Events are being planned worldwide for the inaugural recycling day, with the Bureau for International Recycling urging everyone to think “resource” not “waste” when it comes to recycling and encourage folks to think of recycling in a new way.
BIR is a global recycling industry association representing over 700 companies from the private sector and 40 national trade federations from 70 different countries.
“The world’s first Global Recycling Day is a vitally important new date in our global calendar,” said BIR President Ranjit Baxi. “To truly harness the power of recycling we must adopt a global approach to its collection, processing and use. It is time we put the planet first and all commit to spend 1`0 more minutes a day ensuring that materials are disposed of properly.
“It is also a wakeup call to all of use, wherever we live,” he said. We must unite with those involved in the industry, from workers on waste mountains to the world’s largest businesses , to help them to make the best use of what we dispose of, to make recycling easier, inherent even in the design of products, and to stop expecting countries to simply accept recyclables which are difficult and costly to -process,” Baxi said.
BIR’s seven golden rules of recycling include reducing and recycling single use plastics, learning local recycling regulations, preventing contamination of recyclable materials, repair and reuse of recyclables, being recycling aware while shopping, recycling electronics and reducing the individual waste footprint.
More information is online at www.globalrecyclingday.com
