Environmental services

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“Environmental services has a strong performance and customer focus. Performance is amongst the best Scottish authorities for the cost of refuse collection and several other indicators are above the Scottish average.”

The audit noted that:

• refuse collection costs per household are amongst the lowest in Scotland at £36.92 compared with the national average of £49.20. Costs have been kept low through measures such as improved route planning.
• refuse disposal costs at £52.36 are cheaper than the Scottish average of £55.08.
• the special uplift facility for bulky items performs well with 93% of special uplifts completed in five days compared with the national average of 83%.

The audit also reports that the Council has significantly improved its performance in recycling or composting waste. From a figure of 15% of waste recycled in 2004/05, ranking us 20^th amongst local councils, the Council achieved a recycling rate of 24.5% in 2006 and expects to achieve the Scottish Executive's recycling target of 30% by 2008.

Environmental services were also praised by the auditors for consulting well with customers to improve services. Consultation methods have included site visits, surveys, quality inspections and forum meetings. Feedback from customers has resulted in changes to services such as enhanced town centre cleaning, more litter bins, the introduction of a fridge disposal service and improved maintenance of parks.