2.1 million cans, plastic and glass bottles and coffee cups were collected and recycled across three pilot projects to tackle on-the-go waste in Leeds, Swansea and Edinburgh, weighing approximately 44.5 tonnes. The trials were launched in 2018 and 2019 by environmental charity Hubbub in partnership with local councils, local delivery partners and measurement and evaluation experts in each of the cities. The projects improved on-street recycling facilities by providing bright, easy to use bins that were strategically positioned on the streets, alongside clear and consistent communications campaigns and eye-catching art installations to inspire recycling and improve contamination rates.
On-the-go waste continues to be a significant problem for authorities across the country. Every year in the UK we use an estimated total of 25 billion plastic bottles, cans and coffee cups. Of these around 11 billion don’t get recycled, meaning they go to waste. That works out at about 8,000 per minute.
Gavin Ellis, Co-founder and Director of Hubbub said: “We’ve been really pleased with how the trials have gone in Leeds, Edinburgh and Swansea. Together, they’ve helped us identify the ingredients for successful on-the-go recycling – increasing recycling points, creating stand out bins and making it easy for people to do the right thing. “The 2.1 million materials we’ve recycled in the trial stages have saved the CO2 equivalent of taking 78 return flights from London Heathrow to New York. Imagine what more we could do with more councils on board! We’d really like to hear from other local authorities keen to tackle these issues.”
Source: Circular Online
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