Published on 15th December 2015

That’s the plea from Councillor Chris Coleman as local recycling banks have been improved and increased. Residents can now recycle shoes as well as textiles at all sites throughout the borough.

Three new textile/shoe banks have been added at the following locations: Church Piece car park, Old Patesian’s on Everest Road and High Street car park. There are also nine other sites around Cheltenham, as well as Swindon Road Recycling Centre, which have textile and shoe banks; all these have been refurbished and rebranded to make recycling easier for residents.

Textiles may include clothes, curtains, bedding, blankets, sheets, towels, handbags and sports bags; items must be dry and clean to be recycled. Pairs of wearable shoes, again in dry and good condition can also go into the banks. People are encouraged to put the items into bags before they drop them into the banks.

As television presenter, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall continues in his mission to stop Britain from wasting so much - using social media hashtag #wastenot – the textile banks offer yet another way for residents locally to play their part.

Councillor Coleman, cabinet member for clean and green environment, said: ‘’I am pleased that we have improved our recycling facilities even further with the addition of these banks, making it easy for residents to dispose of textiles and shoes in a way that is good for the environment.

“This initiative supports a project that we rolled out earlier this year, our ‘thanks a million’ campaign which thanked people in Cheltenham for recycling 46% of their household waste, saving £1m on landfill costs.

“There are lots of good reasons to recycle; it’s better for the environment, it’s easy and most items can easily be recycled at one of our banks or from the kerbside. It’s also important to get the message out that recycling and re-using saves us all money. We are still spending £1.4m to bury waste at landfill each year so we need to combine our efforts even more to get this figure down.”

As well as textiles and shoes, a large variety of other materials can also be taken to banks for recycling including glass, paper, cans, foil, card, mixed plastics, books, CD’s/videos and cartons. Residents are advised to check ahead as some of the smaller sites don’t have banks for every material. Find out which items can be taken to which sites or call the team on 01242 262626.

People can read more about Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s campaign and find general tips and handy hints.


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