A new proactive recycling campaign is about to get underway as part of Erewash Borough Council’s continued drive to turn the borough into a top performing ‘green’ champion.
The new campaign aims to encourage more people to recycle and to reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste being wrongly put into green bags or blue bins.
Thanks to funding from Derbyshire County Council, a professional company has been commissioned by Erewash to carry out the research and to find out from residents how they use the recycling services provided by the council.
At the forefront of the campaign will be a ‘Let’s Do More’ appeal to local residents – with the key message that by working together we can cut down on the amount of waste taken unnecessarily to landfill.
Latest figures show that a respectable 40% of the total amount of waste collected from households in Erewash is being recycled. However, the council’s recycling team has this week revealed that as much as 25% of waste put into black household waste bins can be recycled
Nationally, the Government has set a target of recycling 55% of waste by 2020 and the council is keen to step up its education-backed drive to help residents understand just how many everyday household items can be recycled.
The council is due to launch the project next week and will target specific areas of the borough – with the hope that a concentrated and focused campaign will have a greater impact.
Four areas around Long Eaton, Risley, Sandiacre, and Ilkeston have been selected for the campaign. In the first phase staff will go out to the target areas to see how well residents are recycling and to provide details on the sort of recyclable waste that is being mistakenly put into the black bins.
Councillor Garry Hickton, Erewash Borough Council’s Lead Member for Environment, says:
“There is now a national desire for everyone of us to take our responsibilities to protect our planet seriously, we have all seen the ‘war on waste’ headlines. Right up there on the agenda, of course, is concern over the senseless amount of waste that we have to dump at landfill when it could, instead, have been recycled.
“Here in Erewash we are always looking to improve further the good work that is being done by our residents. In this borough, it is possible to recycle a wide range of items – much more than is some other areas – and we see this campaign as very much working with householders to help them understand and then spread the message about just how easy it is to recycle. It really is a ‘Let’s Do More’ appeal.”
In the second phase of the project, staff will start knocking on doors to offer help, advice and support to residents on how to improve the quality and quantity of recycling collected and how to make better use of the council’s kerbside recycling collections.
