A NEW Recycling service is set to kick start its third stage across Ayr, Prestwick and Troon.

9,500 households are being encouraged to help increase the quality of recycling collected as part of a new Council campaign.

It has been examined that large quantities of recyclable material and food waste is currently left in general waste bins and is filling up landfill sites. The council have suggested that up to 36% of waste left in green bins is food waster and 14% is paper, card and cardboard.

It is reported that every year more than 20,000 tonnes of household waste is sent to landfill, leading to increased costs to the public expense.

Two new smaller bins are being introduced for ‘Paper, Card and Cardboard’, and ‘Glass Bottles and Jars’, while the existing blue bins will be used for ‘Metals, Plastics and Cartons’. Uplift of the 'Non-recyclable' green bin will change, with collections taking place every three weeks.

Councillor Ian Cochrane, South Ayrshire Council’s Portfolio Holder for Environment said the rollout was going well. “The recycling campaign is now at the halfway mark, with more than 28,000 homes now using the new service.

“Feedback that we’ve had from the first area to go live in Girvan and Carrick suggests that the majority of households are now sorting their reusable waste to complement the new bins, which helps South Ayrshire to meet national targets and recycle as much as possible.

“We’ll continue to rollout the service in the New Year and households will be sent detailed information well in advance, with the campaign due to be completed in April.”