Award-winning recycling

Blackpool Council has been given a top national award for efforts to keep the town clean and environmentally friendly.

The council’s Waste Services Team was named Environmental Team of the Year 2016 at the annual Keep Britain Tidy awards in recognition of its work.

The team earned particular praise for its efforts to go ‘beyond the normal call of duty’ to help residents and businesses as well the local environment.

This includes its work with mobile recycling service Rover, working with local charity Helping Hand which allows many residents who are not able to reach the local waste recycling centre the means to dispose of unwanted household items.

It has also been recognised for its work through its Re-New Workshop initiative, delivered with Social Enterprise partners Calico.

The scheme takes unwanted electrical items and refurbishes them so they are fit to be reused in the community by residents who may otherwise not be able to afford the items, while at the same time developing the skills of the long-term unemployed.

The success of this project has meant that the team has now launched a shop alongside the established Re-Use Shop at the town’s recycling centre in Bristol Avenue, from which the items and others can be sold.

The centre also houses a furniture restoration workshop.

The Rover scheme has diverted 245 tonnes of waste for recycling or re-use that may otherwise have been disposed of incorrectly either in the general waste bin or possibly fly tipped.

Residents bought 81,602 items since the launch of the scheme in November 2013.

The Reuse Shop itself has diverted 110.8 tonnes of waste for re-use since it opened in May 2013, it has made two donations of £10,000 to the Mayor’s charities and is on target to make its third this year - as well as supporting the continued operation of Rover.

The council’s waste team has also been recognised for its new confidential waste service has collected and shredded 36.1 tonnes of paper in the first year.

In addition, the efforts of its street cleansing team and work with kerbside collections contractor Veolia to keep the resort as litter free as possible, has also been noted.

This includes clean up initiatives undertaken with Keep Britain Tidy directly.

Coun Christine Wright, Blackpool Council’s cabinet member for income generation, said: “The council’s waste services team has been doing an outstanding job during the last three years in making a really positive difference to the local community and it is tremendous that their efforts have been recognised in this way.”