Dundee SNP

Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie today visited a new recycling company, Waste2Use.Co.UK in the Baldovie Industrial Estate and met its founder, Michael Paul and staff.

Stewart Hosie saw first hand the operations on the site and said: “This is the starting point of the green economy. It is a commercial operation which can make money and it already employs people.

“It is a SEPA approved site which may prove a useful for local contractors to take their waste and there are many possibilities and opportunities for this recycling initiative to develop. I hope to hear of the company’s progress and success.”

Michael Paul established M G Maintenance, a garden maintenance company two years ago and identified a gap in the recycling market after speaking to gardeners to get their opinions. He learned that in some cases gardeners were burning hedge and wood waste at the end of the working day in preference to driving it home or back to their yards only to drive it out again the next morning when Dundee Council recycling centres were open again.

When asked if they would prefer to compost the waste or turn the wood into garden wood chippings gardeners agreed it would be much better but space for processing and the machinery required were cost prohibitive. Michael also found that once customers had paid a gardener to clear a garden and dispose of all the waste, that same customer then went out to the garden centre to purchase compost, wood chipping and bark for their newly tidied gardens. The Waste2Use idea was born.

Waste2Use offer facilities to recycle 100% of garden waste and make it available after processing back to those same gardeners and their customers at a more attractive price than the garden centre and at more convenient times than Dundee Council. There will be no excess packaging as seen in garden centres, no big plastic sacks to dispose of. 

They believe that 100% of garden waste can be recycled. Small stones, rocks, mud, earth, twigs, branches, dead plants, fench posts, barbed wire and trees can all be sorted and composted, shredded, chipped, weighed in for scrap or just sold again in their raw state at an affordable price without excess packaging.

The company is located on a brownfield site on the Baldovie Industrial Estate in Dundee where the intention is to open up to local gardeners for garden waste recycling at affordable prices and with the option to purchase processed waste in the form of compost, wood chippings, logs, kindling, rocks, soil and anything else that can be salvaged from garden waste. Dobbies Garden Centre, based on the outskirts of Dundee, currently dispose of their waste in skips, it is not sorted and is therefore taken to general landfill. They are now prepared to separate their garden centre waste from the general waste which will cut down their skip costs. M G Maintenance have also pledged to use the Waste2Use facility on a regular basis and also to buy the compost and chippings at a reasonable price and without unnecessary packaging to sell on to their customers.

The new company which presently employs three staff, is looking to expand and cover all aspects of green recycling. For further inforrmation on Waste2Use.Co.UK, contact Michael Paul on 01382 610204 or email: m.g.maintenance@hotmail.co.uk or Jacky Malcolm, Administration Manager, tel: 01382 775285.

Picture shows (L-R) Stewart Hosie MP, Jacky Malcolm (in background), Linda Paul, Michael Paul at the site.

Local SNP Councillor Jim Barrie is pleased to announce that the burnt out paper bin within the Neighbourhood Recycling Point at the junction of Bankmill Road and Milnbank Road will be replaced very shortly.

Councillor Barrie said “The standard policy to replace the bin for a second time will continue, but if further incidents occur the result will be the removal of the paper bin from the unit. ”

“I would urge members of the public to report any incidents of vandalism, as this facility is well used and very popular with local residents”  “It is a shame that a minority of the public feel it necessary to deprive their fellow residents of a handy place to dispose of their papers.  It is also very costly to the Council and the ratepayers as well”

“Recycling is now becoming very popular with the public in Dundee, it  helps the environment, saves money, and is a useful contribution for making the city meet challenges that have to be tackled for the future” ended Cllr. Barrie.

Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie has welcomed a reply from Dundee City Council Chief Executive Alex Stephen on the subject of provision of recycling facilities at City Quay.

The MP had taken up the complaints of constituents in the new housing area of City Quay that they did not have facilities for recycling household waste.

The reply from Alex Stephen states that “we cannot yet predict when we will be in a position to offer all recycling services to this area, however, your constituents can be assured that where practical, we are striving to provide this service to all areas of the city.”

The Council’s plans to expand recycling services will “depend on the appropriate level of funding being available.”

Stewart Hosie said: “I was pleased that the Council are hoping to extend recycling facilities to all parts of City Quay.

“At present, blue (paper) bins are provided to households in Thorter Row, Thorter Loan, Thorter Way, Victoria Dock Road and Victoria Dock South.

“I have also been informed that the Council are presently investigating the possibility of providing an underground communal recycling facility and are looking for suitable sites within the development for Neighbourhood Recycling Points for glass and paper.

“Discussions between the Council’s Waste Management and Planning and Transportation Departments and property factors are ongoing for these and for the provision of 1100 litre euro containers for paper recycling.

“I am pleased that these plans are active and welcome these Council actions.”