COPELAND is celebrating Recycle Week, and thanking residents for their outstanding efforts during lockdown.
The theme of Recycle Week for 2020 is ‘thank you – together we recycle’ and the council wants to recognise all those who carried on recycling throughout lockdown and beyond.
Recycle Week 2020 runs from September 21 until 27.
Residents will see Whitehaven’s iconic Beacon Museum building lit up green during the week. They might also spot bright new livery on some of the council’s waste lorries. The vehicles now show examples of what sort of things can be recycled from around the house, as well as an illustration of the effects of plastic litter on marine wildlife.
From April 1 to June 30, Copeland recycling crews collected 1,210 tonnes of materials – a massive increase on the amount collected in the same period last year (862 tonnes).
Their busiest week so far has been the last week in June, when they collected a staggering 133 tonnes – compared to 66 tonnes in the same week last year.
Coun Steven Morgan, portfolio holder for recycling and waste, said: “These statistics show that residents care more about the environment than ever. We’d like to say a huge thank you to them for continuing to recycle, and for bearing with us when Covid caused some delays in collections.
“Our recycling crews and staff have been real heroes this year as well, providing great service in difficult circumstances. They were touched by the many friendly waves, notes and posters left out for them by appreciative residents. We have all really pulled together and I hope we can capitalise on this and continue to grow our recycling rate in the future.”
Statistics released by Recycle Now show that through lockdown, nearly 9 in 10 UK households said they recycled regularly.
The research also showed that 73 per cent of people are willing to change their lifestyles to help the environment. This figure is up from 68 per cent in 2019. And an amazing 93 per cent of UK households said they believed that ‘everyone has a responsibility to help towards cleaning up the environment’.
Peter Maddox, Director of WRAP UK, which organises Recycle Week, said: “It’s fantastic to see that despite everything thrown at them this year, more people than ever in Copeland are taking responsibility for protecting the environment by choosing to recycle. This is something we can all do, wherever we live – an individual action that, when performed by everyone, adds up to a huge change.”
For more information about recycling in Copeland, visit www.copeland.gov.uk.
