Scotland ratchets up recycling campaign

A campaign launched this week praises the Scottish public for recycling large amounts of paper and glass, but urges them to do more when it comes to other materials like tin cans, card and plastic bottles.


The campaign focuses on the assumption that everybody is a committed recycler at heart, but that intention does not always lead to action and we sometimes forget.

With this in mind an elephant – with its infallible memory – will be touring landmark sites across Scotland to promote the need to increase recycling further.

The Zero Waste recycling campaign will work in partnership with local authorities and grocers to educate the public on how they can do their bit in their local area in the form of nation-wide road shows.

Environment Secretary, Richard Lochhead said: “While we seek to tackle larger environmental problems such as climate change, we can’t lose sight of the important steps we all can take.

“Recycling can really make a difference, diverting waste from landfill and, in turn, help us on the road to becoming a zero waste society. Most waste sent to landfill should be viewed as a resource and put to good use.

“An extraordinary 67% of newspapers and magazines are currently recycled, along with 60% of glass bottles. This, of course, is fantastic but we should all constantly challenge ourselves to recycle more items, more often, and hopefully see the likes of metal cans, card and plastic bottles jump to the same recycling levels.”

Sam Bond

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