Call to local businesses to dispose of waste correctly

Orkney Islands Council is reminding local business owners of their responsibilities in terms of recycling and waste disposal.

According to the OIC, a three-week monitoring period over May and June found that there is significant misunderstanding by commercial businesses around  the proper use of Orkney’s household waste recycling centres.

Businesses should not be disposing of their waste at household recycling centres.  Instead they should take their waste to either Bossack or Chinglebraes – or alternatively, they can set up a trade waste kerbside collection service with the council.

There are over 800 businesses in Orkney, and currently only half of these have a collection service in place – of which only 136 have their recycling collected.

As part of Zero Waste Scotland’s and EU targets, businesses have a legal obligation to separate their waste for recycling. If they don’t they can face fines.

The council also has a duty to ensure that local business dispose of their waste correctly.  If this duty isn’t being met then the council could potentially have its own waste-collection licences revoked.