£10m ad campaign urges UK to 'Recycle Now'

The UK is being urged to 'Recycle Now', as part of a £10 million multi-media advertising campaign to get householders and businesses to recycle more often.

Launched today by the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), with support from Defra, the campaign is the biggest ever effort to highlight the importance of recycling in England. Defra has provided more than £30 million in funding to help spread the word.

Four times Olympic champion Matthew Pinsent will be fronting the campaign and comedian Eddie Izzard will be providing the voice-overs for the television adverts, which will feature metal cans, glass bottles and paper being transformed into everyday items through recycling. A new distinctive recycling icon has also been unveiled to provide a clear, generic public call to action.

Environment Minister Elliot Morley said recycling was easier now than it ever has been.

"Five years ago, kerbside collection schemes covered only 40% of homes. Today, more than two-in-three homes have kerbside collection schemes and there is an ever expanding network of 'bring' sites at your local supermarket and other convenient areas near your home," he 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."

Recycling is a core element in the fight to protect the environment – a quarter of all the UK emissions of methane, which is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide, comes from landfill sites.

In 2002/2003, about 25.8 million tonnes of household waste were collected – an average of 23.8 kilograms per household per week. On average, householders recycled 3.4 kilograms of waste per week - 7% of the average householders weekly waste.

Less reliance on landfill and more recycling will preserve resources for future generations and reduce environmental impacts, the campaign organisers said. For example, every tonne of glass recycled saves more than a tonne of raw materials. That means less quarrying, less damage to the countryside, less pollution and global warming, and more energy savings.

Two years ago household recycling and composting had increased to its highest level ever of 14.5%. It is expected that England will meet its target to recycle 17% of household waste, and there is further target of a quarter of all household waste to be either composted or recycled by 2005/06 which must be met.

(gmcg/mb)