Recycling Performance Update

Renfrewshire Council · 6 November 2024
Back to Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board — 6 November 2024 and its agenda

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To:  Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board 
On:   6 November 2024 
Report by: Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure 
Heading: Recycling Performance Update 
1. Summary 
1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of Renfrewshire’s Household
Waste Recycling performance.  The report focuses on our 2023 performance, which
was published on the 29th of October by SEPA. 
1.2 As reported to this Policy board during 2024, our waste analysis has shown there are
there are further opportunities for residents to increase and improve the level of
recycling material they present for collection. The Council has been successful in
receiving £757k from the recycling improvement fund to support and encourage
residents to recycle more of their household waste. The first phase focusing on
improving the level of food waste that is recycled, with the campaign commencing on
the 28th of October 2024. 
2. Recommendations 
It is recommended that the Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board: 
2.1 Notes Renfrewshire Council’s recycling performance for 2023.  
2.2 Notes the increased recycling collected at our HWRC facilities following investment in
late 2022 as set out in section 3.11 of this report. 
2.3 Notes the package of recycling improvement measures designed to increase the
quality and quantity of recycling from household waste detailed in section 4 of this
report with updates on progress being provided to future Policy boards. 
3.       Renfrewshire’ Recycling Performance
3.1 Total waste arisings produced by Renfrewshire’s residents have been decreasing
since 2021, with a reduction by a further 4.7 % in Renfrewshire in 2023. Also worth
noting that during this same time period there has been a population increase. The

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table below shows arisings from the kerbside, HWRC and bulky waste collections
over the last 5 years. 
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Kerbside Collected
(Tonnes) 61256.67 68106.87 64358.75 60450.9 56849.81
HWRC Collected
(Tonnes) 20516.94 15908.5 21055.80 17496.11 17330.05
Special Uplift (Tonnes) 978.80 659.4 601.89 620.68 658.05
Total (Tonnes) 82752.41 84674.77 86016.44 78567.69 74837.91 
3.2 Overall Renfrewshire’s Household Waste Recycling percentage has reduced from
53.7% in 2022 to 44% in 2023. A significant reason for this is a reduction in the
amount of recycling material recovered by our contractor from general waste arising
from our household waste recycling centres, this will be covered in more detail later
in this report.
Kerbside and Household Waste Recycling Centre recycling performance 
3.3 The household waste recycling figure is made up of recycling processed from the
kerbside and HWRCs. The table below shows the amount of material collected and
processed as recycling from both kerbside collections and HWRCs. The ratio of
recycling contributed from each stream is also noted.  
Kerbside 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Total
Collected(Tonnes) 61256.67 68106.87 64358.75 60450.9 56849.81
Recycled (Tonnes) 30105.17 31105.06 28630.61 26779.79 23393.39
Contribution to
Recycling % 70% 76% 66% 64% 72%      
HWRC 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Total Collected
(Tonnes) 20516.94 15908.5 21055.80 17496.11 17330.05
Recycled (Tonnes) 13010.73 10151.17 14603.66 15171.66 9231.413
Contribution to
Recycling %  30% 25% 34% 36% 28% 
3.4 It should be noted that the tonnage accepted by SEPA as ‘recycled’ is not only what
was collected as recycling, but what is ultimately processed as recycling by our
contractors after any contamination is removed from the recycling streams, and after
salvageable recycling material is extracted from the residual streams.   
3.5 The reduction in 2023 relates predominantly to our HWRC general waste processing
contract. Under this contract, our HWRC general waste goes to a material recycling
facility operated by a local contractor. The primary purpose of this contract is to
ensure all our waste is diverted from landfill and this is being achieved through non-
recyclable materials being used to generate energy.

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3.6 General waste is screened and sorted to separate larger material from smaller
material and lastly finer particles are collected as ‘fines’. In this context, fines are
generally defined as the final output from a recycling process and composed of
material such as soil, dust, and small fragments of organic and inorganic waste and
can be used for landfill restoration which SEPA allow to be recorded as recycling.
3.7 Renfrewshire’s recycling rate has historically benefited from an exceptionally high
recovery of these fines from our current contractor. The fines that are sent for landfill
cover are classed by SEPA as recycled material and therefore positively impact our
household recycling rate. The table below demonstrates the percentage the recycled
fines contribute to the overall household recycling rate over the past 5 years.
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Total tonnes processed as
recycling 43209 41097 43188 41980 32846
Tonnes of fines processed as
recycling 4338.15 3806.12 5460.45 6520.89 1769.97
Household Recycling rate 53.0% 48.9% 51.7% 53.7% 44.0%
Contribution from fines
material 10.0% 9.3% 12.6% 15.5% 5.4%
3.8 Changes by the contractor to its facility and the ban on biodegradable municipal
waste going to landfill from 31 December 2025 has resulted in substantially reduced
quality and quantity of ‘fines’ that can be recycled. As a result, instead of being used
primarily for landfill restoration, which counts towards our recycling tonnage, a far
smaller % of fines were used for landfill restoration due to lower quality material and
demand. The remaining were sent for energy recovery, which does not count towards
our recycling tonnage. This has had a significant impact on our recycling rate;
however the contract still achieves 100% diversion from landfill.
Household Waste Recycling Centres
3.9 We have seen a reduction in the overall waste brought to the HWRC’s over 2023,
with a 1% drop on over all waste presented. However, there has been an increase in
the recycling collected in 2023, as set out in the table below.
3.10 The service was awarded £346k from the Recycling Improvement Fund in 2022 to
implement improvements to the Household Waste Recycling Centres including
introducing new recycling streams, updates to site layouts and signage, upskilling of
staff and additional compaction skips and plant.
3.11 The impact of these improvement measures between 2022 and 2023 has been very
positive on the recycling material collected directly at the recycling centres as
detailed in the table below. An additional 1039 tonnes of source segregated
recycling, and 1323 less tonnes of residual waste were collected across all sites. The
improvement measures have had a positive impact on recycling material collected
within our HWRCs. This shows the measures implemented by the Council and the
opportunities for our residents to recycle more effectively at the centres has been
used.
Household Waste Recycling Centres
2023 2022 Change
General Waste Skips 10570.4 11894.1 -1323.7
Wood 2660.9 2220.3 440.6

