Giant blue elephant reminds families in the Highlands to recycle
They say elephant’s never forget. That’s why a ten foot inflatable blue elephant visited Loch Ness on Friday (May 21st), reminding people to recycle more items, more often as part of the Scottish Government’s Zero Waste recycling campaign.
The campaign aims to encourage people to further reduce the amount of waste they produce by reminding them how they can recycle more common household materials such as paper, card, glass, cans and plastic.
It follows the publication of a Scottish Government report which showed a snapshot of how well Scotland is recycling as a nation. Some items such as newspapers, magazines and glass are being recycled at high levels, but the average Scottish household still throws out 260kg, the weight of the average family (mum, dad and two children) each year.
Councillor John Laing, Chair of The Highland Council’s Transport, Environmental and Community Services Committee explained how well families in the Highlands have being doing and how they can do more:
”In 2008/9 we recycled 53,000 tonnes of material, enough to fill the Caledonian Football Stadium 27 times over. This shows the positive impact you’re already making to your local environment as well as the earth.”
“To find out what you can do locally, visit www.sort-it.org.uk”
The giant blue elephant was joined at Loch Ness by Highland Youth Convener Magnus Monahan and children from Auldourie Primary School who waved the elephant off to the next stage of his tour.
Mrs Janice MacBeath, Headteacher at Auldourie Primary School, said:
"Our pupils are keen recyclers and I'm positive this campaign will spur more people on to recycle more household waste, more often."
Environment Secretary, Richard Lochhead, said: “While we seek to tackle larger environmental problems such as climate change, we can’t lose sight of the important steps we all can take. Recycling can really make a difference, diverting waste from landfill and, in turn, help us on the road to becoming a zero waste society. Most waste sent to landfill should be viewed as a resource and put to good use.
“The report showed those who do recycle make a real difference. An extraordinary 67 per cent of newspapers and magazines are currently recycled, along with 60 per cent of glass bottles. This, of course, is fantastic but we should all constantly challenge ourselves to recycle more items, more often, and hopefully see the likes of metal cans, card and plastic bottles jump to the same recycling levels.”
As part of his tour, the elephant will appear in a number of iconic locations across Scotland. A competition will run on the campaign’s Facebook page (search for ‘Remember to Recycle’) and Twitter account (http://twitter.com/LetsRecycleMore), where members of the public can guess from a series of clues where he will appear next, with the chance to win a food hamper worth £100.
The giant blue elephant has already appeared at the following locations in The Highlands, as part of a series of community visits:
• Morrisons, Milburn Road, Inverness
• Morrisons, Dalmore Road, Alness
• Morrisons, An Aird, Fort William
For more information on recycling in Scotland, please visit www.sort-it.org.uk