A zero waste Glasgow
Glasgow’s waste crisis starts with the unsustainable amount of rubbish we produce - close to one tonne’s worth per household, every year. Greens have a vision for a circular economy, where we use less and make things last for longer, by sharing, repairing and reusing. Living like this, rather than our current throwaway culture, will create jobs and tackle the climate crisis.
Make doing the right thing easier
We will:
- Invest more in frontline waste and recycling workers and in training, supporting and empowering them properly. This will improve bin collections, encourage more recycling, and provide a rapid response service to deal with overflowing bins.
- Work with communities and frontline workers to design improvements to services, taking a close-by-close, street-by-street approach to solving problems.
- Review the council's reporting systems so they provide accurate and timely information, including telling people when missed bin collections will be fixed.
- Make it easier for people to re-use and recycle, by supporting local repair hubs, community re-use charities, and increasing the range of materials which can be recycled at home.
- Guarantee the same recycling opportunities for people living in flats and tenements as those in houses, including options for food, garden waste and glass recycling, and better communal recycling points.
- Improve information and support for householders, including clear information displays in community languages within residential properties and on bins.
Creating a circular economy
We will:
- Build on plastics reduction initiatives by supporting zero waste shops as part of 20 minute neighbourhoods, and using planning and licensing powers to require public water refill points in appropriate venues.
- Explore opportunities to introduce new local environmental levies, and lobby for national levies like the carrier bag charge to be collected locally, so we can invest in a circular economy.
- Support local businesses to reduce packaging and to find recyclable and biodegradable alternatives.
- Oppose the construction of new incinerators in Glasgow and ensure the Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre at Polmadie, which we opposed, does not limit opportunities to recycle.