Recycle week is a flagship annual event, which celebrates recycling across the nation. It also hopes to inspire all of us to recycle and reuse as much as we can.
A report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) found that British households create 26m tonnes of waste each year. Meaning each person in the UK on average throws away around 400kg of waste each year.
Around 12m tonnes of this waste is recycled, with the other 14m tonnes is sent to landfill. This means the average recycling rate sits at around 45%.
Despite there being major improvements and increases in the awareness and amount of recycling across the country, there is a lot of opportunity to improve these recycling rates. The main barrier to recycling is uncertainty over what can be recycled or whether it is worthwhile. These barriers are what Recycle Week is aimed at addressing.
You may not realise how important or just how much our recycling can do. Recycling one aluminium can could save enough energy to power a TV for up to three hours. Whilst recycling just one single-use plastic bottle will save enough energy to power a lightbulb for three hours!
Recycling week 2024 was a huge success, reaching 7.3 million people with 2.9 million of those saying they changed their recycling habits as a result.
This year's recycling week runs from the 22nd to the 28th of September. So, keep an eye out for events, workshops, and more information on the Recycle Now website and Recycle Week page:
Recycle Week campaign | Recycle Now
With the new North Herts recycling and bin system in place and collections beginning in August it is now even easier for households in Royston to recycle as much as we can. To find out more information on the new bin scheme and what you can recycle, visit:
What goes in each bin | North Herts Council
Royston Repair Café also returns in November. A service offering a free assessment of broken household items and free repairs by volunteers. In turn reducing waste.
For more information and future dates, keep an eye on the listing or the listing website.
Royston Repair Cafe – The Listing Magazine
So why not get involved with recycling week and help protect our environment?
Happy recycling!