New recycling centre opens in Kelso

The facility in Pinnaclehill Industrial Estate is the seventh recycling centre to open in the Borders and will be open seven days a week, with a wide variety of materials being accepted for recycling, along with general waste.

It will aim to make recycling simpler for residents in the Kelso area and has been designed to allow waste to be put into recycling skips more easily and to keep the majority of works traffic away from the public.

The decision to build a community recycling centre followed a review by Scottish Borders Council (SBC) in 2013, when the council controversially decided to the end the garden waste collections. It resulted in the new facility in Kelso, which cost £860,000.

An adjacent factory unit has also been adapted to create a new depot for the Council’s Neighbourhood Services department, at a cost of £324,000.

SBC’s executive member for environmental services, Councillor David Paterson said: “I am delighted to see Kelso Community Recycling Centre open to the public.

“Community Recycling Centres play an important role in supporting the council’s kerbside waste and recycling collection services.

“The new recycling centre has also brought a former derelict piece of land back into use and should reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill.

“I hope Kelso’s residents will make use of this new facility.”

Kelso councillors Simon Mountford, Alec Nicol and Tom Weatherston said in a joint statement: “We welcome the opening of the new community recycling centre, which will be an enormous benefit for the people of Kelso and the surrounding area. They will now no longer have to travel a considerable distance to dispose of waste.

“We are also pleased that the site of the CRC has been transformed into a valuable community facility and that local firms have benefited from being involved in its design and construction.”

Opening times for Kelso Community Recycling Centre are: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm; Saturday and Sunday, 9am to 4pm.