Further info and how to get involved.
North Tyneside Council, with the support of McDonald’s and Hubbub, has launched North Tyneside #InTheLoop, a new campaign to boost recycling on-the-go across the coastline.
Following its successful bid to the Neat Streets grant fund, the Council has received £10,000 from McDonald’s, along with support from Hubbub, to install 18 new brightly coloured #InTheLoop on-street recycling bins at North Shields Fish Quay, Tynemouth, Cullercoats, Whitley Bay, and St Mary’s.
Helpful maps and wayfinding signage along the coastline will direct people to their nearest recycling bin.
The project will make it as easy as possible for residents and visitors to recycle plastic bottles and cans while on-the-go, improving recycling rates and keeping the North Tyneside coastline clean and litter-free. The initiative comes as plans advance to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in the England, Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2027.
Litter picking stations will also be established at participating businesses, where volunteers will be able to borrow the appropriate equipment to help tidy up their coastline communities.
To keep contamination to a minimum, people are being urged to put items like coffee cups, food packaging and plastic film in the general waste bins and to think “if in doubt, leave it out”.
The project includes:
- 18 eye-catching bins place along the coast encouraging residents and visitors to recycle plastic bottles and cans while out and about
- Litter picking stations at participating businesses will enable volunteers to support their community
- On-street recycling initiative is a partnership project between North Tyneside Council, McDonald’s and environmental charity Hubbub, inspired by Hubbub’s #InTheLoop recycling on-the-go toolkit
North Tyneside Council will be measuring the impact and effectiveness of the new bins and if the campaign proves successful, the hope is to raise awareness of the benefits of recycling and support more volunteers to take action in their communities.
Councillor Hannah Johnson, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: “Following our latest Blue Flag and Seaside Awards, this campaign is another great way to keep our coastline clean and green for everyone who lives here or visits. By making it easier to recycle while out and about, we can all do our part to recycle more and reduce waste. Together, we’ll keep North Tyneside an even cleaner, greener place to live, work, and visit.”
Gavin Ellis, director & co-founder of Hubbub, said: “This new campaign will allow #InTheLoop to build upon its legacy of introducing effective recycling on-the-go in towns and cities across the UK and Ireland. With DRS on the horizon, #InTheLoop will get people into the habit of recycling plastic bottles and cans on-the-go and provide the on-street infrastructure required to collect more of these materials”
Bill Liddy, local McDonald’s Franchisee who owns and operates eight restaurants in the area, said: “Installing recycling bins and litter-picking stations along the North Tyneside coastline will really help both our community and the visitors to the area easily dispose of waste responsibly. As a business that's committed to being a good neighbour in the communities we serve, we're proud to support this initiative - and by making litter pick equipment even more accessible, we hope more volunteers are encouraged to get involved and help keep local areas litter-free."
First trialled in Leeds in 2018, Hubbub says #InTheLoop is the “UK’s biggest collaborative approach” to boost recycling on the go. The campaign has expanded to 18 local authorities across the UK and Ireland, with over 500 bins installed and over 3 million plastic and glass bottles and cans collected and recycled.
Waste produced on-the-go continues to be a significant problem for local authorities. It is estimated that less than half of local authorities currently have on-street recycling systems in place2 while nearly half of the public find recycling while out and about confusing3. Across the UK, it’s estimated that approximately 6.5 billion plastic bottles and drinks cans are not recycled every year – the equivalent of 206 every second4. That means they’re either landfilled, incinerated or littered, wasting valuable materials that could be recycled and used again and again.
The Neat Streets grant fund is supported by McDonald’s, who has funded projects with Hubbub since 2018. McDonald’s is tackling litter in local communities, both by litter picking and reducing the amount of waste its restaurants produce. The brand has been working to make recycling easier over the past four years too, and since 2015, has installed over 1,100 new recycling units, meaning it’s easier to separate plastics and cups for recycling in 85% of its restaurants. McDonald’s also collects used oil from its kitchens and turns this into enough biodiesel to fuel more than half of its delivery fleet.
For more information on how to tackle litter and increase recycling on-the-go in your local area, visit neatstreets.org.uk or my.northtyneside.gov.uk/intheloop.