New push on household recycling

Monday, 27 September 2004 12:00 AM

The Government has launched a new £10 million advertising campaign to encourage more people to recycle household waste.

The campaign - branded Recycle Now - is believed to be the biggest ever run in Britain and will feature Olympic rowing gold medallist Matthew Pinsent, with voiceovers from comedian Eddie Izzard.

The UK currently recycles just over 14 per cent of its household waste, with the Government hoping that figure will reach 17 per cent by the end of this year. However, it admits there are "tough challenges" to be met if the target of recycling or composting a quarter of all household waste is met by 2005/06.

Announcing his support for the campaign, Environment Minister Elliot Morley said: "We need to reduce the amount of waste we generate. It is time to stop thinking of waste as rubbish. So much of the waste we generate could be reused, recycled and transformed from a problem into an asset."

"I firmly support this exciting new campaign which will help to raise public awareness about recycling. By taking part in recycling schemes we can all contribute to reducing waste, cutting the cost of waste management and securing environmental benefits for all."

Currently, the most common recycling method is composting of garden and kitchen waste (32 per cent of all materials recycled) with paper and card at 30 per cent, and glass at 13 per cent.

The Government is particularly keen on encouraging people to use curb side recycling schemes, which it estimates cover about 67 per cent of households.

The not-for-profit organisation Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) will be running the campaign, with a total of £30 million in Government funding. Aside from the television advertising, money has been allocated to supporting recycling campaigns by local authorities.

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