Recycling Week - 2nd-6th June

Date of Event: 02/06/2008 - 06/06/2008

Recycle your plastic bags in Recycling Week: 2nd - 6th June

Lewisham residents are being called to collect up their old plastic bags and swap them for a cotton shopping bag during Recycling Week.

Recycling Week, which runs from 2 to 6 June, aims to encourage people to recycle more.

It can take hundreds of years for a plastic carrier bag to degrade and residents are being asked to think twice before using them. Lewisham Council is holding an event in Lewisham Town Centre where residents can bring their old plastic bags and swap them for a re-usable cotton bag. Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury's in Lewisham Shopping centre will be giving away prizes to the person who brings the most plastic bags!

Elsewhere in the borough local arts group, Other World Arts, will be running workshops for the children of St Mary’s School, in Lewisham, showing them how to make pom-poms from old plastic carrier bags.

Using collections of surplus, reusable materials, Other World Arts create an atmosphere of fun and excitement, where children of all ages and abilities can learn via arts and crafts and raise their awareness of environmental issues.

Other World Arts promote the 4 R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recreate.

The children will also be at the Town Centre to show off their newly created pom-pom collection and encourage shoppers to part with their old plastic bags and have their face painted for free.

Where:  Lewisham Market Focal Area - Just outside the main entrance to the shopping centre
Date:     Friday 6 June
Time:     12.0 pm to 4.30p

More information

As well as swapping their old carrier bags, shoppers can get information and advice from the Council’s recycling team, who will be on hand all day to answer questions and show people how easy it is now to recycle in Lewisham.

Other World Arts have taken part in many festivals and events locally in Lewisham, London and overseas, using their distinctive recycled creations to highlight environmental awareness. For more information go to http://www.otherworldarts.co.uk/

Recycling: Lewisham Council offers a door-to-door recycling collection to all houses in the borough – that’s over 75,000 homes.

What can be recycled:

• Glass
• Paper
• Cans
• Cardboard
• Plastic bottles

Tetrapak cartons: Even though cartons such as milk or fruit juice cartons cannot be placed into household recycling bins in Lewisham, there are now special bins where you can leave them to be collected for recycling, at:

- Sainsbury, New Cross Gate
- Sainsbury, Forest Hill
- Laurence House car park, Catford
- Grove Park Bus Garage, Baring Road
- Tesco, Lewisham.

Recycling collection services: Any resident who lives in a house, or a house that has been converted into up to three flats, is entitled to a green recycling box which Lewisham will empty each week. There is also a green bag scheme for garden waste.

Recycling facilities: There are 42 recycling sites in the borough and 350 sites on housing estates.  Recycling sites can be located by going to: http://www2.lewisham.gov.uk/lbl/streetmap/finder.asp  Residents can also text RECYCLE and provide their full London postcode to 63131 for recycling services in their street.

Guides to recycling:
http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/Environment/RubbishWasteAndRecycling/Recycling