Rossendale Borough Council is launching a pilot scheme to encourage residents to recycle more household waste.
The UK produces 26m tonnes of waste every year with 14m tonnes being sent to landfill and 12m recycled.
Rossendale has one of the lowest recycling rates in Lancashire at just 30%. The national average is 46%.
Cllr Adrian Lythgoe said: “With environmental issues becoming ever more important, it’s essential that we all do more. One of the simplest and quickest ways is for us to recycle more of our rubbish and household waste.
“We want to find out what the obstacles are that prevent people from recycling and help them do more by providing information making it easier for them to recycle more of their rubbish.”
The council will be initially running the ‘Check Before You Chuck’ campaign in four pilot areas to learn more about what works and what doesn’t before rolling the campaign out across the whole borough later on.
The pilot areas taking part in the scheme are
- Thorburn Drive, Whitworth
- Orama Avenue (Estate) Whitworth (including Thor Drive and Spinners Drive)
- Townsend Street Waterfoot (including offshoots Millar Barn Lane, Ashworth Street, Stone Street, Ivy Street, Bacup Road, Lench Street)
- Queensway and Woodside, New Church
Pat Mannion, Environmental Education Officer at the council said: “With three bins to choose from in Rossendale and with the recycling rules being different in different areas of the country, people can easily get confused with what can and can’t be recycled and which bin they need to put it in. In the end they end up just chucking everything in the general waste bin.
“But that means that there are tonnes of waste going to landfill which could and should be recycled. We want to make it easier for households to recycle and be confident that they know what can be recycled and what they can chuck in the general waste bin.”
As well as information leaflets and clearly marked bin stickers, the council will also be running a social media campaign with hints, tips and videos and have scannable QR codes that will explain exactly what goes in each bin.
The council are also seeking ‘Binfluencers’ – members of the public they can follow on their recycling journey to encourage others and show them how easy it is to recycle.
Pat added:” It would be great if there was a household that would let us follow their journey as an example to others, to encourage and show that with a little bit of forethought recycling becomes second nature.
“Recycling a single aluminium can save enough energy to power a TV for three hours and if every single can was recycled, we’d need 14 million less dustbins in the UK. When we hear facts like that, I think it’s easier for people to understand just how important recycling is and how easy it is to chuck your drinks can in your blue bin.”
You can find out more info here https://bit.ly/CBYCRBC
Or by scanning this QR code 