Kenneth Collins was educated at the former Hamilton Academy, and he later studied at the University of Glasgow and University of Strathclyde, attaining Bsc (Hons) and Msc. On leaving university, Collins worked as a local authority planning officer and lectured at the Glasgow School of Art and Paisley College of Technology subsequently being elected a Member of East Kilbride Town and District Council (1973-79) and of Lanark County Council (1973-75). From 1976-79, Collins was also a member of the East Kilbride Development Corporation and, from 1974-76, Chairman of North East Glasgow Children's Panel.
In 1979 Ken Collins was elected an MEP and he remained an MP until July 1999. During this period Collins was member of the Socialist Group, member of the Group of the Party of European Socialists, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection, member of the Delegation for relations with Austria, member of the Delegation to the European Parliament/Portuguese Parliament Joint Committee, member of the Delegation for relations with Canada, member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection, member of the Delegation for relations with Czechoslovakia, member of the Delegation for relations with the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, member of the Delegation for relations with Japan, member of the Delegation for relations with Lithuania and member of the Delegation to the EU-Lithuania Joint Parliamentary Committee.
Collins is a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and The Royal Geographical Society; an Hon. Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management and of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management; and a Fellow of the Industry and Parliament Trust.
He is also a board member of the Institute for European Environmental Policy, London, and of Energy Action Scotland, board member of the Central Scotland Forest Trust and he was invested with knighthood in 2003 for services to environmental protection and awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor from the University of Paisley in 2004.