HP remind families to recycle

Giant blue elephant crosses finish line in Scotland-wide tour to remind families in South Lanarkshire to recycle 


They say elephant's never forget.  That's why a ten foot inflatable blue elephant visited Hamilton Park Racecourse to remind people to recycle more items, more often as part of the Scottish Government's Zero Waste recycling campaign.

The giant blue elephant was joined at Hamilton Park Racecourse Sophie McIntosh (20 months), from East Kilbride, who helped the elephant cross over the finishing line at the final stage of his tour, which has also seen him visit locations including Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dumfries and, many more.

The campaign aims to encourage people to further reduce the amount of waste they produce by reminding them how they can recycle more common household materials such as paper, card, glass, cans and plastic.

It follows the publication of a Scottish Government report which showed a snapshot of how well Scotland is recycling as a nation.  Some items such as newspapers, magazines and glass are being recycled at high levels, but the average Scottish household still throws out 260kg, the weight of the average family (mum, dad and two children) each year.

Councillor Gerry Convery, South Lanarkshire Council's Chair of Community Resources Committee explained how well families in South Lanarkshire have been doing and how they can do more.

Councillor Convery said: 'We are delighted to be part of this major drive to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and to achieve set targets we must recycle more.  Our next target is to reach 40% by 2010 and we achieved a 37% recycling rate in 2009.  Our school pupils are also very keen recyclers and encourage parents and family to do all they can do to improve our environment.  I'm positive this campaign will spur more people on to recycle as much of their household waste as they possibly can.'

South Lanarkshire Council provides - free of charge - special uplifts of large items of domestic waste, electrical waste and, during the season, garden waste for composting and also provides six Civic Amenity and Recycling sites throughout South Lanarkshire where you can dispose of your recycling, domestic and electrical waste yourself if you wish.

The civic amenity/recycling sites are:-
* Strutherhill Industrial Estate, Larkhall
* Peel Park Industrial Estate, East Kilbride
* Cambuslang Road, Rutherglen
* Blantyre Industrial Estate, Hamilton
* Castlehill Industrial Estate, Carluke
Hamilton Road Industrial Estate, Strathaven

To find out what you can do locally, visit www.sort-it.org.uk