Dundee’s long-running Take Pride in Your City environmental campaign is being enlisted to help boost local recycling rates.
Over the years the Take Pride drive has encouraged people to support the council in efforts to keep the Dundee clean by tackling issues like graffiti, dog fouling, discarded chewing gum, fly-tipping and litter.
Volunteers have taken part in dozens of clean ups under the campaign banner, while Take Pride has also been used to celebrate and raise awareness of the quality of city parks, allotments and green spaces.
The council has also seen its scores for environmental cleanliness rise in the last year.
Now, the campaign is relaunching and is adding recycling to its aims, to encourage people to recycle more as the city looks to meet national targets.
Neighbourhood services convener Councillor Anne Rendall, and depute convener Councillor Steven Rome, will join volunteers from the Bonnie Dundee Group and representatives from the city centre McDonald’s to mark the relaunch.
They will highlight the Take Pride messages at a new recycling pod in Union Street, close to planters maintained by Bonnie Dundee.
Councillor Rendall said: “Take Pride in Your City is an excellent campaign to highlight the great work that goes on to keep Dundee clean and also encourage people to take responsibility for problems like littering.
“I am pleased that we are now looking for residents to help us Take Pride by adding recycling to the campaign goals.”
Councillor Rendall added: “I would like to thank everyone who has helped us achieve a rise in the amount we recycle. But we all need to do much more to help Dundee meet challenging national targets.
“I hope that we can use the promotional power of Take Pride to better explain what materials can and can’t be recycled and why it is important to use the correct bin for disposing of waste like plastics, metals, paper and cardboard.
“People are rightly shocked at the damaging impact that plastic is having on the planet, and that is why we as a council are progressing our policy to limit the use of single-use plastics.
"I would also like to add a particular vote of thanks to the volunteers who consistently turn up to litter picking events - they really draw attention to the fact that there are still some people who appear to think it’s acceptable to drop litter in the street.
“it is not and we will continue to push to educate people as to why everyone needs to Take Pride in this city.”
Councillor Rome said: “Take Pride in Your City is a strong brand that has enjoyed real success and I look forward to it moving on to the next step.
“The campaign will be using imaginative ways to get messages across to people and I am sure that there will be a positive response.
“I am pleased that Bonnie Dundee and city centre retailers are continuing to support Take Pride and are showing the way forward with the relaunch.”
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
