Make recycling your goal during the World Cup
With England’s football players set to take to the pitch in Brazil in a kit made using an average of 18 recycled plastic bottles, people are being urged to recycle more of their household waste during the World Cup.
It is estimated that Shropshire residents will spend an extra £1.6 million on food and drink over the World Cup period (12 June 2014 to 13 July 2014).
This means a lot more waste to be managed, but potentially many more opportunities for recycling.
In fact, if every household in Shropshire recycled just five extra glass bottles a week during the World Cup, that’s over 500 tonnes more glass for recycling.
Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for waste and recycling, said:
“It’s fantastic that the England team are playing in shirts made from recycled plastic bottles, and I hope this reminds everyone in Shropshire that by recycling more of their plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays – along with their other household waste – they can help us recycle more, which saves council tax payers money through lower waste disposal costs.”
Jon Callaghan, General Manager for Veolia in Shropshire, added
“All the team here will be getting into the World Cup spirit and we hope it encourages more recycling across the county.”
It’s estimated that for every week England remain in the tournament, an extra £124 million will be spent on food and drink. This will mostly comprise beer, but also wines and spirits, snacks and confectionery – generating a great deal more waste, most of which can be recycled.
The World Cup will also see a surge in sales of flat screen TVs, and one retailer reports flat-panel TVs selling at a rate of one per minute. And buying a new television for the World Cup doesn’t mean you need to throw out the old one.
Old TVs can be taken to one of Shropshire’s household recycling centres, from where they are sent to award-winning social enterprise Recycling Lives in Lancashire to be checked and then reused or recycled.
Around 96 per cent of the TV can be recycled and all the raw materials including plastic, glass and metal are recovered and sent for recycling.
