New bottle banks build on smashing success as Leeds recycles an extra 5,000 tonnes of glass.

Over the last year, Leeds has increased its recycling of glass by 37%, equating to an extra 57 bottles and jars per household. Building on this success Zero Waste Leeds with Leeds City Council are running a glass recycling campaign, to say thank you and inspire the people of Leeds to recycle even more glass.

As part of this campaign, three newly decorated glass banks are being installed in Bramley, Crossgates and Seacroft. Sporting colourful designs, created by local youth groups, the glass banks are certain to catch the eye and spark conversations around glass recycling.

The glass banks were transported to their new homes on the 16^th of August. To celebrate the launch of the new banks and as part of the ongoing campaign, Zero Waste Leeds have been engaging the local communities around the importance of recycling their glass.

Recycling glass helps reduce carbon emissions and is a vital step in tackling the climate emergency. For every 10% of recycled glass added into a furnace there is a 2.5% energy saving. With 17 furnaces running 24/7 across Yorkshire that is a significant energy reduction.

Cllr Mohammed Rafique, Leeds City Council’s Executive Member for Environment and Housing, said;

“I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone in Leeds who has recycled glass over the last year, it is a really important step in our mission to tackle the climate emergency so it is really pleasing to see an extra 5,000 tonnes recycled. 

“Being able to expand our offering of glass banks is also a significant step in the right direction, especially when the banks are so eye-catching. I would like to thank all those involved in the delivery and design of the bottle banks and I am sure they will serve their communities well.”

Rob Greenland, Co-Director, Zero Waste Leeds, said;

 "We were delighted to be able to work with young people in Cross Gates, Bramley and Seacroft to come up with designs for new glass banks as part of our glass recycling campaign.  Each group came up with very different and wonderful designs in workshops with local social enterprises We Belong Here and Seagulls Reuse.   We hope the new banks will encourage even more people to want to recycle their glass.    

We're very grateful to Friends of Glass, Allied Glass and Ardagh Glass for funding the campaign, and to The Tribe Youth Group, BARCA-Leeds and Fall Into Place for their work.  Working with communities in the city is at the heart of what we do at Zero Waste Leeds and we’re very proud of this collaboration.”

Did You Know?

Leeds has over 700 glass banks at almost 400 locations. You can find your nearest by downloading the handy Leeds Bins app. Or check out the interactive map on the ZWL website which also shows how much glass has been recycled at each bank in the last year – by weight and converted into the equivalent number of bottles and jars – and the amount of energy saved.

It’s really easy to recycle glass – you don’t need to colour sort it and you can even leave bottle tops and lids on and these will get recycled too. Glass collected in Leeds goes to a local facility, where they sort, process, and remelt 95% of the glass into new bottles, thereby reducing further transport requirements and reducing carbon emissions.