout