Recycle Week is an annual event run by Wrap designed to raise awareness of the importance of recycling. Running from the 17th to the 21st of October this year, Recycle Week is a brilliant opportunity for organisations to come together to encourage the public to recycle more of the right things. According to Wrap, results from last year’s campaign saw 82% of people reporting that they had altered their recycling habits as a result of seeing Recycle Week 2021 content. With this in mind, this year’s event has the potential to make a real difference.
At Rendall & Rittner, sustainability is always firmly on the agenda. Having first received recognition for managing sustainable developments back in 2010, we are proud to continue creating safe, well run and environmentally sensitive communities. Throughout Recycle Week, we have organised a variety of activities that will help enable our residents to live more sustainably.
Wish-cycling Quiz
The theme of Recycle Week this year is ‘Let’s Get Real’. This is designed to challenge the perceptions and myths around recycling, ensuring that there is a greater understanding of what can (and what can’t) be recycled.
‘Wish-cycling’ occurs when items that aren’t able to be recycled, are placed in recycling bins. It is great that so many people are keen to recycle as much as possible, but contamination can occur when non-recyclable items get mixed in with recyclable ones, which ultimately leads to a lot of material unnecessarily ending up in a landfill. To help, we have created a Recycle Week quiz! This will allow our residents to test themselves on what really is recyclable and tackle wish-cycling.
Bike Repairs
Reusing is even better than recycling, as it reduces energy consumption and potential pollution. As bikes are a great way to travel sustainably, we have partnered with Fix Your Cycle to offer Fix Your Bike sessions at White City (on Wednesday) and at Woodberry Down (on Friday). Ideal for residents looking for a greener way to travel around the capital, this provides an opportunity to get old bikes checked over and serviced. Furthermore, tackling the issue of abandoned bikes, Fix Your Cycle will also be collecting discarded bikes in order to repair and resell them to new owners.
Clothing Recycling
If you have had a sort out of your wardrobe recently, there is no need to throw your old clothes away! We are working alongside some great organisations at developments across our portfolio to collect unwanted clothing. Laundry and dry-cleaning service supplier, LaundryRepublic, collects the clothes before donating them to Scope, to support their work striving for equality for disabled people. We also work with White Rose who will collect unwanted clothing and accessories to sell, with all the profits used to support Aegis Trust, a charity that aims to prevent genocide, crimes against humanity, and mass atrocities.
Delphis Eco
Recycle Week is a great opportunity to highlight our continued partnership with sustainable cleaning company, Delphis Eco. At Rendall & Rittner, we use Delphis Eco’s ecological cleaning products to clean many of our developments all year round. As well as avoiding the use of harsh chemicals, the company deploys the first-ever British-made 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles and ensures that all of its packaging is recyclable, right down to the biodegradable inks and adhesives. To mark Recycle Week, Delphis Eco has kindly offered a special 10% discount on two litre products bought during Recycle Week. Find out more about how to claim this deal in the latest Residents Club newsletter.
Partnerships with Local Authorities
When addressing problems like recycling, our collective power is much greater than our individual impact. That is why we are delighted to be working in partnership with several local authorities during Recycle Week, including Richmond, Wandsworth, Tower Hamlets, and Lambeth. For example, Westminster Council will be visiting Merchant Square in Paddington on Tuesday the 18th to host an information stall for residents and promote recycling practices. Westminster Council will also be ending the week by hosting a webinar for residents and staff in their wards on Friday.
Recycling Plant Visit
To gain a greater understanding of how we can all Reduce, Reuse & Recycle more effectively, a group of us will shortly have the opportunity to visit Western Riverside Waste Authority to find out what happens to recycling and waste. The tour will include representatives from a number of our developments who will learn about the waste management system across Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington &Chelsea and Lambeth and Wandsworth.