Ashford Borough Council and Kent Resource Partnership have received £8,000 of funding to improve recycling on the go in Ashford Town Centre.
The funding comes from the new #InTheLoop grant fund from environmental charity Hubbub and McDonald’s, which was launched earlier in the year to help local authorities and other organisations boost out-of-home recycling in public spaces.
The funding will go towards investment into new-look bins and engaging communications to educate residents and visitors to Ashford’s High Street.
As well as the funding, Hubbub will provide ongoing support based on the charity’s expertise and experience in delivering recycling campaigns, with this campaign set to launch in September 2023.
The dual recycling and rubbish bins will collect empty glass and plastic bottles and cans so these valuable materials can be made into something new instead of going to waste.
First trialled in Leeds in 2018, with support from McDonald’s and other businesses, Hubbub says #InTheLoop is the “UK’s biggest collaborative approach” to boost recycling on the go.
Swansea, Edinburgh, Dublin, Wimbledon, Telford & Wrekin and Lambeth have all run similar pilots. Across all these #IntheLoop pilot projects, Hubbub says over 500 bins have been rolled out and over 2.5 million plastic and glass bottles and cans were collected and recycled.
Beau Zilesnick, project lead at Hubbub, said: “We’re really excited to support Kent Resource Partnership as part of our ongoing work to encourage recycling on the go.
“With eye-catching bins now in place in twelve locations across the UK and Ireland we are creating consistency and making it easier for people to recycle while out and about.
“We’re urging everyone to use the new recyclable bins to address littering, boost recycling rates of plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans and reduce waste sent to landfill or incineration.”
Helen McFarlane, McDonald’s senior sustainability consultant, added: “We’re delighted to be funding this piece of work. McDonald’s has been working with Hubbub on their innovative #InTheLoop campaigns for over five years now, and we’re excited that this project builds on all the success we’ve had over the years.
“We hope that by providing funding to roll out #InTheLoop we can have a lasting impact in the communities we serve.”
