The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Scots aim for recycling world record as part of a national week of action

Zero Waste Scotland is calling on competitive Scots to take part in an attempt to set an official Guinness World Record for recycling, as part of a national week to encourage people to recycle more things, more often.

The record attempt – which will be for the fastest sort of 200 mixed items into recycling containers – is one of a whole host of action and events taking place across Scotland during Recycle Week, from 12 – 18 September.

Recycle Week encourages people to get savvy with their waste and find out how they can pick up and perfect their recycling habits.

Scotland’s household recycling rate is almost 43%, which is a great achievement, but we need to do more to reach the national target of recycling 70% by 2025.  By recycling properly, Scots are saving money, helping create jobs, conserving energy and protecting Scotland’s natural environment.

The record attempt, open to the public, will take place at St Enoch Centre in Glasgow on Saturday, 10 September.  Further events throughout the country can be found at recycleforscotland.com

Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland, said: “After medals and records galore at Rio’s Olympics, we decided that this Recycle Week we wanted to give Scots the opportunity to be recycling record breakers. By being the best recyclers we can, we help to preserve Scotland’s environment, tackle climate change and help our economy. Recycle Week is a chance for everyone to brush up on recycling and find out how else they can do their bit.”

Recycle Week 2016 – Top Tips

• Empty shampoo bottles, aerosol cans, toothpaste boxes and toilet rolls can all be recycled, so make sure to include a small recycling bin or bag in your bathroom.
• If you are not sure what can be recycled in your area use the postcode locator on the recycle for Scotland website to find out what you can recycle www.recycleforscotland.org.uk
• Have a clear out and make sure your unloved, working items go to good use (your local recycling centre can help or call the national Re-use line on 0800 0665 820 to have large re-usable items collected for free)
• All your plastic bottles can be recycled, from ketchup to pop bottles, bleach bottles and mouth wash – give them a quick rinse and squash for more space in your recycling bin.

Fast facts

• Recycling all of Scotland’s food waste would produce enough energy to power a city the size of Inverness
• Recycling is worth the effort and has a value:
  • If we all recycled just one drinks can every week Scottish councils would save £3 million a year;
  • Putting all of our used teabags in a food waste caddy will save almost £550,000 in landfill tax;
  • If we all recycled just one clear glass bottle every week, we’d save almost £3 million a year;
  • If we all recycled one mobile phone this year we would save 130 kg of gold with a value of over £4 million.
• We currently send nearly 3 million tonnes of waste to landfill every year. This costs us £150 million in landfill tax

Scots can follow Recycle Week activity and share messages throughout the week on the Recycle for Scotland Facebook page or using the #RecycleWeekScot on Twitter.

If businesses, local authorities or community groups want to get involved or host an event, information and support materials are available at http://www.recycleforscotland.com/recycle-week-2016