To celebrate the arrival of the new decorated banks, Leeds City Council and Lidl have teamed up with Friends of Glass, the campaign that supports glass packaging, to offer shoppers the chance to win prizes in a fun competition.
Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, executive member for environment and sustainability at Leeds City Council said: “Recycling glass is such a great way to make the most of our resources, help the environment and save money. More than 15,000 tonnes of glass bottles and jars are thrown away in household bins each year – that’s the same weight as 108 blue whales. Disposing of that costs Leeds over £1.5 million in charges that could have been avoided if the glass had been recycled. This is money that would have been better spent on other local services”.
A spokesperson for Lidl UK said: “We are delighted to be able to support this local initiative. We hope that by providing glass recycling facilities at our Halton store, we will help to make recycling easier than ever for our customers”.
Brook Hayes of Friends of Glass said “Glass is endlessly and 100% recyclable and can be used to make new bottles and jars over and over again. By recycling as much glass as possible, the people of Leeds will help ensure there is a steady supply of glass available to put back into the system. Using recycled glass to make new glass also saves energy and helps reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere”.
Yorkshire has a proud history of being at the forefront of the UK’s glass manufacturing industry. For example, all the glass that is collected in Leeds is recycled locally in Yorkshire, with around 5 billion glass bottles and jars produced every year by 7 Yorkshire-based glass factories.
Full details of the competition and how to enter can be found at www.leeds.gov.uk/glass
To find the nearest glass bank to you, simply download the Leeds Bin App.
