Residents encouraged to start recycling more this Recycle Week

Swindon Borough Council is launching a campaign to encourage people to recycle more of their waste.

The campaign, which launches today (24 Sep), will coincide with the beginning of WRAP’s National Recycle Week.

Recycle Week encourages the public to take ownership of recycling and try to recycle more in the daily lives. The campaign, which will be ongoing and run beyond Recycle Week, will promote the Council’s current recycling service in order to increase Swindon’s recycling rate and become more environmentally friendly to do Swindon’s part to help the planet in the long-term. Right now, the Borough’s recycling rate is only 38%, some way short of the Government target of 50% by 2020.

As highlighted in the recent Blue Planet II, not disposing of waste responsibly can have a serious impact on the planet. However, making small changes can be really beneficial.

These include things like making sure that as much household waste as possible is recycled. Currently, lots of items are put in household black bins that could have been recycled instead.

 The Council is keen to encourage people to only put items that can be recycled in the recycling box. If something that can’t be recycled is put in the box, it could contaminate the entire batch of recycling.

This contamination ensures perfectly recyclable materials are no longer suitable for recycling while also slowing down the process for the Council’s collectors who have to sort the materials by hand. Residents can learn more information about what can and can’t be recycled by visiting the Council’s website at: www.swindon.gov.uk/recycling.

Currently, only around four per cent of Swindon’s waste goes to the landfill. The rest is either recycled or sent to the Council’s Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) plant where it is turned into fuel.

The Council is also encouraging residents to sort their recycling boxes. This makes sure that only the right items are being included and also allows collectors to work more efficiently. Residents can recycle with one or two boxes.

If there are two boxes, residents should split all paper and card products into one box, this could include paper, broken up cardboard, non-metallic cards and wrapping paper, junk mail, leaflets, catalogues, magazines, newspapers booklets or envelopes

In the other, put all the metal and glass products including glass bottles and jars, metal cans and tins, empty aerosols and foil.

Or everything can be included in one box, ideally with the items separated i.e. paper/card on one side and metal/glass on the other. Anything included in the recycling box needs to be clean, dry and in-tact. Things like broken glass can be dangerous for both the resident and collector. Clean clothes and shoes (as long as they’re paired) can also be included. They just need to be tied up in a clear or white plastic bag and placed inside or on top of the recycling box.  

Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways and the Environment, Councillor Maureen Penny, said: “We want to be as environmentally friendly and responsible we can and, although as we’re in a great position in that we send so little waste to landfill, we could make things even better if we recycled more of our waste.

“We also want to reach the new recycling target set by the Government and I’d really like motivate Swindon residents to take a further interest in recycling and understand the difference they can make through making a few changes to their recycling routine”.