Dalston resident Brendan Cherry found himself £100 better off after winning Resource Cumbria's Golden Bin competition this week.
Brendan ordered a compost bin as part of Compost Awareness Week celebrations in May run by Resource Cumbria - the waste partnership between Cumbria County Council the district councils. Brendan was picked as the lucky winner of £100 of garden centre vouchers donated by DHL, the logistics company that delivers the scheme's compost bins.
The brand new bin, complete with giant gold bow, was delivered to Brendan at home by Judith Bradshaw, Resource Cumbria's recycling ranger for Carlisle and Eden.
Judith said: "It must have been a nice surprise to end up £100 better off just for getting a new compost bin for the garden. Brendan is just one of thousands of people in Cumbria who are taking advantage of the cut price compost bins. He will now be able to recycle up to one third of his household waste by home composting and in the process make free fertiliser for his garden."
Brendan was one of 2,555 people so far this year to take advantage of a special scheme to provide cut-price compost bins to Cumbrian households. That's on top of 11,691 bins provided last year through the scheme operated in the county by Resource Cumbria.
Anyone who missed out on this year's Compost Awareness Week can still get cut-price compost bins through the scheme. To find out what bins are available, residents can log on to www.resourcecumbria.orgor phone 0845 077 0757.
Composting and recycling rates in Cumbria have been rising year on year.
In 2006/7 the county achieved a combined household recycling rate of 34.12% made up of 14.84% of recycling and 19.09% composting. In real terms that meant 1,900 fewer waste lorries dumped their loads in landfill sites. In 2004, Cumbria's combined recycling and composting rate was just 17.7%. The county's target for 2007/8 is to reach 38% - 16% composting and 22% recycling.
ENDS
Notes
1. Resource Cumbria operates the compost bins scheme which is implemented and managed by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) on behalf of the Government. The aim of the campaign is to encourage more people to recycle more stuff, more often.
2. WRAP works in partnership to encourage and enable businesses and consumers to be more efficient in their use of materials and recycle more things more often. This helps to minimise landfill, reduce carbon emissions and improve our environment.
3. Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by Government funding from Defra and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
4. Working in seven key areas (Construction, Retail, Manufacturing, Organics, Business Growth, Behavioural Change, and Local Authority Support), WRAP's work focuses on market development and support to drive forward recycling and materials resource efficiency within these sectors, as well as wider communications and awareness activities including the multi-media national Recycle Now campaign for England.
5. More information on all of WRAP's programmes can be found at www.wrap.org.uk
6. A survey conducted by Exodus in autumn 2005 interviewed 20,000 GB citizens and revealed that 34% of GB households have composted something at home over the last 12 months, with 23% composting both kitchen and garden waste.
The picture shows the Golden Bin winner Brendan Cherry of Dalston gets his £100 prize and compost bin from recycling ranger Judith Bradshaw.
Media enquiries to Justin Hawkins, Media Officer on 01228 606334