The centrepiece of the initiative – an advert themed around a child's fantasy journey on a ghost train – was unveiled last Friday (October 31) by Ms Davidson.
Ms Davison commented: “Local authorities, supported by a proactive Welsh public, are certainly making great head way in reducing levels of waste. Around one third of all municipal waste in Wales is now recycled.
“But collectively we must keep our foot firmly on the accelerator pedal if we are to achieve our national recycling target of 40% by 2010 and 70% by 2025,” she added.
Wales achieved a 32.2% recycling and composting rate in 2007-08 (see letsrecycle.com story), increasing from the 27.7% rate it achieved in 2006-07.
The minister's sentiments were echoed by councillor Aled Roberts, chair of Waste Awareness Wales, which is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government to promote waste reduction, reuse and recycling.
“It's great to see the Welsh public making full use of the local services available to reduce household rubbish, as recycling and composting rates rise for a fifth consecutive year,” he said. “But the average Welsh home still generates an additional 1.1 tonnes of residual waste each year.
“That's a national Welsh total of 1.4 million tonnes of residual waste – enough to fill around 160,000 waste collection vehicles, which put end to end would stretch 1,093 miles, from Holyhead to Cardiff and back almost three times. So it's clear we can still do a lot more,” he added.
The TV campaign, which will run until March 31 2009 takes its inspiration from Tim Burton's film 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' to illustrate the ease and benefits of composting, reuse and recycling in everyday life.
It will be supplemented by a radio advertising campaign, which will be launched on December 1.
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