Issue 38 - Summer 2012 - Wigan Council

Waste Education Officers Rebecca Hill andEllen Belshaw and children from BritanniaPrimary help you to spot the right bin.Wigan Borough currentlyrecycles 36% of its waste and we aim toget this figure to 50% by 2020. We simply can’tafford not to reduce, re-use and recycle whereverpossible. Not making these changes will costthe taxpayer an extra £14 millionby 2020.Landfill cancost the earthIT’S so much cheaper to recyclethan the send our waste tolandfill or treatment.Every tonne of waste thatgoes in a hole and is not recycledcosts us at least £64 per tonneextra in landfill tax, and this taxwill rise every year up to 2014when it will be £80 a tonne –costing Wigan Council anadditional £375,000 per year ifwaste to landfill is not reduced.Sticking with the currentarrangements would cost thecouncil and council tax payers£14M more between now and2020. The council needs to makeat least £66M worth of savingsover the next four years and themoney saved by recycling willhelp to support those vitalfront-line services people inour borough rely.New blue!WITH the blue bin servicebeing rolled out across theborough residents can nolonger put clean browncardboard in the green bin. Alltypes of paper and card needs togo in the blue bin.We get income for the paperand card we collect whilst itcosts more to compost the greenand food waste collection andthe type of process our green binrecycling goes through doesn'tallow cardboard – it's classed ascontamination. So please help ussave money!26 BOROUGH LIFE Summer 2012Calling all theBorough’s HerIS it a can? Is it plastic bag?No, it’s Wigan Borough’s veryown superhero WasteWarrior and his faithfulcompanion Scoop.Faster than a busy bin lorry,more powerful than a trashcompactor, able to leap tallwheelie-bins with a singlebound!More importantly these funand loveable characters arehelping to win the hearts andminds of the nextgeneration ofTo findout more visit:www.wigan.gov.ukand search for‘Waste Education’recyclers withtheir regularvisits toclassrooms at schools acrossWigan Borough.Today Waste Warrior andScoop are at Britannia BridgePrimary School in Ince for awhole school assembly all aboutrecycling.It’s clear that they’ve instantlycaptured the imagination oftheir audience as young eyesacross the room light up withexcitement as the two heroestake centre-stage.And it’s that imagination andnatural enthusiasm that WiganCouncil’s EnvironmentalEducation team are hoping toharness to make ourborough a greener place forfuture generations.Waste Warrior and Scoop areaccompanied by anotherdynamic duo on their schoolvisits, Environmental EducationOfficers Rebecca Hill and EllenBelshaw. Between them, theteam visits more than 60 schoolsa year, spreading the recyclingmessage.“We work with the children toimprove their understanding ofreducing, re-using and recyclingmaterials,” says Rebeccca. “Weencourage them to do this bothin school and at home. We findthat the children are really keenRECYCLERSUNITE! JoiningWaste Warriorand Scooop intheir bid to makeWigan a greenerborough areBritannia Bridgepupils Josh,Thomas, Morganand Mason.