Let’s Bin Better: We're helping residents this Recycling Week and beyond
Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Recycling Week kicks off between 17 and 23 October and as we're committed to increasing recycling rates, we've launched a new campaign, ’Bin Better’, to encourage and help residents ‘bin better’.
During 2020/21 Central Bedfordshire residents recycled 46.1% of their waste. This was an increase on the previous year, but there is still a lot more to do to contribute towards to the national recycling targets of 55% by 2025 and 60% by 2030.
Fortunately, there are opportunities to increase recycling in our area. A recent composition study of Central Bedfordshire’s residual (black) bins found that, on average, up to 70% of the items discarded in the sample may have been suitable for recycling, either in kerbside bins or at other local facilities.
What and how we recycle matters. Recycling just one item, rather than throwing it in the residual (black) waste bin, means that materials can be reused for a longer lifespan, saving precious resources, and reducing carbon emissions.
However, recycling can be confusing. The ‘Bin Better’ campaign launched to coincide with Recycling Week, aims to help people recycle more, by helping them to understand which items can be recycled.
As part of the campaign, a new A-Z of recycling tool has been created, to help people unsure of what goes in which bin. We've been testing public knowledge and created a new informational video, to get people upping their recycling game. Filmed in a ‘gameshow’ style, the video asks the public: ‘Just how rubbish you are with your rubbish’, a simple game posing the question: "Can you recycle it or bin it?"
Councillor Ian Dalgarno, our Executive Member for Community Services, said:
We know people care a great deal about the environment and recycling, and want to support our sustainability and climate change strategy.
Whilst many people are keen recyclers, we need to do more to improve this. Recycling is something we can all do, wherever we live and when everyone is doing it effectively, it can really help make a huge change to protect our environment, so make sure you Bin Better.
We’re making every effort to make our recycling schemes as easy as possible for residents to use, to maximise their recycling.
Residents will see elements of our 'Bin Better' campaign (including on social media, on lamppost banners, and adverts) throughout the year.
Discover more ways to ‘bin better’ with helpful recycling tips.