‘Ground-Breaking’ recycling schemes heralded at NRW

National Recycling Week (NRW) will highlight the many measures councils have introduced to maximise recycling.

Taking place from 12-18 September, NRW will see the Local Government Association (LGA) showcase some of the ‘innovative and ground-breaking’ recycling schemes set up by councils in the UK.

Recycle Week will encourage people to recycle more by: highlighting the unusual items that often get forgotten about when recycling around the home; showing the benefits that come from recycling; motivating them to do more; and demonstrating how to be an effective recycler.

Councils are highlighting to residents the huge range of items that many people may not realise are recyclable, but which could make a real difference if recycled. This can be aerosol cans, foil trays, beauty crème jars and toilet roll tubes. If everyone in the UK recycled one toothpaste box, it would save enough energy to run a fridge in over 2,000 homes for one year.

Cllr Martin Tett, LGA Environment spokesman, said: “Councils have increasingly had to do more with less in recent years while trying to protect services. All councils will have to find further substantial savings from local services to plug funding gaps over the next four years and compensate for the rising cost pressures they face.

“Despite this, local authorities have delivered a transformation in recycling services over the last 10 years, increasing recycling from 23 per cent to over 43 per cent. The LGA’s polling shows eight out 10 of the public are happy with the way their bins are collected. In the past decade, councils and residents have worked together to radically increase recycling and divert millions of tonnes of waste from landfill.”