Red and blue football supporters are going green as Liverpool steps up its drive to recycle more waste.
Much of the waste created by crowds on match days at Anfield and Goodison Park is now being recycled – along with waste from litter bins – throughout the city.
And in future fans could be getting their pre-match food in environmentally –friendly containers instead of the non-recyclable polystyrene containers that are currently used.
The moves to recycle waste created by football crowds are part of a wider drive to increase the amount the city recycles.
A pilot scheme to send paper, cans, glass and plastic collected from city centre street litter bins to be recycled has now been extended throughout the city. About two-thirds of the waste deposited in the bins can be recycled and since September, when the scheme began, 123 tonnes has been recycled.
Fast-food stores, as well as the football stadiums, will be approached to encourage them to use environmentally-friendly containers.
There has also been an increase in the amount of material recycled from street sweepings with about 270 tonnes extra a month diverted away from landfill.
And 100% of the city’s’ leaf fall, about 2,000 tonnes – the equivalent weight of more than 650 trees-will be sent for recycling.
Councillor Steve Munby, City Council cabinet member said: “We are looking at every aspect of city life to see if we can recycle more. This applies to football match days to domestic waste to what we sweep up from the streets.
“By 2030 we want to see only 2% of our waste sent to landfill and these latest developments are an important step towards that goal.
Councillor Laura Robertson- Collins, chair of the recycling and waste management working group, added; “We established the group in the summer to bring together the council, Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority and Enterprise Liverpool to work in partnership on this issue and we are seeing positive developments as a result of this approach.”
