I recently made enquiries on behalf of constituents about the recycling of cardboard - previously not available from the kerbside blue bin collection. One resident mentioned to me that although she had noticed cardboard in her blue bin was now collected, any overflow left neatly adjacent to the bin was not collected.
Here's the response from the Waste Management Department (below). I am pleased that larger blue bins are now being made available and that cardboard is now collected - all helping Dundee's recycling effort.
"We recently carried out a trial in selected areas of Dundee collecting cardboard along with paper in blue bins. This was based on our contractor now being able to accept paper and cardboard mixed for recycling and sufficient collection capacity being available - all households in trial area received a leaflet advising them of change and offering them the option of a larger blue bin (to deal with introduction of cardboard).
"The trial has been successful and we are now in a position to collect cardboard in all blue bins collection routes. We are currently assessing the best way of promoting the acceptance of cardboard. The recycling calendar issued to residents for 2009 will confirm this change, but we are also considering taking immediate actions to promote the change. This will likely be either advertising in local newspapers or direct mail. We will be updating our web site very shortly to advise of the acceptance of cardboard in blue bins.
"The reason I suspect that the resident had material left was not because it was cardboard but because it was side waste that was not in a bin. We would recommend that if a household has additional cardboard they take it to one of our Recycling Points or request an additional recycling bin if this is a frequent occurrence."