Environmental charity Hubbub, supported by the trade body Natural Source Waters Association, has launched a new #InTheLoop grant fund, offering two £12,500k grants for local authorities and other interested organisations to boost out-of-home recycling in public spaces.
Statistics from the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) consultation this year showed that current recycling rates in the UK for drinks containers are around 70%, lower than other countries that have a DRS in place. This leaves approximately 4 billion plastic bottles and 2.7 billion cans that are not recycled every year.
The new #InTheLoop grants will prioritise locations with a high footfall to help maximise impact. As well as the funding, environmental charity Hubbub will provide ongoing support based on the charity’s expertise and experience in delivering recycling campaigns. This includes support with project management and design to help bring their projects to reality and to support their delivery.
First trialled in Leeds in 2018, #InTheLoop is the UK’s biggest collaborative approach to boost recycling on-the-go. Subsequently, Swansea, Edinburgh, Dublin, Wimbledon, Telford & Wrekin and Lambeth have all run similar pilots, installing bright, colourful and eye-catching bins to make it as easy as possible for people to recycle empty plastic bottles, aluminium cans, and in some cases glass bottles and coffee cups, and therefore improve recycling rates. Across all these #IntheLoop pilot projects, over 600 bins have been rolled out and over 2.5 million plastic and glass bottles and cans have been recycled.
Gavin Ellis, Co-founder and director at Hubbub said:
“Recycling on the go continues to be a significant challenge and the reality is we are throwing away a huge number of bottles and cans each year. More must be done to capture this material and ensure it is recycled.
“We’ve tested and refined #InTheLoop and in 2024 we want to continue to scale this, whether that is through organisations using our free resources, or investment from other producers looking to support future grant funds.
“With less than half of local authorities currently having on-street recycling systems, we’re grateful to Natural Source Waters Association for providing these two generous grants and look forward to seeing what impact these have on recycling levels in the winning areas”.
Anthony Walker, Senior Communications Manager, Natural Source Waters Association, said:
“Bottles and cans are a vital and valuable commodity, and we want these containers to be captured so they can be recycled into new ones.
“Producers are keen to make it as easy as possible for people to recycle the right things in the right places and #InTheLoop is a proven way of doing this. It improves both recycling rates and the quality of material collected on-the-go, helping these containers get another life, whilst also reducing litter.
“The next step in achieving a circular economy for bottles and cans is for aligned deposit return schemes to be introduced across the four nations of the UK, which is why we are working with UK Governments to make this happen.”
Organisations such as local authorities, business improvement districts, shopping centres, major property owners and transport hubs are invited to apply. The application deadline is 1st March 2024.
For more information on the grant funding and to access the In The Loop toolkit visit www.intheloop.org.uk or contact intheloop@hubbub.org.uk
