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How green is your house?
A competition has been launched to find a Hull 'eco family' to help promote messages about recycling.
The winning family will receive £800 in holiday vouchers, plus a free, one-year family pass to a Hull leisure centre
Is your family committed to recycling and reducing the amount of waste it throws away? Do you have at least one child at a Hull school, college or university?
Is your family interested in helping to promote recycling and waste reduction messages in Hull?
Would you like your pictures to be in Hull in print, on the council website, on posters across the city and in other media?
If so, you could become Hull City Council's eco family, and win holiday vouchers to the value of £800 – plus a one-year family pass to a Hull City Council leisure centre of your choice.
Family matters
The council is searching for a typical Hull family to:
- to promote recycling and waste reduction messages in the city in order to encourage more residents to recycle, re-use and reduce the amount of waste they throw away
- pass on your recycling and waste minimisation tips to other residents through interviews in Hull in print, the council website and in other media
- help to launch Hull's new waste collection scheme later this year, in which all households will be able to recycle even more of their waste including cardboard and kitchen and garden waste
Why do we need a family?
"By each of us making very small changes in our lifestyles we can collectively help the environment by preventing global warming," says Cllr Dave Woods, who is responsible for the environment at Hull City Council.
"And what better place is there to start than at home? "We feel the best way to encourage people to make these changes is by using an everyday Hull family who people can relate to and who can show how easy it is to get into the habit of being greener and recycling.
"The family will appear in the media and talk about how they recycle, showing other residents how simple it is, and why it's important.
"Even such tiny changes in our habits like not leaving our computers and televisions in standby mode, and only filling the kettle with the water we need, can help cut carbon emissions by saving energy.
"These may seem like small things to individuals, but if we all do it on a city-wide scale it makes a huge difference.
It's about protecting the planet for future generations."
Family values
It's likely that the winning family will already be doing plenty to help the environment, for example by using:
- energy saving light bulbs
- a home compost bin
- recycling boxes and bins provided by Hull City Council
- any of the four household waste recycling centres across the city It's also likely that the family members will take opportunities to:
- walk, cycle or use public transport, instead of driving
- car share/cycle to work
- buy re-usable products instead of disposable ones (for example razors and batteries)
- not use carrier bags when shopping
- buy loose fruit and vegetables rather than packaged ones
- Use a water butt in their garden to save water
If this is you?
Please complete a questionnaire, available from customer service centres, area housing offices and schools, by phoning 300300 or online at www.hullcc.gov.uk
You can also provide additional information such as a letter, diary or pictorial record, stating why you should be the council's eco family.
Send any additional information to: Eco family competition, c/o Doug Sharp, Waste Management Team, Dalton Street Depot, Dalton Street, Hull, HU8 8BB.
Closing date 30 June.
Why is it important?
Scientists have warned that the build up of carbon gases in the air is forming a layer around the atmosphere which traps in too much heat – hence carbon gases are sometimes called greenhouse gases.
If the planet warms up too much, there could be freak weather such as flooding or heatwaves.
Carbon gases are released from car exhausts and the burning of fossil fuels to make electricity.
They are also released from the rotting waste in landfill sites.
And the amount of household waste which Hull residents bury every year is the equivalent in weight to around 10,000 double decker buses.
Our current recycling rate is 26 per cent – some way short of our target of 45 per cent.
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