Argyll and Bute Council has made improvements to its household recycling facilities at Helensburgh, Mull, Coll, Colonsay, Tiree and Islay.
This will create a better experience for customers who use the sites, encourage more people to re-use and recycle, and help community groups to raise funds and provide valuable local services.
The works will also help improve the quantity and quality of recycled materials captured so that more can be re-used and given a new life in the future.
We achieved all this thanks to funding from the Scottish Government’s Recycling Improvement Fund.
Works, which were carried out during 2025 and 2026 included:
- New wood and garden waste bays at Islay, Mull and Tiree recycling centres to improve separating the materials and so reducing contamination;
- Improved directional and skip signage at all six sites to make it easier for people to separate as much of their waste as possible for recycling;
- Improving the surfacing at the five island centres and creating new concrete areas for the bays and containers at Islay and Mull, to make the centres more attractive to users and to install individual bays;
- Buying containers for WEEE and reusable items to protect them from the weather and making them more viable for re-use;
- Installing new re-use containers at Colonsay, Coll, Islay and Tiree so that customers can donate or take home items that are for re-use;
- Making improvements (for example shelving and garment rails) to the existing re-use containers at Helensburgh and Mull; and
- During the improvement work each site continued to operate with minimum disruption to site services and we appreciated the patience of our customers during these works.
Councillor John Armour, Policy Lead for Roads, Transport and Amenity Services, said: “I am in no doubt that doing all we can to reduce, reuse and recycle is vital to our environment. I’m grateful to the Scottish Government for this additional funding to help us upgrade our facilities. With clear signage, better storage, and a more practical site environment, there’s more incentive for people to think about whether they can place items for re-use, rather than simply recycling or waste recovery.
“And if you are a community group who would like to try and raise funds, please consider talking with us about how a partnership might work.”
Stuart Murray, Head of Resource Management at Zero Waste Scotland said: “We’re delighted to support Argyll and Bute Council’s improvements to local recycling facilities through the Recycling Improvement Fund; a Scottish Government fund designed to help local authorities improve recycling services nationwide.
“Upgraded infrastructure and the introduction of reuse cabins will make it easier for residents to do the right thing with their waste.
“These changes will help reduce the environmental impact of household items while also creating opportunities for community groups and local initiatives."
