Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidate for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Lee Lyons has welcomed the recent statistics showing an increase in recycling in South Ayrshire but is calling on the council to do more to promote recycling in the area.
Figures show that over the last year, 50% of household waste in South Ayrshire was recycled which was up by 5.7% on the previous year and saw South Ayrshire Council move from 13th to 12th out of all local authorities across Scotland.
The figures showed that Inverclyde was the top performing council area with residents recycling 56.8% of household waste.
Commenting on the findings, Lee Lyons said: “I am delighted at the news that now half of our household waste is being recycled rather than going straight to landfill. This is a testament to the fact that South Ayrshire Council promoting recycling better and also because members of the public are becoming increasingly conscious about waste.
It is still unfortunate however that large sums of recyclable products end up on landfill sites which costs taxpayers money and harms the environment. If more residents in South Ayrshire recycled at the same increased rate that occurred over the last year, we would be in the top 3 best local authority regions in Scotland.
Therefore I’m calling on both the council to ramp up advertisement of our recycling facilities and further promote the use of alternative household bins for recycling purposes and also to residents to watch what they throw away and if they can recycle, do so”.