Scotland’s Recycling Rates Fall to Five-Year Low; Perth Households Admit They Still Don’t Know Which Bin the Pizza Box Goes In
Figures show recycling is down. Perth families say they'd do better if the rules fitted on one fridge magnet.
Wheelie bins in a row, every one of them a test. Photo: Kritzolina, “Waste collection in Munich 01”, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Scotland’s recycling rates have dropped to a five-year low, and in Perth and Kinross the news was met by a long silence, followed by someone asking whether a greasy pizza box is cardboard or food.
“I have four bins and a caddy,” said a woman from Oakbank. “I have a chart on the fridge. I have an app. And I still stand at the back door at 7am holding a yoghurt pot like it’s a hand grenade.”
A Scone man said his household rule was simple. “If it’s clean, it’s recycling. If it’s dirty, it’s my wife’s problem,” he said. His wife said she has started a separate bin for him.
Council waste experts say most people want to do the right thing but get confused. Perth residents agreed. “The rules change every time I learn them,” said a man from Tulloch. “It’s like the offside rule, but it smells.”
The Perthetic’s own recycling policy is to print every edition on paper that has already been read by someone in Bridge of Earn, so it’s had at least one use already.
The real story: Scottish politics (BBC News)
Letters to the Editor
The views expressed are those of the reader, and frankly that's on them.
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Pizza boxes. Are they paper? Are they food? My husband and I haven’t spoken since Tuesday.
— Linda B., Tulloch, 1 November 2026 -
I wash my yoghurt pots before I recycle them. Then I wonder if I’ve wasted more water than I’ve saved. Then I have a lie down.
— Ross C., Scone, 1 November 2026 -
In my day we didn’t need bins. We had a coal fire and a dog.
— Agnes M., Letham, 1 November 2026 -
The blue bin, the brown bin, the grey bin, the green box. My garden looks like a car park for bins.
— Fraser H., Bridge of Earn, 1 November 2026
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