National Recycling Week 2023: Join our mission to get Wales to #1 for recycling
16 – 22 October is National Recycling Week. To coincide with the UK-Wide campaign, this week, Wrap Cymru have launched their Be Mighty, Recycle. Campaign, encouraging us all to harness the full power of food waste recycling.
As a nation, we know the benefits of recycling, which is why Wales is the world’s third best recycling nation. Almost all of us take pride in recycling regularly at home, but in line with our Project Zero objectives and our goal to attain carbon net zero status by 2030, we want to encourage our staff to be mighty recyclers at work as well to help Wales achieve the top spot.
Food waste is where we can make the highest impact – Most of us know that food waste should go in its own caddy, yet it fills a quarter of our average household rubbish bins. This figure is often higher in the workplace.
At the Vale of Glamorgan Council, we’re committed to doing our bit by providing food recycling facilities for you to use at work, and this Recycle Week, we’re backing Wales Recycles’ Be Might. Recycle. Campaign to let our colleagues know why they should avoid putting food waste in the rubbish bin, every time.
Did you know that food waste is recycled into renewable energy? Last year, Welsh residents recycled enough food waste to power over 10,000 homes. Now it’s time to take those behaviours to work. Recycling our food waste is the simplest thing we can all do to tackle climate change whether you’re in the office, on site, in the studio, WFH, or taking a hybrid approach.
Inedible food waste should always go in the caddy for recycling - That’s teabags and peelings to bones and eggshells. Even mouldy food – no matter how yucky – goes in the food waste caddy for recycling. Remember, food waste equals energy.
Could food waste power your work? Whatever your role, chances are you’re using something that needs power to get your job done. So, what exactly can food waste power?
- Pre-lunch snack? Well, recycling 9 banana peels can create enough electricity to fully charge your laptop, so you can join that meeting or finish that piece of work in time.
- Make a brew for your colleagues, it only takes 6 recycled teabags to create enough energy for another cuppa. That’s the next round sorted!
- Taking your lunch in today? Just one caddy full of food waste can power the fridge for 18 hours, keeping your sarnies, pasta pots, meal deals or leftovers fresh.
- It’s time to clock off and unwind. Recycling one pumpkin skin could power a TV long enough to watch your Halloween favourites back-to-back.
We’d like to extend a thanks to our colleagues in Waste Management for all the changes that they’ve overseen this year, such as the introduction of separated recycling to the Eastern Vale and the garden waste subscription service.
In the Vale, we take pride in being one of the best recyclers in Wales. In January 2023, the Vale of Glamorgan was named the third best recycling county in Wales, with an average of 70.2% of all waste recycled.
In the last verified reporting year, in the Vale we have recycled:
- 7,788 tonnes of food
- 7,515 tonnes of green waste
- 3,024 tonnes of mixed glass
- 2,737 tonnes of card
- 1,336 tonnes of paper
- 566 tonnes of aluminium / steel cans
Whether you’re at home or work, try to keep food waste out the rubbish bin, every time.
Discover exactly how food waste creates power and how you can join the 80% of us already recycling our food waste. Visit Wales Recycles and join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #BeMightyRecycle.