The first retail centre in the southwest of England has launched an on-the-go recycling programme to encourage shoppers to dispose of their waste more responsibly.
Barnstaple contains 400 retail units which are participating in the initiative, organised by Every Can Counts in partnership with Barnstaple Town Council and BID Barnstable. The programme is being aligned with the BID civic pride initiative, which aims to encourage traders and shoppers to take pride in their town centre.
Every Can Counts previously partnered with North Devon Council, Ilfracombe Town Council and Woolacombe Parish council to encourage residents to recycle their drinks cans at Ilfracombe and Woolacombe beaches. Cans are being collected and processed by local community recycling enterprise, Community Resources.
Expanding on this, each of the 400 stores and restaurants within Barnstaple town centre have been provided with recycling boxes and promotional materials to encourage staff and shoppers to recycle their empty drink cans.
Rick Hindley from Every Can Counts said: “Through the partnership with BID, we will be engaging with two significant groups of ‘on the go’ consumers – those who work in businesses in the town centre and shoppers – so it offers us great opportunity to comprehensively promote drinks can recycling to a wide audience. ”
Although Barnstaple is the first retail site in the southwest to introduce Every Can Counts, the programme is being actively promoted in workplaces and to ‘on the go’ consumers around the UK. Some 525 organisations now use the programme