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Unilever Works With Councils To Promote Tea Bag Recycling

15 May 2012

Unilever UK has announced a new partnership with Brentwood Borough Council, Chelmsford Council and WRAP to change consumer habits and encourage Essex residents to recycle their teabags

As a nation of tea lovers, the UK alone consumes some 165m cups of tea every day, with the vast majority of tea drinkers throwing their used teabags in the bin.

The campaign kicks off on 14 May with widespread advertising which will be visible on six sheet posters at bus shelters and in local newspapers, ensuring the positive message is prominent at home and while out and about.

Adverts, featuring PG tips' much-loved, iconic "Monkey", advise tea drinkers that they can dispose of their used tea bags in their kerbside food waste collection and do their bit to reduce Essex's waste to landfill.

According to WRAP, tea is by far the largest element of unavoidable food waste produced in the UK, above items such as fruit peels and onion-skins, accounting for circa 370,000 tonnes of waste every year.

The campaign is the first time that any of the parties have worked to promote tea bag recycling.

Paul Sherratt, global packaging and sustainability director - Beverages at Unilever said: "To achieve the ambitious time-bound goals we've set out in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, we need to collaborate with organisations such as WRAP and forward-thinking councils such as Brentwood and Chelmsford in order to encourage consumers to recycle wherever they can. Only through such partnerships can we really begin to tackle such challenges."

Marcus Gover, director of the Closed Loop Economy at WRAP said, "With 52 percent of local authorities now offering food waste collections, we encourage people to recycle as much of their food waste as possible. WRAP welcomes Unilever's initiative with Chelmsford and Brentwood as it demonstrates a real commitment to take responsibility for the whole life of their product. We need to see more of this kind of initiative."

Darrel Moore