Because of this week’s weather conditions, the brown bin collection scheduled for Ralston on February 11 has been cancelled. Residents should take in their brown bins and re-present them on the next scheduled collection day, which is Thursday February 25.

All of Renfrewshire’s waste collection services have been affected by the weather conditions. To ensure the council can collect as many bins as possible, food bin and brown bin collections have been cancelled for the rest of this week and will resume on Saturday if possible. This will allow the council’s crews to catch up on the missed collections which occurred because of safe access issues and the extra time it takes to move full bins in thick snow.

 

Renfrewshire Council has been awarded match funding from Sustrans’ Paths for All fund for a “Smarter Choices, Smarter Places” project which will investigate the potential for using a smartphone app provided by the organisation BetterPoints Ltd.

The app challenges people to carry out their journeys through sustainable methods of transport, i.e. on foot, by cycling or on public transport, with the aim of reducing the level of carbon emissions created in Renfrewshire. The more green journeys they carry out, the more points they receive and these can be exchanged for discounts at local businesses and other rewards which would be set out at the beginning of the project.

The purpose of the app is to motivate people to make positive changes to their behaviour by travelling more sustainably and to live healthy lives – something which is incredibly important as we continue in the current pandemic.

Background

Renfrewshire Council is pursuing a programme of sustainable transport strategy initiatives in Renfrewshire, including segregated walking and cycling routes, real-time bus passenger information screens, bus priority measures and pedestrian-friendly road junction redesigns to increase the active travel options available to its population.

In light of the council’s declaration of a climate emergency in June 2019, it wants to investigate if the Better Points app would motivate and reward people for travelling more sustainably as this could contribute to its pledge to make Renfrewshire carbon neutral by 2030.

The app would be used by the general public and also by the council’s our staff members as it wants to encourage its teams to stay active and look after their health and wellbeing, particularly when the majority of staff are working from home.

What should you do?

The council’s consultant has created an online survey to see if the Better Points system could work for people in Renfrewshire. The more responses that are received, the more tailored the system would become and the greater the chance of it being a success. Therefore, the council asks that you complete the Better Points survey.

More information about the survey can be found on the Renfrewshire Council website.

The survey will close on Friday 26 February 2021.

If you have any problems in submitting your response, please email ei@renfrewshire.gov.uk.