Winners find the romance in recycling

5.14.12pm GMT Mon 5th Feb 2007

By showing their love for the environment, four keen recyclers have each scooped a £50 prize from Richmond Council.

Helen Lane of Twickenham Road and Janet Hilton of Elmfield Avenue, Teddington, and Sian Pile of Strafford Road and Dorothy Bates of Haggard Road, St Margaret's, are the February winners of the Recycling Incentives scheme. They each win the cash for regularly recycling their food waste, paper, glass, tins, cans and jars.

Their success coincides with a new awareness and education campaign from the Council's Recycling Team urging residents to make the environment their Valentine, and recycle. Council officers will tour the borough to speak to residents about the importance of reducing waste and issue new recycling containers. They will be backed by a publicity campaign with the message, "love the environment, recycle", which will culminate in a series of summer roadshows.

Cllr Martin Elengorn, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: "We want to make the borough the most sustainable in the country and improving our recycling rate from 30 towards 40 per cent is a key part of our efforts. Every resident needs to play a part and take every opportunity to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste. Congratulations to this month's winners and I hope their example will prove an inspiration for others."