App Aims to Improve Recycling in Central London
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - 14:59:04
A new recycling scheme, powered by a smartphone application, has been rolled out in and around Canary Wharf this month with the aim of improving the habits of residents and workers alike.
Letsrecycle.com reports that the app’s secondary intention is to drive down the amount of single-use plastic that is disposed of in the area by reminding users to bring their own reusable containers with them rather than choosing disposable bottles and cups while out and about.
Over 100,000 people live and work in Canary Wharf, which is also home to hundreds of eateries, cafes and outlets from which it is possible to buy a wide range of items. This means that a lot of waste is generated, with a significant proportion being recyclable.
The app comes with integrated location-based capabilities, meaning that when someone wants to work out the best place to dispose of any waste they possess, they can look up the nearest recycling collection point and head there directly rather than tossing it in with general waste or adding it to the wrong recycling bin.
More and more points are popping up across the district to allow tough-to-recycle products like coffee cups to be collected for sustainable processing rather than ending up in landfill sites. However, unless people know where these points are, they are likely to overlook them.
The app’s designers, hailing from a start-up called HELPFUL, wanted to make sure that those mobile owners who want to behave more sustainably and reduce their waste output can now do so thanks to the features that it offers.
Rolling out a similar service on a national scale would clearly be useful and could allow the UK to improve its recycling rates at a time when more people are becoming aware of the problems with plastic waste in particular.
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