Recycling initiative launched
COMMUNITIES and businesses in North West Leicestershire are being challenged to increase recycling rates to 50 per cent through a new campaign.
Recycle more... has been launched by North West Leicestershire District Council in an effort to inspire residents to improve their recycling habits.
The council will make recycling easier by making changes and improvements to the kerbside recycling collection service, improving its messaging to make recycling simpler and encouraging the reuse of items. Recycle more... will see:
• Recycling lorries now
display a variety of educational messaging about recycling
• 250 households signed
up to trial new recycling containers in an attempt to make recycling easier and more convenient going forward
• A weekly food waste collection trial for 2,000
households starting in the autumn
• An awareness campaign about what can and can’t be recycled, where it goes and the consequences of not recycling
• A kerbside collection
of batteries and old mobile phones will start this autumn.
This is the beginning of an ongoing three-year campaign that will see the council work with local communities, schools, businesses and partners in a variety of ways to improve the recycling rate.
Currently 54 per cent of waste in the district ends up in landfill. Despite this, North West Leicestershire is the third best performer in the county for recycling, but aspires to improve further.
Last year, the council ran an online recycling survey with one of the most startling statistics revealing 40 per cent of residents in the district felt confused by what they can and can’t recycle.
People are also unsure about where their recycling goes and why it’s important. In North West Leicestershire’s case recycling currently earns the council around £500,000 per year which is reinvested into the many services it offers.
Coun Andrew Woodman, portfolio holder for community services, said: “We want North West Leicestershire to become a leader in being green and sustainable. One big way we can all contribute positively to our local area and the whole planet is by improving our recycling rate.
“We have been listening to our residents and are beginning to make big changes to the ways we collect recycling and waste, while also educating the public in an effort to remove some of the confusion about recycling.
“We are asking our residents to join us on this recycling journey to create a greener and more sustainable district for everyone.”