Recycle Week: North Herts Council joins the national campaign to save recycling from the bin

North Herts Council is delighted to join this year’s Recycle Week (14 – 20 October) to celebrate the efforts of people in the district 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, North Herts 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 North Herts to look out for the five items missed most often in the weekly recycling collection. The council will be encouraging residents to keep them in circulation by recycling.

Throughout the week, North Herts Council will be sharing posts on its social channels to remind residents about what items can be recycled. The council will also be running some fun polls on Instagram to see if residents know what items belong in which bin.

Sarah Kingsley, Service Director- Place at North Herts Council, said: “We’re doing our bit to help support residents with recycling. We’ve already started collecting plastic film/wrap, often known as soft plastic, from almost 8,000 residents across the district as part of a trial, and from 2025 we’ll collect soft plastics from everyone’s grey recycling bin. This will greatly reduce the volume of general waste and the amount we send to landfill.

“From next summer, three-weekly collections will replace the current fortnightly cycle of general waste and recycling. We’ll still collect food waste every week, and garden waste every fortnight. Research and experience across the country shows that extending the frequency of general waste collections encourages people to recycle more and reduces what is sent to landfill.”

Craig Stephens, Senior Campaign Manager for Recycle Now, said “We are delighted that North Herts 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!”

If you would like to follow the action on social media and take part in your own rescue missions, please use the hashtag #RescueMeRecycle and #RecycleWeek. Follow on Twitter/X @recycle_now and Instagram @recyclenow_uk for updates on how you can get involved and make an impact this Recycle Week.