AN IMMEDIATE review of Fife Council’s “drastically” declining recycling record has been called for by a local MSP.

Alex Rowley has written to chief executive Steve Grimmond and requested urgent action to address rising waste levels in the Kingdom.

The Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP said the most recent target was for 60 per cent of household waste to be recycled. In 2019 in Fife it was only 44.5 per cent, the first time in a decade it's fallen below 50 per cent.

The figures were obtained from SEPA and Mr Rowley said: “I am asking Fife Council to carry out an immediate review to find out why the recycling rates are so poor.

“In 2011 Fife Council had the best recycling rates in the country, and now we are amongst some of the worst. We need to get to the bottom of this and find out why recycling rates in Fife have been falling.

“The Scottish Government also need to ensure that local communities have good access to local recycling facilities. There is too much reliance on large-scale incineration and we need better plans put forward to help generate a circular economy with much less waste."

He added: “Helping with recycling and tackling waste may be a small step in tackling the climate emergency, but it is a vitally important one to take.”

But Councillor Ross Vettraino said the MSP “really needs to get up to date with what is going on”.

The convener of the council's environment and protective services sub-committee added: “Fife Council continues to be fully committed to providing one of the best kerbside recycling services in the country, which is supported by one of the country’s best network of recycling centres and recycling points, meaning we are in full compliance with the Scottish Household Recycling Charter.

“While it’s disappointing that our recycling rate has fallen slightly, this is the case across Scotland and other local authorities are experiencing similar issues.

“Contributing factors include stricter guidelines on compost accreditation, reducing the percentage of material which can be recycled. Wood waste is now also used as biomass for district heating and cannot be included in the recycling tonnage. It is however making a huge contribution towards sustainability which is to be welcomed.

“The council is committed to working with our communities to re-emphasise the importance of recycling, and reducing the amount of contamination in bins."

He continued: “Fife Resource Solutions, on behalf of the council has changed its processes so that all of the recyclable material collected in Fife is now recycled in Fife, developing a higher quality product which can be sold at a better price.

“The council is constantly reviewing its recycling rates with a view to identifying performance trends. Mr Rowley really needs to get up to date with what is going on.”

Robin Baird, chief executive officer at Cireco – the new trading name of Resource Efficient Solutions – said: “Fife continues to be at the forefront of recycling in Scotland as is evidenced by now having one of the most state of the art recycling facilities in Scotland. Over the last few years plastics especially have become harder to recycle which meant we could no longer accept all plastics within the plastics/container collections.

“However, the council’s commitment to enhance what can be done at home has seen a bid submitted to the National Recycling Improvement Fund to introduce a further enhanced sorting of plastics at the facility, allowing the council to expand the materials collected at the kerbside.

“We would be delighted to offer Mr Rowley a tour of the facility to demonstrate the high quality material that is now being sorted in Fife.”