A number of local authorities and businesses have today (21 September) launched initiatives to mark Recycle Week, which launched this morning.
Recycle Week 2020 was launched under the banner ‘Together – We Recycle’, with the message of thanking the nation for continuing to recycle during challenging times.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola says the move will cover all of it’s core products, including Fanta, Sprite and Coca-cola
Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP), in partnership with Coca-Cola Great Britain, marked the week by announcing that all plastic bottles across its core brands made in Great Britain are now made with 50% recycled plastic (rPET).
The move means that the company is now using over 21,000 tonnes of recycled plastic per year in the UK, it says.
With this change Coca-Cola says it has increased its rPET usage by a further 25%, “marking a major step on the journey towards the company’s ambition to help create more sustainable packaging options”.
To announce the step forward and the increase in recycled material, bottles will carry new labels notifying consumers of the change and encouraging them to recycle the bottle.
Stephen Moorhouse, general manager at Coca-Cola European Partners Great Britain, said: “This milestone marks an important step towards our ambition across Western Europe to remove all non-recycled plastic from our bottles.
“One of the key challenges the industry currently faces is that there isn’t enough food-grade recycled plastic locally available in the UK to switch to 100% rPET across our entire range. There needs to be more high-quality recycled plastic produced, so it’s vital to make sure we collect more bottles in an efficient way, and stop it ending up as waste.”
Suez
Elsewhere, Suez Recycling and Recovery UK launched a suite of education resources for primary and secondary school students to mark the week.
“We want to support our teachers and home educators with these free resources that aim to inspire our young people to recycle” – John Scanlon, chief executive Suez
The resources for primary school children will be for both key stage 1 and 2 and consist of lesson plans for teachers that include upcycling activities.
For older students, the waste management company produced a series of videos that feature Suez employees talking about the recycling and resource management sector as a career option.
There is also a range of step by step upcycling activities to transform every day household packaging and items that might otherwise be discarded to promote reuse.
John Scanlon, chief executive for SUEZ recycling and recovery UK said: “2020 has seen incredible solidarity as we’ve each faced the challenge of Covid-19. As we come together this week to thank the nation for continuing to recycle during the pandemic, we want to support our teachers and home educators with these free resources that aim to inspire our young people to recycle and to consider the wealth of exciting career options available within our industry”.
Shropshire council
Meanwhile, Shropshire has thanked local residents for their recycling efforts as figures show that the amount of material put out for recycling was up 23% between April and August 2020.
The council said there was also a 7.25% increase in the amount of garden waste collected within the same period.
Shropshire council said recycling volumes have increased by 23%
The announcement from the council follows statistics released by Recycle Now to make the beginning of Recycle Week, that showed 9 in 10 household regularly recycle and 73% of people are prepared to change their lifestyles to help the environment.
Lezley Picton, Shropshire council cabinet member for waste said: “To mark Recycle Week we want to thank people across Shropshire for continuing to recycle despite all that has happened this year. With people staying at home more and for longer we have seen a big increase in the amount of waste put out for recycling and want to say a big thank you to everyone for putting their recyclable waste out for collection.”
Scottish Government
The Scottish Government marked the initiative by announcing a “major investment” of £70 million, which is being made to improve waste and recycling infrastructure. The government said that this includes funding towards Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).
Scottish environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham announced £70 million of funding
It said that green economic growth after coronavirus is “at the heart” of the recently announced Programme for Government.
Environment secretary, Roseanna Cunningham said: “I would encourage people and communities to get involved with this year’s Recycle Week. By working together, we can all do our bit to improve the environment, help fight climate change and enable Scotland to meet its net zero target by 2045.
“Long-term initiatives to tackle our throwaway culture and encourage a circular economy – helping people to reduce, reuse and recycle – are vital to our green recovery and ensuring we end Scotland’s contribution to climate change completely.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
