Recycle Week in Scotland

Welcome to Scotland’s first ever Recycle Week!

When we are at home, or at work, at school, college or university, let’s look to recycle all we can during Recycle Week 2011. This year, Recycle Week takes place between 20–26 June and it has the theme of recycling both at home, and while away from home. It’s been celebrated by our WRAP partners in Wales and England for several years now, and Scotland’s world-leading work toward meeting zero waste targets means 2011 is an ideal time to take part in Scotland’s first ever Recycle Week. Recycle Week is all about how making even the smallest changes at home and when out and about our daily lives will have a cumulative effect, ultimately helping our local environments and enabling Scotland to move towards becoming a zero waste society. From doing more of what we already do at home - like remembering to recycle glass jars as well as bottles, or recycling things from upstairs as well as downstairs, to recycling whilst on the go, either on family days out at the park, shopping or on holiday – together we can and do make a difference!

Recycling is one of many ways we can make our communities nicer places to live, and Recycle Week is the perfect time to highlight local facilities, services and schemes that help each of us take action. Getting involved during Recycle Week is easy too!

This guide highlights the range of activities and ideas to get you started in your own Recycle Week activities – whether you’re an individual, a community, a Local Authority, or a business, retailer or brand.

Why are we holding a Recycle Week?

In just 11 years, Scotland’s national recycling rate has risen from 5% to nearly 40%. The focus of Recycle Week 2011 is to highlight the range of materials that can be recycled and the range of places in which these can be recycled locally. Building on Scotland’s impressive momentum toward a steadily-growing recycling rate, this is a great time to highlight how individuals, businesses and communities can recycle more materials, in more locations, more often.

Scots are doing well in their recycling, but it’s time to meet new challenges. Increasing local and national recycling rates and behaviour is an important part of moving Scotland towards becoming a zero waste society.

Recycle Week 2011 will take place across the UK from 20-26 June, and is complemented by Scotland’s participation in the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR); 19 - 27 November 2011. The EWWR aims to raise the profile of waste prevention through a week of coordinated local and national activity organised by schools, community groups, businesses, local authorities and others.

Together Recycle Week and EWWR will in 2011 cover the full range of actions and behaviours that people in Scotland can take part in to help Scotland achieve its world-leading zero waste targets.

For Recycle Week 2011 the top tips for recycling are:

Recycle on the Go!

When out and about, on your way to work, doing some shopping on the high street or in the shopping centre look out for where you can recycle while on the go, for example at the train station, on the high street or in a shopping centre.

Recycle in every room!

In every room in the house you will find something to recycle. From the bathroom - plastic shampoo and shower gel bottles, to the kitchen - glass jars as well as bottles, into the bedroom – pillow cases, curtains and other textiles, and out to the garden – old electrical tools as well as garden waste. Everywhere you go there is room to recycle.

Recycle a small spark!

Small old electrical items can be found everywhere for recycling. The toaster from the kitchen, the broken drill in the garden shed, the redundant mobile phone that is in the hallway to the old digital watch that lies in a drawer in the bedroom, all of these and many more can be recycled.

Check out Sort it – www.sort-it.org.uk

For details on what to recycle and where, visit the sort it website for information on www.sort-it.org.uk

The Zero Waste Volunteer Programme is a volunteer run project for Forth Valley.  The project aims to recruit and train volunteers on waste prevention campaigns.  These volunteers will then use this training and knowledge to promote waste prevention in their communities and throughout the whole of Forth Valley.