Tolsta Chaolais Residents Association Recycle for Scotland

(27 June – 3 July)

Tolsta Chaolais Residents Association have been identified as some of Scotland’s Recycling Champions.

National Recycling Week (27 June – 3 July), known in Scotland as The BIG Recycle for Scotland, aims to raise awareness of what, where, how and why to recycle. As part of the week, the Scottish Waste Awareness Group are identifying individuals and groups in Scotland who are recycling as much as they can.

In January this year, the Tolsta Chaolais Residents Association approached the Western Isles Waste Aware Team, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar for assistance with recycling in their village.

The association felt that having Recycling Points in the village would exclude elderly residents and those without transport so they decided that the best solution was to pilot a kerbside collection scheme.

The kerbside collection scheme involved volunteers from the Association collecting recyclable materials from each household. Residents were asked to collect all their Plastics, Glass, Cans and Paper and place them in the boxes and bags provided. Every Monday a team of Association members visit each household collecting the recyclable materials, which they then take to a designated recycling container in the village.

The Tolsta Chaolais pilot scheme is now in its fifth month of operation and has been very successful. So far, the association has collected 3.3 tonnes of recyclable materials from 45 households for processing at the Bennadrove Recycling Centre. The Association feels this is a worthwhile scheme and residents in the village have noticed a huge reduction in the waste going into their wheelie bin.

For more information about recycling in the Western Isles, please call the Waste Aware Helpline on 01851 709900 or visit www.cne-siar.gov.uk/recycling

The BIG Recycle for Scotland 2005

Following its success in 2004, national recycling week, known in Scotland as the BIG Recycle for Scotland, takes place from 27 June this year. The week aims to build on the local Waste Aware Scotland campaigns and the national Scottish Executive campaign, “Do A Little, Change A Lot”.

For more information about the BIG Recycle for Scotland please contact Laura Smith on 01786 468246 or email: laura.smith@ksbscotland.org.uk. Alternatively, you can find more information on the Waste Aware Scotland website at www.wasteawarescotland.org.uk