Braintree District Council and Recycle Now are asking residents to ‘Step It Up’, in the fight against climate change and take action to protect our environment through even better recycling habits.
This year welcomes a celebrity ambassador to front Recycle Week - TV Presenter, Invictus Games Medallist and Strictly Come Dancing Star JJ Chalmers. JJ is a keen environmentalist and is partnering with Recycle Now to inspire the nation to help protect our planet.
JJ Chalmers said: “I’m thrilled to be part of this year’s campaign. I’m passionate about the environment and how we can battle climate change. I am delighted to be working with the Recycle Now team on what has become a really important week of action across the UK. I really want to encourage people to look at what they are doing and how they can do even more… even better.”
Recycle Now and the Council are asking local residents to ‘Step It Up’ and perfect our recycling habits. Latest national research reveals that almost 9 out of 10 people now recycle. However, 55% of households put items in the general rubbish bin that can be recycled; including foil, aerosols, and plastic toiletry (shampoo and conditioner bottles), plastic food trays and cleaning and bleach bottles. We can all help fight climate change by recycling, because recycling currently saves 18 million tonnes of CO2 every year, which is the same as taking 12 million cars off the road.
Cllr. Wendy Schmitt, Cabinet Member for Environment at Braintree District Council, said: “One of the priorities under the theme Resources in our Climate Change Strategy, is to encourage people to reduce waste and recycle more. We are keen to support the national campaign and would ask everyone to make sure they are recycling the correct items that we can accept in our collection service. This is an easy way we can all make a contribution towards tackling the climate change crisis.”
Every year Recycle Week unites retailers, brands, waste management companies, trade associations, national & local governments and the media to focus on how recycling can play a part in limiting the pressure we put on the planet through our use of natural resources. Recycle Now and the Council are here to help! Our district is full of keen recyclers – but there are some simple things that we can all do to make our recycling even better.
Top tips for getting recycling right in the Braintree District are to recycle more of these:
- aerosols, plastic bottles, tins, cans, paper and cardboard in your clear recycling sacks
- small electrical goods (WEEE) at the Councils monthly drop off locations
- glass bottles and jars at any of the many glass recycling banks in the district
- food waste using your weekly food waste collection service.
- Make sure these never go in the recycling sacks: glass, clean or used nappies, plastic bags.
Craig Stephens, Campaign Manager for Recycle Now added, “This year we’re focussed on how recycling can help fight climate change and how by recycling even better we can have a bigger impact on our environment. Here in the Braintree District it’s no different – more and more of us are recycling, so the next step is to make sure we get our recycling right. So come on everyone, keep up the great work and let’s make the district’s recycling better than ever before!”
To find out more about Recycle Week and what you can and can’t recycle in the Braintree District, visit: www.recyclenow.org.uk/RecycleWeek
You can also check the Council’s website: www.braintree.gov.uk/bins-waste-recycling