Biscuit company’s recycling scheme sees the equivalent of four and a half Fiat 500 cars recycled, whilst raising more than £35,000 for charitable causes
A landmark one million biscuit wrappers have been saved from landfill through an innovative recycling scheme dubbed McVitie’s Biscuit Wrapper Brigade.
McVitie’s manufacturer United Biscuits announced this week it had passed the milestone after teaming up with recycling specialists TerraCycle to offer incentives to customers who recycle their wrappers.
Made using a mix of materials, biscuit wrappers are typically difficult to recycle and local authorities are often unequipped to deal with them. However, TerraCycle has sought to tackle the problem by providing a means for customers to collect and return wrappers and offering incentives for those that do.
Under the scheme, which was launched in 2012, wrappers can be deposited at various drop-off locations or sent individually to the company, where they are then recycled into new products such as park benches, watering cans and waste bins.
For every 2.4g of wrapper deposited, the scheme awards participants with two TerraCycle points, which can then be traded in for gifts or payments to non-profit organisations or schools of their choice. The company states that over £35,000 has been raised and donated to good causes thanks to the project.
Jon Eggleton, United Biscuit’s UK managing director, said the scheme had “been embraced by people all over the UK”.
“We are delighted on the progress to date of the McVitie’s Biscuit Wrapper Brigade,” he said in a statement. “The programme has been embraced by people all over the UK to save used biscuit wrappers from landfill, increasing environmental awareness and raising over £35,000 to help support a variety of schools, charities and non-profit organisations.”
The scheme states the number of wrappers saved is equivalent to the weight of four and a half Fiat 500 cars, or over 250 times the height of the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
The recycling programme’s website states that there are over 2,000 collection locations across the UK, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
The news comes after retail giant Argos this week launched a similar circular economy-inspired initiative, offering vouchers to customers who return old gadgets to its store for refurbishment.
Source: businessgreen.com
