Scots opt for landfill alternatives as Danes show a lot of bottle

SCOTLAND is exceeding its target for 30 per cent recycling. Figures show that last year the recycling rate reached 33.4 per cent as the country is becoming increasingly aware of recycling in an everyday sense.

The next recycling and composting targets are 55 per cent by 2020 and 70 per cent by 2025.

Websites such as freecycle.org and gumtree.com help to encourage Scots to give away their unwanted items rather than simply dumping in landfill sites.

While some "deposit and return" schemes do operate within the UK, a statutory system is in place in Denmark, on all cans and bottles containing beer, cider, soft drinks, alcopops and energy drinks.

Denmark has achieved a return rate of 85 per cent for bottles for recycling, with nearer 100 per cent of bottles designed for reuse returned.