Recycling Roundup 15th October

Recycling Roundup 15^th October

Environment bosses in Leeds have launched a big campaign to get more people to recycle ‘on the go’ in the city centre. Bins that blow bubbles and give out rewards are just some of the innovative ways that the campaign is encouraging people to recycle more. It is hoped that the eye-catching bins will make it easier for people to spot their nearest recycling point, and as the people in the city centre tend to be mostly younger, it’s hoped that younger people will be encouraged to recycle.

The campaign, called #LeedsByExample is being supported by many big names from supermarkets to high street chains and it’s hoped that similar campaigns will take place in other cities.

Less than half of local authorities provide facilities for on the go recycling, and this is why recycling figures for this type of waste are low while household recycling is largely on the increase.

A survey of visitors to Leeds city centre found that 52% of people surveyed had disposed of recyclable items in general waste bins are there were no other facilities.

The environmental charity Hubbub and recycling compliance scheme Ecosurety have worked to rally both local and big business behind the campaign, and big names like Asda, Costa Coffee, Marks and Spencer, McDonald’s, Morrisons and Starbucks are giving their support. As part of the campaign, new recycling facilities for plastic, cans, and paper cups will be trialled in local offices, shopping centres, universities, and transport hubs for six months.

As well as the new recycling facilities, a smartphone app called We-Recycle will be trialled, which will use barcodes and labelling on soft drinks packaging and coffee cups to help people recycle more easily, and a map on the label will show them their nearest recycling point.

Between the new bins, the recycling facilities, and the smartphone app, the initiative deemed to be the most successful will be rolled out to other areas of Leeds then across the UK.

Cheltenham students are angry that their recycling hasn’t been collected for five weeks. One student said that the council had promised to carry out an emergency collection three times in the past five weeks but they failed to do so. She said that the back garden of her shared house was full of recycling because they had ran out of things to store it in. When she called the council to find out why the collection had not been made as promised, she was told that it had been mistakenly marked as ‘done’ on their computer system. The fed up students took to Twitter to express their anger and it seems that this got the council’s attention. A council spokesman said that the recycling has now been collected and apologised for any confusion. They added that their waste contractors had trouble accessing properties due to parked cars, so they changed the collection day earlier this year so they could use smaller refuse vehicles. The council sent letters to every house explaining the changes at the time and said that the students would be receiving another copy.

As Tesco prepare to trial reverse vending machines in some of their stores, some staff at one of the supermarket giant’s Swindon branches have voiced concerns. The store previously had a recycling bank which was misused and had to be removed and they fear that the same might happen with the reverse vending machines.

The recycling bank was removed after people began fly-tipping and leaving beds, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and other litter lying around the bins. Customers said they don’t blame staff for fearing the worst but said it would be a shame if they couldn’t so their bit just because a few people don’t stick to the rules.