WYTHENSHAWE TOWN CENTRE’S GREEN COMMITMENT PAYS OFF

Retailers in Wythenshawe town centre have recycled 10 tonnes of cardboard in just six weeks.

The success follows the launch of an initiative by town centre owner St. Modwen to reduce waste by half and recycle as much cardboard and paper as possible.

The town centre hopes to recycle more than 50 tonnes of cardboard throughout 2011.

Lee Paddock, town centre manager, said: “We’ve already put mixed recycling bins around the centre for shoppers, but we also wanted to ensure that our tenants could be as green as possible too.

“Instead of cardboard going into landfill, we’re encouraging those tenants without recycling contracts to put their card and paper waste into the new orange skips and metal cages in the service yard.

“Any money credited back to us from the recycling will then be used to fund other recycling facilities, such as glass and can collections, and in the longer term will contribute towards town centre service charges.”

Wythenshawe town centre is home to more than 80 retailers and businesses such as Pound World, Shoe Zone and Card Factory are taking part in the recycling initiative.

Donovan Fearon from Donovan’s Ladieswear said: “We receive several deliveries per week so there are always plenty of cardboard boxes to dispose of. This initiative is making us more environmentally aware and helping us to reduce our costs too. We’ve got off to a brilliant start and have really got the recycling-bug.”

As part of the initiative, the public waste and recycling bins have also been modified, with new ‘slots’ added to encourage more people to recycle their cans, bottles and glasses.