In waste collection, the Council’s key objectives are to reduce the amount of waste being sent for disposal and increase the high quality recyclate being sent for reprocessing, whilst providing a comprehensive, sustainable and consistent service to the residents of Dundee. In doing so, we will also be doing our part to assist the Scottish Government’s aim to move towards a Zero WasteScotland - realising the resource potential of “waste” and supporting Scotland’s circular economy.
Waste and recycling are the only frontline services which affect every single resident regardless of their income, housing or family situation. We therefore took great care in planning collection arrangements which tried to address the issues of inconsistent service across the city, particularly for residents of flatted property, and in doing so came up with a bespoke, Dundee-specific solution which is now being replicated by other local authorities in Scotland.
The project to change waste collections has been broken into phases, each covering a different section of the city, with time built in to allow lessons learned from the previous phase to continuously foster improvements for the next. The team was small and had a huge amount of work to accomplish in a short period. This barrier was overcome by thorough and detailed planning, a willingness to adapt and work outwith our areas of expertise and a practical approach to getting the job done.
In addition, we faced a significant barrier in attempting to change attitudes and behaviours with regard to recycling - particularly when changing the frequency of collections. To overcome this we sought to engage frequently with residents, attending community group meetings and residents associations, and holding our own drop-in information sessions. In addition, we undertook extensive public consultation wherever
practicable, allowing service users to have an input