Recycle Week reviewed

Last week was national Recycle Week and so our team was out and about in North East Lincolnshire promoting recycling, thanking those who are using the services provided and finding out about how we like to recycle when out and about. There was a lot of interest in starting home composting and we were happy to give out advice leaflets as well as details of how to get hold of a subsidised price compost bin.

Some lucky winners have been given a prize bin too! It makes recycling easier, by having three compartments inside which can be used to separate recyclables from general waste. For many people the decision whether they will recycle, or not, is made at the bin – whether to put that piece of paper or drinks can in the recycling box or in the general bin. I know it was a battle in my house when we first moved in together!

The winners of the prize draw told us how they recycle when they’re out and about; some taking their recyclables home with them, others know where their 'on the street' recycling points are, and some using reusable containers to avoid creating waste. If you have a favourite on the street recycling point, why not upload it to the 1000 bin challenge? http://www.facebook.com/url

Again, when do we make the decision about if we’ll recycle or not? Before going out of the house? Or just as we get to the bin?

The grand finale to Recycling week was down at the Community Recycling Centre, where the staff have been cherry-picking some really decent stuff, to divert it from landfill. The site hosted a sale day of about two weeks’ worth of selected items and managed to raise over £1000 for local charity St Andrew’s Hospice! This isn’t the first sale they’ve held either, and they’ll be carrying on, on the last Friday of every month until October.

It was really shocking what some people are happy to throw away. Some items included ; a dolls’ house, books, bicycles, framed pictures, board games, a massage table, all sorts of furniture, soft toys and teddies, two drum kits… and most of these things were bought by bargain hunters on the day, so they weren’t in a condition that they would be unwanted by another person

Do we just make it too easy to throw away decent stuff? I couldn’t believe that many of these items weren’t at least donated to a charity shop. Whether you call it the tip, the dump, the Civic Amenity Site or the Community Recycling Centre throwing this amount of decent stuff away can’t be right.

Our thanks go to those who choose to reuse instead of putting things into disuse.