May 31, 2010 11.51 am This story is over 166 months old

Council praises residents’ recycling efforts

Recycling winners: Lincolnshire County Council is congratulating residents of the county for their hard work recycling this year.

Lincolnshire residents are being congratulated and encouraged by the Lincolnshire County Council to “keep up the good work” after the county has improved its textile recycling rate dramatically.

Figures from Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL) have shown an impressive 277 tonnes of textiles have been recycled in the past year from the six recycling banks in the county.

In the month of March-April in Lincoln alone, 22.7 tonnes were collected in the bank, and 50.25 tonnes from the Salvation Army’s door-to-door service. This is a 35% improvement on last year’s collection.

This is a great success for Lincolnshire County Council, who have worked with SATCoL since September 2004 and is ranked as one of the top authorities for recycling in the country.

Johanna Walker, Lincolnshire County Council’s waste and recycling officer, said: “We are delighted that Salvation Army Trading Company banks are performing so well and helping to divert material that would otherwise be destined for landfill.

“As a council, we promote the importance of recycling and have put the message out about reusing.

“We would like to get the message out there that people can recycle their clothes. They may not want a particular item of clothing any more, but there are people out there that would appreciate that item.

We’d like to emphasise the fact that they can separate their good quality clothes and put them in the pile to go in the textile bank as opposed to putting them in a landfill bin.”

She added: “We would like to thank residents because they are doing a fantastic job at the moment and we would like to encourage them to keep up the good work.”

It is important for clothes to be recycled. If left in a landfill, clothing biodegrades to form methane, which is a greenhouse gas. If they are recycled however, they provide affordable clothing for others, reduce impact on the environment, create jobs and supports the social work of The Salvation Army.

The six recycling banks for textiles can be found at the Council’s household waste recycling centres in Grantham, Spalding, Lincoln, Skegness, Sleaford and Louth.