Council launches major recycling campaign
News release dated 10 June 2005 about a big recycling campaign running locally till the end of July.
The Council is running a big recycling campaign in June and July kicking off with a campaign launch in Maple Square Redhill on Saturday 18 June.
We are holding a series of roadshows and doing home visits.
You can find out about the roadshows, home visits and how you can do more to recycle below, as well as learning about Real Nappy Week and Big Recycle - two national recycling campaigns which coincide with the Council's own campaign.
Roadshow
The Council’s ‘Recycle - make a change!’ roadshow will be touring the borough until the end of July and recycling officers will be on hand to give advice about
- waste minimisation
- what can be recycled
- recycling facilities
whilst children will have the opportunity to meet 'Billy Bottle', the friendly recycling mascot.
Dates
- 18 June - Launch event, Maple Square, Redhill
- 24 June - Reigate Farmers, Market, Tunnel Road, Reigate
- 2 July - High Street Central Car Park, Banstead
- 8 July - Redhill Farmers Market, Station Road, Redhill
- 9 July - Quality Street Fair, Merstham
- 23 July - Surrey Mirror Motor Show, Memorial Park, Redhill
- 30 July - Horley Fire Station, Povey Cross Road, Horley.
Home visits
To reinforce the recycling message, recycling experts will also be visiting homes across the borough during June and July to find out more about residents' recycling habits.
They will be trying to encourage those not already signed up to the Council’s ‘black box’ kerbside recycling scheme to do so.
Real Nappy Week
The Council’s campaign coincides with the national campaign ’Real Nappy Week’ (20-26 June).
The week is the annual focus of the nappy waste prevention campaign, co-ordinated by Women's Environmental Network and the Real Nappy Campaign and funded by WRAP.
Now in its 9th year, Real Nappy Week aims to raise awareness of the environmental impacts of nappies and to inform parents about modern, shaped and fitted cloth nappies and laundry services.
Their target is to convert an additional 155,000 households to real nappy use by April 2006, and in the process divert 35,000 tonnes per annum of disposable nappy waste from landfill.
In the UK the amount of disposable nappy waste is between 400,000 and half a million tonnes per annum. The estimated cost of this to local authorities, in collection and disposal charges, is over £40 million.
Nappy waste prevention has been identified by the government as one of two initial strands to spearhead waste minimisation in the UK.
For more information visit: http://www.realnappycampaign.com
The BIG recycle
The Council's campaign also coincides with another national campaign called ‘The BIG Recycle’ (27 June - 1 July).
The Big Recycle is part of Recycle Now, a major TV and press advertising campaign designed to encourage people in England to recycle ‘more stuff, more often’.
This is the second year of ‘the BIG recycle’. The first in 2004 reached millions of people around the country, and attracted the support of nearly 250 local authorities.
The week is being jointly organised and funded by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) - a major UK programme established to promote resource efficiency - in partnership with the leading materials recycling organisations British Glass, Corus, Novelis (formerly Alcan), PaperChain, the Corrugated Packaging Industry, EMR (European Metal Recycling), Recoup and the leading producer responsibility scheme Valpak.
Further information is available on
Garden recycling
With summer almost here many residents will be busy in the garden.
Grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, weeds, prunings, dead plants and other organic garden materials can all be recycled. The council operates a weekly pre-paid collection service, collected on the same day as the black box collection.
- See our garden recycling section
'Boost'
Cllr Philip Circus, Executive Member for Environment, said: “The ‘Recycle - make a change!’ campaign is aimed at boosting participation in our kerbside recycling schemes, as well as the use of local recycling centres, by encouraging more residents to sort their rubbish at home for recycling, rather than throwing it away.
"The black box scheme currently provides 40,000 households with a weekly collection of recyclable waste covering paper, card and cans. In addition many residents recycle their glass, cans, textiles foil and, since April, plastic bottles at a number of recycling ‘bring’ sites across the borough.
“However it is vital that everyone makes the effort and does their bit to recycle to work towards a sustainable environment for us all. Just think about what you throw away – there are bound to be things that can just as easily be recycled or reused.”
Tough targets
Cllr Circus added: “New laws now place limits on the amount of biodegradable waste that can be land-filled by each authority. For every tonne over the limit, Surrey residents will be paying fines through their council tax which are levied at £150 per tonne.
“All local authorities have tough recycling targets of 30 per cent to meet by April 2006.
"Thanks to increasing resident participation our annual recycling rate has increased from 23 per cent to over 25 per cent in the last year. In some months it has touched 30 per cent.
"However, there is still more that can be done and the council remains committed to driving our recycling rates up even further.
“For residents who live in a flats and don’t currently have recycling facilities the council’s Waste Minimisation Officer would like to hear from you.
"She will be working with residents and management companies to install paper, card and can banks at flats to improve the reach of our recycling service and increase recycling levels even further.”
Residents who would like to request a black (recycling) box can do so online.
Alternatively call the Council’s Help Line on 01737 276000.
Further information
There is further information about everything to do with recycling in our Recycling section.
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council
Town Hall
Castlefield Road
Reigate
RH2 0SH
01737 276000
customer.services@reigate-banstead.gov.uk
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