Moray Friends of the Earth

 Campaigning for Environmental Justice

Recycling

We are involved in a number of waste issues including recycling and waste reduction.

Deskford Community Recycling Centre –  by Morag Smith

As a scattered rural community, Deskford was not a likely candidate to get much outside assistance to increase recycling in the area.  Too small for The Moray Council to consider locating a recycling centre there and too scattered to be part of the kerbside recycling box scheme recently rolled out to our larger towns, the only solution for the community in Deskford was to do it themselves.

 Members of Moray FoE had come up with a way of helping scattered rural communities to increase recycling in their area by assisting communities apply for funding from the community recycling grant scheme administered by The Moray Council.  As the treasurer of Moray FoE, I was approached and asked if I thought that my local community in Deskford would be interested.  I said yes and we approached the local community association and were invited to attend their next meeting.  The idea was simple - the community could build their own recycling centre and take the collected waste to The Moray Council’s recycling centre in Elgin in their own trailer.  A great deal of time and effort was put into preparing detailed costings by Mike Bowker.  This enabled the community association to simply agree that the idea was workable and to then apply for a grant using those costings.  We were successful and received a grant of just over £5,000!

 To save money, the community built their own base for siting the wheelie bins.  

We were given the bins free of charge by the Council - 6 wheelie bins and two larger bins for paper and cardboard.  The locking plinths were then put up and labels put on the bins.  We were up and running!  We now had facilities for recycling cardboard, paper, cans and glass.  The next step was to buy a trailer with high sides to enable the bins to be taken to Elgin for recycling.  To do this we needed a waste carrier’s licence from SEPA which was granted.

 We were delighted when The Moray Council advised us that they would be able to collect the paper and cardboard on a weekly basis and then decided to also collect the cans.  This meant that we only needed to take the glass to Elgin.

 Although we have had a trailer now for 6 months, a journey to Elgin to empty the glass has only been necessary once every 6 weeks to two months which reduces the workload for the association secretary, Bill Jesson. 

The centre is well used and although we have had one or two glitches with improper use of the bins (commercial waste dumped in our cardboard bin) we are delighted with our recycling centre.  After all, every little bit helps.

 If you think your community might benefit from a recycling facility like the one at Deskford why not contact The Moray Council Recycling Team on 01343 557045.  Moray FoE will also be happy to help other rural communities who want to "do it themselves".

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Website updated 05 February 2009