Waste Awareness Wales launches new adverts

A series of new Welsh and English television and radio adverts are to be launched by Waste Awareness Wales today (Monday 16 October) as the most recent drive in the ‘recycle for Wales/ ailgylchu dros Gymru’ campaign.

The new adverts aim to improve awareness and understanding of a variety of materials that can be recycled, and have been designed to illustrate the ease and benefits of recycling in everyday life. Focusing on paper, cans and glass, the advert stars a young boy from Abercynon, Evan Rhys Coxley, and is shot creatively in the style of a home video, showing the child’s perspective of recycling. The strap-line ‘It’s our future, please don’t throw it away’ that has appeared in previous Waste Awareness Wales adverts remains the key message delivered by the new advertisement.

Since Waste Awareness Wales launched the ‘recycle for Wales /ailgylchu dros Gymru’ campaign in November 2004, considerable investment has been made to improve recycling facilities across Wales. Kerbside recycling collections have increased across the country and, with more easily-accessible recycling facilities available, it is now easier to recycle than ever before.

Councillor Richard Parry Hughes, chairperson of Waste Awareness Wales, commented:

"Recent figures show that we are making positive progress in our quest to reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites, with nearly 20% of our waste now being recycled or composted. However, we must keep up the momentum. We hope that the new adverts will not only make more people aware of a range of materials they can recycle but also make them realise the difference they can make by reducing and reusing materials rather than disposing of it. Making small changes to our behaviour will help us rise to the challenge of improving our recycling performance, ultimately helping Wales work towards hitting our national recycling target of 40% by 2010."

Carwyn Jones AM, Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside, added:

"Local authorities across Wales have made progress over the last year, both in increasing recycling rates and reducing the amount sent to landfill.

"Our funding has provided Waste Awareness Wales with means of producing and delivering a set of fresh and imaginative adverts that will help encourage people in Wales to think more about reducing and reusing their waste as well as recycling as much as they can."