New textiles recycling banks are popping up across many borough car parks as part of a six-month trial to prevent clothes, shoes and recyclable materials from ending up in landfill.
In a 2021 study by Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority, as much as 7 per cent of waste collected in the borough’s brown bins was made up of textiles that could have been reused or recycled – that’s an estimated 2,800 tonnes of recyclable materials gone to waste.
St Helens Borough Council has partnered with Green World Recycling Ltd to ensure that garments and textiles have a life after we no longer want or need them.
Green World Recycling are a non-profit company working with the Charity Dapp UK (Development Aid from People to People), which supports projects focused on the relief of poverty, education and the development of the poorer populations.
Councillor Andy Bowden, St Helens Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Climate Change, said:
“New textiles have a much larger environmental cost than many of us realise, from the thousands of litres of water and chemicals used in production, to the carbon emissions that result from their distribution.
“We’ll be trialling these new textiles recycling banks across the borough over the next six months, giving residents another way in which to live more sustainably, while supporting good causes around the world and preventing further materials from ending up in landfill.
“It’s the same ethos that drives our new Resources and Waste Strategy and the changes to our recycling and waste collections coming later this year – to make waste a thing of the past. Each of us can do our bit in the way we eat, travel and heat our homes, and the way we reuse and recycle the things we buy.”
The locations are:
- Birchley Street car park, WA10 1HT
- Central Street car park, WA10 1TZ
- Nunn Street car park, WA10 1RZ
- North John Street car park, WA10 2JT
- Higher Parr Street car park, WA9 1AG
- Four Acre Lane car park, WA9 4JX
- Tamworth Street car park, WA12 9NJ
- Fairclough Street car park, WA12 9QR
- Elephant Lane, Thatto Heath Labour Club car park, WA9 5RA
- Ward Street car park, WA10 1TF
More locations will follow soon. Identify them by the St Helens Borough Council crest and the Green World globe logo.
For more information visit https://www.sthelens.gov.uk/article/8695/Textiles.