Further to my article yesterday about the on-going flooding issues at the Riverside Civic Amenity site (right), I have received the following update from the council's Waste Services Manager:
"I would advise you that City Development have been working up proposals to resolve the flooding issue, and I received the draft plan outline last Thursday. The next step will be to arrange a meeting to finalise the proposals and costs associated with the work. Until the work commences, we are introducing interim measures should the site flood again. The site attendants will use the available pumps to remove the water on the site, and once they have this up and running, cars with green waste will be diverted towards the weighbridge to access the main composting site. An area adjacent to the recycling centre will be used to deposit green waste, and the site attendants will manage the traffic flow."
Getting a proper and permanent resolution to the flooding problems is vital so I welcome progress towards this - I have asked for an update in terms of the timeframe in which the works to provide that finalised solution will be undertaken.
There also remains the nonsensical situation that of the city's two remaining major recycling centres one (Riverside) won't take bulky waste and the other (Baldovie) won't take garden refuse. The council's rationale for this is that it cuts down the number of council HGVs transporting recycling to its processing site. However, it means hundreds and hundreds of extra private vehicle journeys going further to recycle - there are over 9 miles between Riverside and Baldovie.
I have now had the opportunity to look over the statistics the council gave me about vehicle emissions of vehicles between Baldovie and Riverside. I understand the average car emits the equivalent of 132 g carbon dioxide / KM and therefore, using the council's own statistics,11 cars equals one lorry in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. So apart from the inconvenience for residents having to drive further to recycle, if it takes more than 11 cars to carry one lorry load of stuff then the carbon dioxide emissions go up not down. Surely there are more than 11 vehicles having to travel across the city for each council HGV? It is a point I have put to the council's Environment Director.
Surely the obvious solution is to allow all types of recycling at both sites.