Council is Joining the 2025 ‘Rescue Me! Recycle’ campaign

Now in its twenty-second year, Recycle Week (organised by Recycle Now) is the biggest national annual celebration of recycling. The campaign continues to shine a spotlight on missed items that too often end up in the black bin but can, and should, be recycled. Following the success of last year’s campaign, ‘Rescue Me! Recycle’ returns with two new characters joining the recycling mission – shampoo bottles and tin foil. These items join the list from last year’s campaign which included trigger sprays, aerosols, yoghurt pots, aftershave, perfume bottles and toilet roll tubes.

 

The campaign runs from Monday 22 to Sunday 28 September to celebrate the efforts of people in our district and help save key packaging items from the black bin. The latest Recycle Now research shows that although nine out of ten people regularly recycle – nearly eight out of ten of us (79%) put one or more items into the black bin that could have been recycled. 

 

A week of social media messages, ‘Rescue Me! Recycle’ aims to empower residents in our district to look out for various items missed most often in the weekly recycling collection. We will be encouraging residents to keep them in circulation by recycling. 

 

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Philip Campbell said, “I would like to extend a big thank you to all the residents of Newry, Mourne and Down for their hard work. Our district is making great strides in recycling, and our current recycling rate is 49%. This is a positive achievement, but we know we can do even better.

 

“That’s why I'm fully supporting the new ‘Rescue Me! Recycle’ campaign. This campaign highlights common packaging items that are often missed and put in the wrong bin. By rescuing these materials and ensuring they end up in the correct bin, we can make our recycling efforts even more impactful.

 

Let's keep up the great work. Together, we can make our recycling better than ever and raise our recycling rate even higher!”

 

One of the easiest ways residents can address missed items is by recycling more of the right things, more often. Here are some top tips that residents can do to help us recycle right:

 

• Your Blue/Green Bin is for dry recycling materials including glass, bottles and jars

• Your Brown Bin is for ALL food waste 

• Your Black Bin is for all materials that cannot be recycled 

• Remember: Recycling materials MUST NOT be placed in your Black Bin

 

If residents are unsure about how to recycle a specific item or need more information on recycling materials at home, please visit: www.newrymournedown.org/blue-green-bin

Catherine David, CEO, WRAP said, “Recycle Week continues to be a powerful moment to inspire action across the UK, and this year’s ‘Rescue Me! Recycle’ campaign is no exception. By highlighting everyday items like shampoo bottles and foil—things we often overlook—we’re helping people see the real impact of small changes. Thanks to innovation and collaboration, more of these items can now be recycled than ever before. Together with local authorities and communities, we’re making it easier to do the right thing and keep valuable materials in use. Let’s rescue these items from the rubbish and give them a second life.”

 

To find out more about Recycle Week visit www.recyclenow.org.uk/RecycleWeek.