Bolton wins “Race to Recycle” competition

Bolton metropolitan borough council was awarded a 24,250 cash prize at the Race to Recycle awards ceremony held at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall last week for increasing their amount of total waste recycled from 13% in March 2005 to 24% in March 2006.

Celebrating success: (left to right) Martin Green of UPM Shotton; Mayor of Trafford Cllr Vivienne Ward; Mayor of Bolton Cllr Walter Hall; Tony Robinson and Mayor of Rochdale Cllr Jean Hornby

The Race to Recycle award was presented by Tony Robinson, star of BBC TV's Blackadder, to the Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Walter Hall.

A spokesperson for Bolton Council told letsrecyle.com how they achieved their results: “The community could see how we injected the money we won last year back into the community by building a mini golf course and a play area in Great Lever made from recyclable materials. This evidence was a great incentive for people to get involved as they knew they would directly benefit from recycling.”

With the help of UPM Shotton, Bolton council started a white bag collection scheme for paper and junk mail to boost Bolton's recycling rate, as well as setting up a telephone helpline to answer people's questions.

“Recycling culture”
Commenting on the event, Martin Green from UPM Shotton in North Wales said: “Race to Recycle is our flagship initiative in Greater Manchester, since the event was launched in 2002, we have seen an amazing 61% increase in paper recycling, we are working with local authorities to create a much needed ‘recycling culture’ across the area.”

UPM Shotton puts 1 into a prize fund for every tonne of paper collected in Greater Manchester this is divided between the three local authorities whose recycling rate has improved the most.

This year Trafford and Rochdale drew for the second place in the competition.

Bolton council will be looking into socially and environmentally friendly projects to invest their money in and they will be consulting with the local community for ideas. Last year they invited children and parents to help them decide what to do with their winnings.