| 04 September 2006
Not a single scottish council met UK Government targets for recycling domestic waste, according to a new report. Although the government set a target of recycling 25% of household waste by 2000, only orkney came anywhere near this, with 20.6% of its waste recycled. Although 17 councils managed to increase the amount of waste recycled, only six recycled more than 10% of their waste, according to the report from public spending watchdogs audit scotland. After orkney, the next highest proportion - 15.6% - was achieved by perth and kinross.The council which recycled least was fife, with 1.6% , while glasgow achieved 2.5%, aberdeen 4.3%, edinburgh 4.9% and dundee 8.6%, said the report, which found that across scotland councils sent 93% of their waste to landfill sites.
Audit Scotland, which carried out the report for the accounts commission, found only 5% of household waste was recycled and 2% was used in other ways, like providing heat and power.
Orkney was the only council not to use any landfill, instead using 80% of its waste for heat, power or other energy.
Shetland, angus and dundee all disposed of less than 70% of their household waste by landfill.
The report - the latest in a series comparing the performance of councils in delivering a range of services - also found that the average cost of rubbish collection in Scotland was a little less than £1 per address per week.
The cost varied from less than £36 in Aberdeenshire, Angus and Falkirk to more than £60 in Clackmannanshire, The Western Isles, Orkney and Stirling.