For Recycle Week, Recycle for Greater Manchester and Stockport MBC decided to put residents to the challenge – a Street Recycling Challenge.
In Stockport since we gave almost all households a set of wheelie bins everybody has been recycling more, but there are still recyclables sneaking into refuse bins. Sometimes people aren’t sure which bin it can go in so it ends up in the refuse bin.
It’s also a case of changing long formed habits such as scraping the leftovers off dinner plates into the food caddy which will then be recycled instead of into the refuse bin.
What better way to encourage behaviour change and recycling than a bit of friendly rivalry. Plus an added incentive of a £20 shopping voucher for each winning household, all the residents I spoke to thought it was definitely worth a go!
40 houses on Neston Grove and Rostherne Road are currently going head to head to recycle as much as they can, using their blue, brown and green wheelie bins by the 30th June. Believe me every bit of recycling really does count.
Did you know that aluminium foil can be recycled with your cans and tins? And Tetrapaks, that’s juice or beverage cartons to you and I, can be recycled
with your paper and cardboard?
Early indications showed Neston Grove to be just in the lead by 3 wheelie bins. That’s about two mown lawns, 100 2 pint plastic milk bottles (washed and squashed!), and 2 full sacks of mail.
Each street is keen to win, and residents are searching the cupboards under the sink for empty cleaning bottles, and clearing out bathroom cabinets of used aerosols. I’ve got a collection of empty shoe boxes if anyone is interested…….
I’ll be sitting in my office waiting for the rush! Keep checking back for the final results…..
Written by Eleri Jones – Community Recycling Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
