Comrie Zero Waste Fortnight
The Comrie Zero Waste Fortnight was a joint initiative run by the Comrie Development Trust and Perth & Kinross Council's Environment Service. The fortnight ran from Thursday 12th to Thursday 26th November 2009. The main aim of the Campaign was to encourage the residents of Comrie (approx 1300 householders) to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible. During the Fortnight, the Comrie community was challenged to reduce the amount of waste that they put in their green lidded general waste bin, thinking carefully about the waste they produced and reducing it and reusing items where possible. In addition Perth & Kinross Council encouraged participants to recycle more materials more often to help reach a recycling rate of 70% tying in with the Scottish Governments vision of a Zero Waste Scotland.
As an incentive, for every tonne of waste the community diverted from landfill, Perth & Kinross Council donated £62.00 (the cost of sending one tonne of waste to landfill) to Comrie Primary School.
Results of the Comrie Zero Waste Fortnight
Thank you to every one who took part in Comrie's Zero Waste Fortnight. The two graphs below show the results, but in summary - Total recycling increased by 850kg (0.85 tonnes) and total residual waste (waste to landfill) decreased by 1230kg (1.23 tonnes).
Graph 1 - Total weight per household involved in Comrie Zero Waste Fortnight (Before and after Comrie Zero Waste Fortnight)
Graph 2 - Total recycling and waste to landfill (Before and after Comrie Zero Waste Fortnight)
These figures do not include food and garden waste because this tonnage changes seasonally. Neither does the Campaign include business waste, school waste or recyclates collected for recycling at recycling centres and points - the weights only represent householders' waste and recycling presented on Thursdays at the kerbside for collection by Perth & Kinross Council. In light of the waste diverted from landfill, through householders minimising their waste and recycling more, Perth & Kinross Council will be presenting a cheque for £124.00 to Comrie Primary School before the end of the Christmas school term, 2009.
More information about the campaign
Residents were asked to pledge their support
Residents were invited to take part in the Zero Waste fortnight by using the online form to subscribe to updates, hints and tips.
How were householders supported?
During the fortnight there were a series of events running to reinforce the Towards Zero Waste message, providing information and support to participants helping them to minimise the amount of waste they were producing and sensibly disposing of that which cannot be reduced. The itinerary stated what events were happening in the Comrie area during the fortnight to help residents to be more waste aware.
In addition to the events and initiatives that were promoted during the fortnight, Officers from Perth & Kinross Council were on hand to offer advice and answer any waste related queries that residents had, making their attempt to achieve zero waste as easy as possible.
During the Fortnight
During the Fortnight, there was a display at both the Comrie Library and the Comrie Development Trust Office, promoting ideas for reducing, reusing and recycling, and contact details for the local businesses and social enterprises that could be utilised to divert good quality reusable items from landfill. Comrie Development Trust staff were able to offer advice and support during the Campaign, if required. Perth & Kinross Council sent out four emails of hints and tips throughout the Fortnight too, the last of these emails included a survey to find out how the participants found the Zero Waste Fortnight, whether residents managed to reduce their household's waste, any ideas residents may have had for further support to achieve Zero Waste after the Fortnight and whether the Campaign had changed any habits that the residents had regarding waste disposal/reduction/reuse/recycling.
Even though the Fortnight has now ended, please have a look at the links and downloads which can still be found on the right hand side of this page. Here you will find all the information you will need to make your own attempt at increasing your recycling rate and reducing your waste possible - the Scottish Government is pushing for waste to be diverted from landfill, working towards Zero Waste and reaching 70% recycling by 2025 so everyone's effort counts.
How did PKC measure the success of the fortnight?
Before and after the Fortnight, Perth & Kinross Council recorded the amount of general waste produced by the community and the amount of recycled material uplifted from the kerbside in Comrie. At the end of the fortnight PKC looked for a reduction in the amount of general waste presented at the Kerbside and an increase in the amount of recyclable materials collected at the kerbside - both of which quantified the success of the campaign.
If you have any questions regarding the Comrie Zero Waste Fortnight or are considering holding a Zero Waste Campaign in your area, please contact the Customer Service centre on 01738 476476 or email recycle@pkc.gov.uk.
