Week-long event to boost recycling in Croydon

Young recyclers received top tips on how to recycle more at three school visits marking Recycle Week, a campaign educating people about how to reduce their impact on the environment.

The national event encourages people to recycle more and saw Veolia, the council’s contractor, visit Krishna Avanti Primary School, West Thornton Academy and Greenvale Primary School to teach the pupils how to recycle more.

Along with the school visits the council has been sharing tips on social media throughout the week, including how to reduce reliance on single-use plastics by swapping disposable plastic bottles for a reusable one or using a lunch box for sandwiches instead of cling film or tin foil.

Recycling rates borough-wide have rocketed in the last 12 months, following major changes to recycling and waste collections in 2018. The council gave most residents a new blue-lidded 240-litre wheelie bin for paper, along with a 240-litre wheelie bin for plastic, metal and glass, giving them significantly more space to recycle.

During the first year of operation the new collection regime boosted the borough’s recycling rate by around 10 per cent, bringing it up to 48 per cent according to initial figures.

“It’s always a privilege to hear how enthusiastic children are about recycling more.

“Recycle Week is a great opportunity to think about what we can all do to reduce, reuse and recycle waste more efficiently throughout the year and drive Croydon’s recycling rate event higher.”

Councillor Stuart Collins, deputy leader – Clean Green Croydon

Scott Edgell, General Manager for Veolia said: “Young recyclers are often the most passionate and it’s encouraging to see so many of them in Croydon’s schools.

“Their appetite to do the right thing with their waste is not only inspiring, but is helping to drive positive waste behaviours right across the borough.

“When we changed the recycling services in 2018 it was challenging and I want to thank residents for bearing with us during that time. We’re delighted to see the high recycling rates now being recorded as a result of people making use of the new services.”

 

2019-09-27T14:15:53+01:00 September 27th, 2019|Recent news|