Mid Ulster District Council joins the national campaign to save recycling from the bin
Mid Ulster District Council is delighted to join this year’s Recycle Week (14 – 20 October) to celebrate the efforts of people in Mid Ulster and help save five packaging heroes from the rubbish bin.
Now in its twenty-first year, Recycle Week (organised by Recycle Now) is the UK’s biggest celebration of recycling, shining a light on the nation’s recycling habits through activities happening across the UK. For Recycle Week 2024, Mid Ulster District Council joins an urgent crusade to save five packaging heroes from being rubbished and keeping them out of the bin and living the circular life, through recycling.
The latest Recycle Now research shows that while we’re a nation of recyclers - nine out of ten people regularly recycle – nearly eight out of ten of us (79%) put one or more items into the bin that could have been recycled.
To highlight the plight of the five ill-fated packaging heroes, Recycle Now has created a team of characters to bring the campaign to life and is asking everyone to Rescue Me – Recycle.
The condemned containers include Dee Dee the deodorant, Rey the plastic trigger spray, Yogi the yoghurt pot, Fitz the perfume bottle and humble Hube - the toilet roll tube. The group will feature on recycling and refuse lorries in parts of the UK, in school education packs and on social media. Life-size characters have been produced to highlight the key message and will feature in media throughout Recycle Week.
A week of fun activities with a serious message, Rescue Me – Recycle aims to empower people in Mid Ulster to look out for the five items missed most often in the weekly recycling collection. Mid Ulster District Council will be encouraging residents to keep them in circulation by recycling.
Chair of Mid Ulster District Council, Councillor Eugene McConnell said,
Recycling is vital as it means valuable materials can be recaptured - recycled - and reused. It reduces the need to extract oil (for plastic) or metal from the Earth. By ensuring that simple everyday items such as cardboard tubes, yogurt pots and plastic containers are placed in our blue bins, we can all make a significant difference. I am delighted to support Recycle Week and encourage our residents to recycle like heroes, keeping Mid Ulster District Council as one of the best-performing councils in the region for Recycling. Mid Ulster also sends the lowest quantity of waste to landfill of all 11 Councils here and this approach demonstrates our commitment to managing our waste effectively and helping to protect the environment.
Craig Stephens, Senior Campaign Manager for Recycle Now, added “We are delighted that Mid Ulster District Council is supporting Recycle Week. While a light-hearted campaign, recycling is essential to limit the impact what we buy has on the environment. Keeping these materials circulating means we can reduce emissions linked with our weekly shop. Most people are recycling, and the material we capture has a multitude of uses, so the next step is to ensure everyone captures everything they can. Every aerosol, every trigger spray bottle, every plastic pot, perfume bottle and toilet roll tube. Rescue – recycle!”
Find out more about household recycling in Mid Ulster.