GLASGOW has been named the worst in Scotland for recycling household rubbish.

GLASGOW has been named the worst in Scotland for recycling household rubbish.

The roll of shame, produced by union bosses at GMB, claims just 8% of litter is being recycled in the city.

That compares with 10 councils in England which have achieved recycling levels of at least 30%.

Clackmannanshire is the recycling capital of Scotland where almost a third of household rubbish was saved last year for re-use.

Across the country 631,159 tonnes of municipal waste - accounting for 18.3% of Scotland's total waste - was recycled.

The Top Five are: Clackmannanshire Council with a recycle rate of 32.2%, East Ayrshire - 28.3%, Moray -26%, Falkirk - 24.8% and West Dunbartonshire with 24.5%. Even South Lanarkshire is more efficient than Glasgow with a 22.2% rate.

But Glasgow City Council stresses that not only is Glasgow Scotland's biggest city, it also has the country's largest amount of household rubbish.

Mr Booth said: "While we are at the bottom of the league in terms of recycling we still manage to recycle some 60,000 tonnes of materials each year which is a huge amount by anyone's standards."

The city's record has been described as dismal by Green Party MSP Patrick Harvie.

Today council chiefs revealed details of a new project to encourage recycling as they were urged to spend more to stop mountains of trash being sent to landfill.

Council bosses are about to team up with the private sector to launch the project in the city centre.

Shoppers, office workers and visitors will be asked to dump plastic bottles, drink cans, newspapers and magazines in large bin banks.

Around 15 recycling bins will be placed in the city centre with funding coming from partners including Danone and the Wise Group.

The Wise Group - a charity which tries to help the unemployed find work - is to recruit four jobless workers. Two will help promote the scheme while another two will be based at a recycling plant in Polmadie.

Robert Booth, the city council's executive director for land and environmental services, said: "The aim is to provide the unemployed recruits to the project with a tailored package of training and support to move them into future full-time employment.

"Alongside the environmental and social benefits, there will be measures put in place to monitor the levels of materials collected and sorted with the aim being to collect waste material which can be recycled by Glasgow City Council."

The scheme is expected to be launched within a few months and will run for a year.

Alex McLuckie, from the GMB, said: "Glasgow City Council must make a real step change in recycling rates by investing more in the service."

A council spokeswoman said: "We are fully committed to working with citizens and businesses to reduce Glasgow's reliance on landfill and make better use of recycling opportunities."

The GMB recycling rates were produced with information supplied by Audit Scotland.