32 of the most frequently asked questions on the new three-bin, three-week cycle starting at the end of May.

Aberdeenshire Council’s Landscape Services are trialling ‘No-Mow May’ across Aberdeenshire.

The purpose of this is to allow lawns to flower, to monitor which species grow and support pollinator insects. We are also raising the profile of the initiative, which comes from Plantlife, to encourage others to do the same.

We have erected temporary posters with more information about the initiative. The posters will be removed at the beginning of June when we’ll restart with the grass cutting.

For our sites, ‘left for summer’ means May, with the cut in June.

The sites have been chosen on visible and prominent places where we can maintain accessibility, with paths and edges cut regularly depending on the site.

We will record all feedback to consider for future years.

The lawn will miss out on two cuts in May, and we are not anticipating the grass to be at great length. This will allow staff resources to be allocated to other valuable tasks.

Across Aberdeenshire, people need to be aware of the risk ticks pose and that you can get a tick bite sitting on a mown lawn, similarly as walking through long grass.

There are several areas in Portlethen that are included in #NoMowMay

To enhance the biodiversity value and lower the carbon footprint from annual blooms,
Aberdeenshire Council’s Greenspace Project is interested in supporting a greater variety of
herbaceous perennials in tubs, baskets and beds across communities. This invitation is for
community groups keen to see this too.

How typical are Aberdeenshire’s kerbside collections?

When putting out information about our bins and recycling strategy, I get a lot of comments along the lines of ‘everyone else does (this), why can’t we?’ So, I went looking for information on what everyone else actually does.

Firstly, there are 32 different councils in Scotland – from islands to cities to the massive area of the Highlands. I therefore looked at size and population to select the councils to compare Aberdeenshire against, ending up with the six councils with the most similar population density (three above, three below) to ours.

All six councils have different systems to each other, and to Aberdeenshire.

Council	Number of bins	Glass collected?	Garden waste?	Recycling rate (2020)
Aberdeenshire (future system)	3	No	No (subject to review)	40.8%
Angus	3	Yes, in mixed recycling bin	Yes	57.9%
Dumfries & Galloway	3	No	No	30.1%
Moray	4	Yes, in separate box	Yes, fee applies*	54.9%
Perth & Kinross	3	No	Yes*	49.4%
Borders	2	No	No	52.8%
Stirling	4	Yes, in separate box	Yes, fee applies*	47.8%

Collection schedules differed substantially. The Borders have the same system we currently have, with fortnightly collections of bins and weekly collections of the food waste caddy. Stirling collects each type of bin every four weeks, bar the combined food and garden waste which is every two weeks. The longest gap for collection of food waste is in Moray (combined with garden waste), every three weeks. For Moray and Stirling, the same bin is provided whether you use it for garden waste or not. If you do put garden waste in, then it will only be collected if you have paid the yearly fee (£40/£35).

Going from two to three bins and from fortnightly to three weekly collections might seem like a radical idea, but when you look at similar councils, it’s actually unremarkable.

Remember, the rollout of the new system will happen in stages throughout 2023. Properties that do not have space for a third bin can request alternative arrangements. Food waste will still be collected every week.

Aberdeenshire Council have just published their area and major town profiles for 2022. I find myself confused by the number of ‘house completions’ in Portlethen being so low, but perhaps Hillside is not counted as Portlethen? I will ask.

‘Diamond’ bins need to be replaced. We are the only area in Scotland still using these, so they need to be swapped out for the kind everyone else uses, that way south Aberdeenshire doesn’t need its own fleet of bin lorries that can’t be used elsewhere. These bins are coming to the end of their projected 15 year lifespan anyway.

This process will be slow, so it’s starting in the rural areas at the end of August, gradually making its way to the coastal urban areas. This is to take advantage of decent weather in the harder-to-reach routes.

Old bins will be shredded and recycled into new bins.

There will be plenty of advertising in the run up to the bin swap, including letters sent to residents two weeks beforehand. The company replacing the bins will be working in tandem with the regular bin lorry and crew, following directly behind them on their route. Your current bin will be emptied, then immediately replaced. It is very important that your bin is left out on these replacement days, even if it’s empty. Workers will be actively looking for bins, but obviously problems will be caused if they cannot locate and replace your bin on the day.

Bins will be replaced on their normal collection days, so you will have two consecutive weeks when you’ll need to put the appropriate bin out so that it can be replaced with the new style. THIS IS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE 3 WEEKLY COLLECTIONS. This is a separate project, purely concerned with swapping out your current black and blue-lidded bins. I don’t have any information yet on when the orange-lidded bins will arrive.

3 WEEKLY COLLECTIONS: you can find the latest press release here: Aberdeenshire Council progresses Spring 2023 launch of enhanced household recycling service – Aberdeenshire Council As you can see, there will be no changes in our area until sometime in 2023. I’ll share more information nearer the time.

Finally, a few notes on other items discussed.

• The Ness energy project is progressing well. This is a joint project with Aberdeen City and Moray.
• The deposit return scheme (for glass bottles) is now due to begin in August 2023. After this time, there will be a review of which glass recycling facilities are still needed. https://depositreturnscheme.zerowastescotland.org.uk/
• Tyres are now accepted at the waste transfer station in MacDuff. They will soon (no date provided) be accepted at the stations in Ellon and Banchory.
• Hybrid system for recycling centres will be trialled, after consultation with Area Committees.