We all know we should be doing more to recycle, and now there’s no excuse not to get involved right here in Leeds. Between now and Saturday 6th May, a campaign run by Friends of Glass, Marks & Spencer, and Leeds City Council, will be looking to encourage people in our fair city to recycle more glass.

Yep, that’s right, we’re being urged to become a ‘recycling hero’ by taking our glass bottles and jars to specially decorated recycling banks at the Marks & Spencer Moortown store on Harrogate Road. The initiative is part of a drive to raise awareness of just how easy it is to recycle glass packaging and to encourage people to recycle all their empty glass bottles and jars.

To liven up a topic which has in the past been a little…how shall we say it…dry, there’s a Friends of Glass competition to win a prize for the best selfie or photo of shoppers recycling bottles or jars at city glass banks. The photo can be taken at any of the 700 glass banks around the city and submitted to the Friends of Glass Facebook or Instagram pages. There are five Apple iPad Mini 2s up for grabs for the lucky winners of the competition.

Gareth Jones, Operations Director at glass industry body British Glass says: “Glass is endlessly and 100% recyclable and can be used to make new bottles and jars over and over again. Yorkshire has a proud history of being at the forefront of the UK’s glass manufacturing industry. For example, all the glass that is collected in Leeds is recycled locally in Yorkshire, with around 5 billion glass bottles and jars produced every year by 7 Yorkshire-based glass factories. By recycling as much glass as possible, the people of Leeds will help ensure there is a steady supply of glass available to put back into the system. Using recycled glass to make new glass also saves energy and helps reduce emissions into the atmosphere”.

The decorated glass recycling banks at the Moortown Marks & Spencer are located in the store’s car park. Alternatively, to find the nearest glass bank to you, you can simply download the Leeds Bin App. It’s far more exciting than the name suggests!

So go on, what are you waiting for?! Take your glass to be recycled this week, take a selfie at the same time, and you could get your hands on one of those iPads…