John Leech MP Demands More Recycling Facilities

6.23.11pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 13th Jul 2007

John Leech MP Calls on Manchester Council to "Recycle More"

South Manchester MP John Leech has joined other MPs in calling for an increase in recycling facilities and collections. This summer marks the 30th anniversary of the first bottle bank opened in Britain but despite this, there are still inadequate recycling facilities both in Manchester and across the country.

Local authorities that have introduced recycling collections are often simply producing vast piles of unusable recyclable materials simply to fill government targets. Manchester City Council are in the bottom 14% of local authorities in the country for household recycling. Meanwhile Lib Dem-run Stockport Council recycle nearly 30% of their waste - more than 12% higher than Manchester.(1)

"If we're serious about tackling climate change then it's the small things like this that will really start to make the difference," said John Leech MP.

"Manchester City Council have still not introduced cardboard or plastic recycling while many in flats and apartments have no recycling facilities whatsoever."

"Unless we make it easy for people to recycle then we're not going to be able to change habits," John Leech MP continued. "It's unfortunate that the council and the government aren't taking this seriously enough."

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Notes to editors:

John Leech MP has signed Early Day Motions 1370 - Reducing Packaging and 1708 - Thirtieth Anniversary of the First Bottle Bank. The texts of both of these motions are set out below

REDUCING PACKAGING

27.04.2007

Howarth, David

That this House notes with concern the excessive levels of packaging used by manufacturers and retailers; urges supermarkets to reduce packaging, to encourage the re-use of plastic bags, to recycle packaging waste and to encourage suppliers to reduce packaging further up the supply chain; and believes that, to further those objectives, retailers should be required to provide free of charge a collection point for any packaging materials sold or supplied by them and should be required to recycle them or safely to dispose of such materials.

THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST BOTTLE BANK

14.06.2007

Illsley, Eric

That this House celebrates the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the UK's first bottle bank in Barnsley in 1977; pays tribute to those people who began this initiative in order to increase the amount of glass available for recycling; in particular congratulates Dr Stanley Race CBE and Ronald England, the originators of this ground-breaking initiative, who returned to the location of the first bottle bank on 6th June 2007 to commemorate the anniversary; and calls upon the Government to give fresh impetus to glass recycling by requiring the collection of recyclates by separated material and not by weight, which has led to the collection of vast quantities of unusable recyclable material.

(1) For statistics of household and municipal recycling rates by local authorities, please see:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/wastats/archive/mwb200506a.xls