We know recycling is important to our residents and it’s important to us too, therefore we are trialling this technology to get smarter about waste and recycling.

By learning more at a household level, the trial will help us improve services and our recycling rate in North Lanarkshire. This would mean less waste is disposed of and more resources are recovered. This is an important action set out in our plans to tackle climate change. Our current recycling rate is 40.3%, which is lower than the national average of 44.6%.

The trial allows us to learn more about the amounts of waste and recycling produced by individual households as well as how often residents are using the services provided for recycling: paper & card; plastics, metals, cartons & glass; and food and garden waste.

This information will be used to:

• identify areas for improvement and service efficiencies
• more accurate planning for collection routes
• reduce vehicle travel times and emissions
• better resource planning of staff
• potential financial savings.

Waste weighing equipment is used in many other countries that have a better recycling performance, and we are the first local authority in Scotland to trial this with residents to understand its benefits.

We are not trialling this technology to introduce charging or fining people for their waste or recycling. It is about learning more about waste and recycling at a household level so that we can make improvements to our services and increase our recycling rate.

If the trial is successful, we plan to communicate more with householders in relation to waste and recycling and expand the trial to more households across North Lanarkshire.

The trial will include up to 5,000 households from the Cumbernauld, Moodiesburn and Mollinsburn areas. If your household has been selected to be part of the trial, you will receive a communication by post informing you of this.

A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID tag) will be fitted on each of your four household waste bins. When each bin is emptied, it will be weighed on the bin lorry.

We will not gather any personal information about your household; we will simply weigh each household bin and record that data.

You are not required to do anything further. Please continue to put your bin(s) out for collection as usual and leave them at the kerbside until 6pm throughout February and March.