Dive summary:
- Environment chiefs in Edinburgh, Scotland, switching to biweekly trash collection last September thinking it would encourage residents to recycle and save the city money with fewer pickup days.
- Residents were irate over the change but government officials asked the residents to just wait it out, that it would get better.
- After four months of the new system, officials have data that 5,511 extra tons of waste is now being taken to the landfill, a first time reversal in a normally declining waste rate in Edinburgh.
From the article:
The amount - 134,100 tonnes over October and November - was higher than at any point last year and reversed a trend which had improved each month.
The number of city households using kerbside recycling also dropped from nearly 42 per cent to 38 per cent over the same period.
City leaders were unable to provide any explanation for the slump, but said it would take some time before the changes could be measured accurately.
Local authorities are taxed heavily for dumping landfill as an incentive to find ways to encourage households to recycle. ...
