Tuesday was bin day in Dumfries and Galloway as the council launched its new multi-million pound waste and recycling service.
Homes across the region will shortly start receiving two new bins – one for paper and cardboard and another for plastic.
Food waste recycling will begin in parts of the region later in the year.
Councillor John Martin believes the new system is a huge improvement on the one that was originally piloted in Wigtownshire in 2014 before eventually being ditched due to a string of problems at a cost of millions of pounds.
Wigtownshire was also chosen as the first part of the region to benefit from the new system this time around and the vice chairman of the communities committee believes the rollout has been “excellent”.
Mr Martin said: “I think it is a lot better this time.
“It’s separate bins. You still get the collection on the same day as you do just now and it’ll be one bin a week that is getting collected.
“When we started it in Wigtownshire five or six years ago, it was kerbside recycling where the operative was having to empty into different parts of the lorry. We realised it wasn’t very practical rolling it out across the region.
“It’s taken a wee while but we’re now there, ready to roll this out across the whole region.”
The new household waste system has come with a £23 million price tag which covers 31 new lorries, 150,000 wheelie bins and a number of community collection sites, as well as a Dumfries Zero Waste Park.
It also covers the cost of the “rectification” required to some assets following the termination of the private finance initiative (PFI) waste contract with Renewi in 2018.
That ended up costing the council around £10.5 million, on top of the £400,000 it paid to store items required for the original scheme along with a bin contract worth £1 million.
The council still plans to use the eco deco plant, which was opened in 2007, but the focus now is on recycling.
“This new service will also contribute to the Scotland-wide target of recycling 70 per cent of all waste by 2025.”
