29/9/2009 - Top award nominations for Cumbrian recycling schemes

Two Cumbrian recycling initiatives are in the running for a host of national awards.

The R Factor - a competition challenging the county’s primary school children to produce and record a jingle promoting waste reduction and recycling –has been nominated for a best communications prize and a local government initiative gong.

And the Recycle for Barrow campaign is up for two prizes –the best communications award at the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) awards and the local public sector partnership excellence prize at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Local Public Service Awards ceremony in October.

The R Factor is in the running at the LARAC awards ceremony on October 7 (for the best communications prize) and at the Environmental Data Interactive Exchange (EDIE) awards in November (local government initiative category).

A total of 137 schools took part in the R Factor which was launched last September by Cumbria County Council and its Resource Cumbria partners.

More than 3,000 pupils took part in musical ‘boot camps’ led by professional music charity Musiclinks where they penned tunes to encourage Cumbria to reduce, reuse and recycle. A panel of expert judges then selected six finalists to face the public vote.

Over 5,000 votes were polled during finals week which ultimately saw Castle Park Primary School from Kendal and Kirkbride Primary School from Wigton being crowned winners and scooping the top prize recording session for their songs.

The Recycle for Barrow campaign, which has already taken second prize in the best partnership category at the Valpak award ceremony on Thursday (September 24), saw the launch of a completely new collection service in the Barrow borough in March this year aimed at reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and increasing recycling.

The LARAC nomination is in recognition of the successful communications campaign that supported the roll-out of the new service.

This new service expanded the range of materials collected for recycling at the kerbside to include plastics and cardboard along with glass, paper and metal tins and cans. This increased recycling capacity enabled Barrow Borough Council to replace the existing 240 litre refuse containers with a smaller bin and maintain a weekly collection of residual waste.

Thanks to the successful introduction of the new service, increased use of existing facilities, and the introduction of smaller bins, Barrow is now recycling 40 per cent of its waste compared to 23 per cent for the same period last year. 

All this was made possible due to significant investment by Barrow Borough Council and the Resource Cumbria partnership to support the roll-out of the revamped format. Another key factor in the campaign’s launch was the partnership’s successful bid for £78,000 of funding from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

Martin Allman, Cumbria County Council’s waste prevention manger, said: "To receive so many nominations for prestigious national awards is a tremendous achievement for Resource Cumbria and a testament to the success of our campaigns and initiatives.

"Both the R Factor and Recycle for Barrow have made a big difference in boosting recycling rates and getting people thinking about reducing waste, and these nominations show this is being recognised at a national level."

ENDS

Media enquiries to media officer John Ballard on 01228 226330