Cllr Edward Biggs, DDC Cabinet Member for Planning and Built Environment, Gary Morrison, Veolia Senior Contract Manager and Michael Grant, Veolia Operations Manager
Folkestone & Hythe and Dover District Councils are thrilled to welcome new plastic bottle recycling bins for Sunny Sands Beach in Folkestone and Dover seafront.
The bins are a generous gift from the councils’ waste management and street cleansing contractor, Veolia, who want to inspire beach goers to recycle their plastic bottles.
The ‘BinForGreenSeas’ was created by two clever students at the University of East London in 2019. The bins are shaped like life buoys and have a catchy slogan: ‘throw marine life a lifeline’.
The bins are designed to catch the eye of beach visitors and remind them of the link between littering and harming the sea life and our health. Each bin is a symbol of hope and action to reduce plastic pollution.
Did you know that in the UK alone, 700,000 plastic water bottles are thrown away every day (source: Keep Britain Tidy)?
Cllr Jeremy Speakman, Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s Cabinet Member for Assets and Operations, said: “We are over the moon to have this new bin at Sunny Sands which will make recycling plastic bottles a breeze and help keep our beach sparkling.”
Cllr Edward Biggs, Cabinet member for Environment at Dover District Council, said: “We’re overjoyed to receive this amazing new GreenSeas Trust plastic bottle recycling bin for Dover beach from Veolia. We care deeply about our environment and our future generations, and this bin will encourage beach users to recycle their plastic waste while helping to keep the beach tidy.”
David Fitzgerald, General Manager for Veolia, said: “We’re delighted to see these new bins in use. We believe that creative design can have a huge impact on changing behaviour, and by placing these plastic bottle recycling bins along the seafront, we hope to see a wave of change towards capturing more recycling, helping us achieve ecological transformation across both districts.”
Fazilette Khan, Founder Trustee of GreenSeas Trust, said: “It is wonderful to be placing two of our BinForGreenSeas in Dover and Folkestone. I am especially happy because I worked out of the Port of Dover myself and know the bins will motivate people to be more responsible with their waste.”