People change recycling habits amid new West Lothian booking system

Data comparing the weight of recycling and waste collected at the centres between October 2022 and October 2023 shows an increase of 0.37 tonnes for every hour the centres are open. This increase is the equivalent of 370 1kg bags of sugar per hour.

The overall volume of recycling collected has dropped by over 50 per cent when comparing October 2022 and October 2023, which suggests residents are choosing to wait until they have multiple items before booking a visit.

Fly-tipping enquiries also dropped by nearly 60 per cent, with the volume of material collected also dropping by 30 per cent. This supports evidence that the vast majority of fly-tipping is commercial, carried out by a small number of irresponsible businesses.

In October 2023, 22,041 bookings were made at West Lothian’s five recycling centres – 78 per cent of the slots, with Whitburn and Blackburn having most availability.

Nearly 2000 bookings (nine per cent) were no shows; the booking confirmation email contains links for anyone who wishes to cancel or amend their booking.

Executive councillor for the environment Tom Conn said: “While this is only a one-month snapshot, I welcome the early evidence that residents are making sensible adjustments to allow for the recycling centre changes.

“Feedback from most residents is that they are finding the booking system easy to use and are getting spaces that suit them. It appears that many are making the decision to store items at home, if they can, until they have enough to make their trip worthwhile.

“The changes to our recycling centres were necessary to allow us to keep all five centres open and make the savings we need to help balance our budget gap. West Lothian has more recycling centres by population size than most councils in Scotland; our priority was to keep them open.”

To book, visit www.westlothian.gov.uk/crcbooking. Anyone unable to book online should call customer services on 01506 280000 between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday, and select the option to book a CRC slot.