New bins to help boost 'out and about' recycling rates in Preston

Four new litter bins have been installed to enable waste generated while people are out and about to be given a second lease of life - rather than just being discarded and ending up in landfill or incineration.

The new compartmentalised bins will make it easier to recycle drinks cans and plastic and glass bottles. However, in order to keep cross-contamination to a minimum, people are being urged to put items like coffee cups, dog waste and crisp packets in the general waste section of the bins and to adopt an ‘If in doubt, leave it out’ approach.

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The new bins can be found on Market Street, at the edge of the Flag Market; Earl Street, next to the Market Hall; Friargate, next to St George’s Shopping Centre; and at Ribblesdale Place, at the top end of Avenham Park.

Should the scheme prove successful, Preston City Council hopes to secure funding for more on-street recycling receptacles right across its patch.

The move has been inspired by a campaign from environmental charity Hubbub. The city authority has become the first council in the North West to trial a campaign based on the organisation’s #InTheLoop recycling toolkit.

Cllr Freddie Bailey, the town hall’s cabinet member for environment and community safety, said: “We’re urging everyone to use the new recycling bins to reduce littering [and] boost recycling rates. [They] are certainly eye-catching and hard to miss – so please recycle on the go.”

Across the #InTheLoop pilot projects, Hubbub says more than 500 bins have so far been rolled out and more than 2.5 million plastic and glass bottles and cans collected and recycled.