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Brick/Rubble 908.7 826.8 81.9
Scrap Metal 713.2 559.1 154.1
Hard Plastics 17.4 0.0 17.4
Cardboard 250.0 172.2 77.8
Green Waste 1008.8 757.5 251.3
Textiles 92.5 76.3 16.2 
Kerbside Bin Collections 
3.12 We have seen a reduction in waste and recycling collected from household bins
since 2020, with a 4.9% decrease between 2022 and 2023 as set out in the table
below. This may reflect the changes being made by producers to packaging, changes
in consumer behaviour, and or the ongoing cost of living impacts with households
creating less waste in general.
Kerbside Collected Recycled Collected Recycled Collected Recycled Collected Recycled Collected Recycled
Grey (non-recyclables) 32407.20 4042.63 35484.04 1255.20 34209.02 1703.94 32752.76 1255.46 32187.12 1294.54
Blue (paper and card) 6995.32 5641.44 7024.55 5713.71 6644.27 5098.98 5942.38 5112.95 5544.96 4857.10
Green (plastics, cans and glass) 7514.62 6581.18 9189.05 7961.68 9130.44 7719.48 8554.69 7330.06 8128.52 6638.18
Brown (food and garden waste) 13360.73 13360.73 15749.84 15749.84 13773.13 13773.13 12580.39 12580.39 10989.21 10439.27
Total 60277.87 29625.98 67447.47 30680.43 63756.86 28295.52 59830.22 26278.86 56849.81 23229.09
Recycling % 49% 45% 44% 44% 41%
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
3.13 Recycling performance from kerbside collections has decreased annually since 2020
with a 3% reduction seen between 2022-23. The recycling reduction between 2022-
23 is mainly due to a reduction in material collected from brown bins.
3.14 The food and garden waste tonnage collected has been decreasing annually since
2021 with a decrease of 1590 tonnes between 2022-2023.  Of the 10,989 tonnes of
food and garden waste collected in 2023, 10,439 tonnes were processed as
recycling. The remaining 550 tonnes was processed as contamination and not
recycled.
3.15 Food waste collection services are provided to 98% of properties, including
communal properties however participation is very low. The majority (74%) of the
total food waste generated in Renfrewshire goes in the grey residual bin. 
4 Recycling improvement measures
4.1 We recognised opportunities to improve Renfrewshire’s recycling performance and
offer a wider range of service to residents, to support their individual and collective
recycling performance within our application to the Recycling Improvement Fund
(RIF), noted at the Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board on 20 May
2024.
4.2 The Council received an offer from the RIF to fund a package of recycling
improvement measures to ensure we meet future policy requirements and deliver
improved environmental outcomes. This includes improving the quality and quantity
of recycling, reducing our carbon footprint, and optimising the performance of the
waste collection service.

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4.3 Recycling improvement measures will focus on: increasing recycling of food waste;
enhancing recycling services at communal properties and flats and expanding
recycling to properties that do not have access to the full range of recycling services.
The measures will be delivered over 2024 and 2025.
4.4  In addition, the Waste Service has received funding from Material Focus to
implement local Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment collection points in
libraries across Renfrewshire in October 2024 to improve access to recycling facilities
for those that cannot drive or struggle to access HWRC’s locations.
4.5 We continue to achieve diverting all household waste and recycling from landfill and
are implementing a range of new measures, including public communications, to
support households to reduce waste and recycle more, with a specific focus on
recycling food waste.
4.6 The Waste Service are also exploring the construction of their own transfer / bulking
facility to provide us with the opportunity to engage with a wider marketplace. 
Implications of the Report 
1. Financial – None 
2. HR & Organisational Development – None 
3. Community Planning – None 
4. Legal –   There are no legal implications by continuing to send mixed waste material
to Viridor. 
5. Property/Assets – None 
6. Information Technology – None 
7. Equality & Human Rights - 
The recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to
their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups
or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising
from the recommendations contained in the report. If required following
implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions
will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published
on the Council’s website. 
8. Health & Safety - None 
9. Procurement – Existing Framework contracts will be utilised. 
10. Risk –  None 
11. Privacy Impact - None 
12. Cosla Policy Position – None

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13. Children’s Rights – None 
14. Climate Change – – These recycling improvement measures aim to improve
recycling and support Renfrewshire’s progress towards net zero. 
List of Background Papers - None 
Author:   Gavin Hutton, Head of Operations and Service Development
Email:      Gavin.Hutton@renfrewshire.gov.uk