Recycle more - help create a Greener Scotland
Can you guess where the giant elephant will appear next?
The next time you're about to throw something in the bin, remember to have a think about whether you can recycle it instead.
By recycling more, more often, you'll be doing your bit to help Scotland be as environmentally-friendly as possible.
Scotland has moved from being almost wholly dependent on landfill to dispose of refuse, to recycling over 35 percent of all municipal waste.
Yet a lot could still be done to cut down on waste, and the Scottish Government's Zero Waste recycling campaign is working to help people in Scotland to remember to recycle more, more often.
Each Scottish household produces a tonne of waste each year, much of which can be recycled to help conserve the planet's resources. Card, paper, cans, glass and plastic bottles can all be recycled instead of being sent to landfill.
It's easier than ever to recycle, with more than 3360 recycling locations across Scotland and 83 percent of all people in Scotland having access to kerbside recycling facilities.
Recycling is much better for the environment than sending waste to landfill. Waste disposed of at landfill releases methane gas as it rots, which is more than 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat from the sun in the planet's atmosphere, speeding up the rate of climate change.
Recycling also helps to save money and resources. For example sending a tonne of glass to landfill costs local authorities around £55, but a tonne of glass recycled through bottle bank schemes saves about £15 per tonne. The energy saved by recycling a single glass bottle could power a washing machine for 10 minutes.
For more information on what and where you can recycle, visit www.sort-it.org.uk
Can you guess where the giant blue elephant will appear next?
They say elephants never forget, which is why a giant inflatable elephant will visit towns and cities across the country in the coming weeks to help ensure you remember to recycle more, more often.
The elephant, part of the Scottish Government's Zero Waste recycling campaign, will be visiting more than 70 locations, including shopping centres and supermarkets, before the end of May as part of a road show to help people in Scotland remember to reduce their household waste. Click here for dates of when the elephant will be visiting your local area.
At each road show, visitors will be able to find out more about where they can recycle locally, take part in a fun recycling game, and, most importantly, have the chance to meet and get their picture taken with the 10-foot blue inflatable face of recycling in Scotland.
A total of 12 iconic local landmarks will also be visited by the elephant - but these locations will be a tightly-kept secret until the day he arrives!
You can however keep up to date with his progress and be in with the chance of winning a prize by guessing where he'll appear next on Twitter by following @letsrecyclemore.
You can also become a fan on Facebook by searching for "Remember to Recycle".
Audio Features
Listen again to our on air features for this Life Matters article. Click on the 'play' link next to one of the titles to play that item.
PLAY > Zero Waste Clip 1
PLAY > Zero Waste Clip 2
PLAY > Zero Waste Clip 3
PLAY > Zero Waste Clip 4
PLAY > Zero Waste Clip 5
PLAY > Zero Waste Clip 6
Comments
Just last week we had a talk and slide show about recycling bringing it home to us all the merits involved in such a scheme to keep your neighbourhood more clean and green.john macleod