The famous Blackpool promenade and the streets of Tottenham will soon be adorned with colourful and eye-catching bins to help residents and visitors recycle when out and about. The news comes as environmental charity Hubbub and the Natural Source Waters Association announce the winners of the In The Loop grant fund that launched in January to roll out public recycling points and boost out-of-home recycling in two new areas.
The fund of £12.5k for each local authority, aims to help reduce litter and increase recycling by collecting more drinks bottles and cans and put these items back in the loop to be recycled. The new #InTheLoop campaigns will involve the roll out of bright, colourful and eye-catching bins, targeted messaging and local partnerships to encourage positive behaviour change.
The winning projects will be taking place in:
- Blackpool – Enveco NW Environmental Services in partnership with Blackpool Council, introducing new recycling bins across Blackpool Promenade to support residents and visitors recycle when visiting the beach, or attending an event such as the Air Show for example, which attracts over 350,000 people.
- Haringey – The council working in partnership with Veolia and Destination Tottenham stakeholders will introduce new recycling bins along a section of Tottenham High Road, one of the busiest in North London and home to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium attracting 60,000 to the area for football, sporting and music events.
The two winning projects will launch this summer, as part of #InTheLoop, the UK’s biggest collaborative approach to boost recycling on-the-go, which was first trialled in Leeds in 2018, followed by campaigns in Swansea, Edinburgh, Dublin, Wimbledon, Telford and Lambeth and further six locations funded by previous grant applications. Combined, these projects have seen over 2.6 million drinks containers collected during the initial project phase.
Learnings will contribute with renewed insight to the #InTheLoop toolkit, an in-depth guide on how to roll out successful campaigns, to benefit other interested local authorities and organisations who can access the learnings and downloadable assets for free.
Gavin Ellis, Director & Co-Founder at Hubbub, said: “The level of interest and number of strong applicants made it challenging for the panel to select winners. It demonstrates the appetite for local authorities to adopt the campaign. These new campaigns will allow #InTheLoop to build upon its legacy of introducing effective recycling on-the-go in parks, towns and cities across the UK and Ireland and we would welcome conversations with other businesses and brands to support future grant funds so we can meet the demand for new locations.
Anthony Walker of the NSWA said, “With these two new projects thousands more drinks containers will be captured, enabling them to be made into new ones and stopping them end up as litter. Collecting drinks containers for recycling is a priority for all our members. Until a Deposit Return Scheme launches across the UK we are delighted to be supporting #InTheLoop and hope to see more Local Authorities use the toolkit Hubbub have made available.”
Barry Francis, Director of Environment and Resident Experience at Haringey Council, said, “We were thrilled to hear that our waste and recycling teams innovative #InTheLoop funding submission was successful and look forward to working with Hubbub, Natural Source Waters Association and our borough partners to deliver this exciting project. These eye-catching bins will give people more opportunity to recycle when out and about and help keep our streets cleaner. I’m looking forward to seeing the very real improvements for residents, businesses and visitors in this busy and vibrant area of our borough.”
Jez Evans, Operational Director at Enveco NW said, “Blackpool provides litter bins at all access steps to the beach during the bathing season (May to September), between the North Pier and South Pier. The award of the grant is a great opportunity to increase the recycling of materials that would normally be disposed of as general waste without segregation. Enveco will purchase 20 specific recycling bins, to maximise the recycling potential for thousands of daily promenade & beach users whilst reducing the waste arising from traditional waste/litter bins.”
For more information on In The Loop, and to view the toolkit, including downloadable assets, visit www.intheloop.org.uk.
