Recycling sessions for children in Darwen started up by councillor

Cllr Janes Oates, assistant executive member for environment on Blackburn with Darwen Council, is taking a group of around eight children around the Sudell area of the town teaching them how to recycle properly as well as pick up litter.

MORE TOP STORIES:

It comes after Darwen suffered a spate of contaminated recycling bins in the Sudell ward and in October, weekly general waste collections in the borough will also be stopped.

Cllr Oates said that with both these things in mind, it was vital that children were educated about what should and shouldn’t go into recycling bins.

She said: “I have started a little club doing educational sessions with children about recycling, as it is more important than ever at the moment.

“I know a few mums in the area so I started by asking them if it was okay if the kids came out with me and the word is starting to spread.

“They have really enjoyed so far, they keep wanting to come again.

“I get some of them knocking on my door asking when we’re going next.

“I hope that these sessions will spark a little interest in recycling because we must’ve had well over 100 contaminated bins in Darwen recently, so it’s important youngsters know how to recycle properly.

“With the bins cuts as well it is vital that people do recycle as much as possible. I hope to make a difference in the town.”

Cllr Oates, Labour representative in Sudell, is also hoping to go into schools in the new term to try to teach children about recycling on a wider scale.

Fellow Sudell councillor Roy Davies branded the amount of contaminated recycling bins in Darwen “totally unacceptable” last month after he found over 100 that had food waste in them in the ward.

Weekly recycling bin collections in the town will be axed on October 1.

They will be replaced with alternate weekly collections with general waste bins, resulting in recycling waste being collected once every two weeks.