Residents in Blackpool and Haringey are set to benefit from new on-the-go recycling bins in some of their busiest areas. Following an impressive financial injection of £25,000 from Natural Source Waters Association (NSWA), the aim of the new installations is to encourage out of home recycling for residents. These new projects are part of the #InTheLoop initiative which is run by environmental charity Hubbub.
In Blackpool, the bins are being introduced along the promenade, famous for its iconic Tower, Comedy Carpet and three piers. The seafront and beach is a popular spot for picnicking and will be the first time Blackpool will have dedicated recycling bins to make it easy for the 20 million visitors per year to recycle drink containers when visiting the country’s premier holiday resort. At the launch, BBC Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer and former winner, Jowita Przystal unveiled the first of 20 recycling bins, dedicated to collecting plastic bottles and drinks cans for recycling. Brightly coloured chalk footprints, including ballroom dancing shoes and seagull tracks (one of Keep Blackpool Tidy’s mascots), will be spray-painted on the promenade to help people easily find the bins.
In Haringey, a total of 18 recycling bins will be introduced along Tottenham High Road. The busy road is populated with multiple shops and businesses and provides access to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as well as both the Underground and Overground station.
The new bins have been welcomed by Tottenham Hotspur, who work closely with Haringey Council to ensure the area around the stadium is maintained for residents, businesses and those visiting the stadium. The Club was represented at the launch by Ambassador and legendary former captain, Ledley King.
Tottenham Hotspur has been recognised as the Premier League’s greenest club for the past five years running and is committed to achieving net zero by 2040.
Finding recycling bins for drinks containers while out and about can be difficult in the UK. With the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) delayed until October 2027 the #InTheLoop campaign aims to help alleviate the issue and boost efforts to secure as many plastic drinks bottles and cans for recycling as possible.
Cllr Lynn Williams, Leader of Blackpool Council, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to raise the awareness of ‘On the Go Recycling’ to everyone visiting our promenade and beach. The high profile Promenade location will give plenty of scope to recycle responsibly and reduce the level of plastic cans and bottles being littered on the beach entering the seas and oceans, and their devastating impact on the environment.”
Cllr Seema Chandwani, Cabinet Member for Tackling Inequality and Resident Services, said: “As the Spurs stadium continues to host world class sporting and music events, Tottenham High Road is welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. We heard strongly from local residents and businesses, through the Tottenham Voices engagement, that they want to improve the street recycling facilities and reduce our impact on climate change. I’m thrilled that we have received this funding and are able to work in partnership with our residents and businesses to make Tottenham a greener and cleaner place. This campaign also supports our work towards achieving our recycling target of 50% and therefore will remain one of our top priorities.”
Gavin Ellis, Co-founder and director at Hubbub, said: “It is with big thanks to the Natural Source Waters Association and all of its members, that we have been able to support the introduction of new on-the-go recycling. Less than half of local authorities currently have on-the-go recycling interventions in place, and while the DRS scheme continues to be delayed, we are determined to make #InTheLoop the go-to solution for effective on-street recycling across the UK.”
Anthony Walker, at Natural Source Waters Association, said: “Bottles and cans are a vital and valuable commodity, and we want these containers to be captured so they can be recycled into new ones. Producers are keen to make it as easy as possible for people to recycle the right things in the right places and #InTheLoop is a proven way of doing this. It improves both recycling rates and the quality of material collected on-the-go, so that material from these containers can be used again, whilst also reducing litter. The next step in achieving a circular economy for bottles and cans is for aligned deposit return schemes to be introduced across the four nations of the UK, which is why we are working with UK Governments to make this happen.”