Top tips for an eco Easter

Manchester City Council's recycling team is advising residents on how to be a good egg this Easter.

Town hall environmental bosses are urging chocolate lovers to think about the waste created by Easter eggs, most of which are sold with large amounts of packaging.

Figures from the British Retail Consortium say the UK spent £336m on Easter eggs last year - around 10 per cent of Britain's total spending on chocolate. It is also estimated that the festival generates hundreds of tonnes of foil and thousands of tonnes of cardboard each year.

Manchester's recycling team has produced a series of top tips:

• Choose eggs that are packaged in easily recyclable materials, such as ones that are just wrapped in tin foil. This can be recycled along with your cans and tins with your kerbside collection or at your nearest bring site, such as those which can be found in supermarket car parks.
• If you do receive heavily packaged Easter eggs, try and reuse or recycle the packaging. Cardboard is collected at all of Greater Manchester's Household Waste Recycling Centres, such as the Longley Lane site in Northenden and
• Show off your cooking talents by baking an Easter cake or buying chocolate moulds to make and decorate your very own eggs.
• Try to make sure your eggs have been made with Fair Trade chocolate, meaning you are making a difference to the world's poorest farmers.
• Think about whether you can give alternative gifts, such as arranging a family Easter day out, buying cuddly toys for children or even making a donation to charity.

The City Council wants to hear from residents and businesses with ideas around how waste can be minimised and recycling increased, and anyone interested should either ring freephone 0800 995 1911or log on to http://www.manchester.gov.uk/.

Councillor Neil Swannick, Executive Member for the Environment, said: "Everyone enjoys Easter, but it is also a time when huge amounts of unnecessary waste is generated. The City Council is asking residents to think carefully about how they deal with the waste that's created this year."

Manchester City Council launched Challenge Manchester - 100 Days to a cleaner, greener city 2008 on February 14 at Manchester Town Hall.

The campaign will run until 24 May 2008, featuring 100 days of intense activity all over Manchester with the first 50 days focussing on green issues - primarily waste minimisation, recycling and climate change - and the next 50 days focussing on community clean-ups, local environmental improvements and planting schemes.

The council will also be asking residents and businesses about what they want the council to do to help them minimise waste and recycle more.

Challenge Manchester began in 2004 with "Challenge Manchester: 100 Days to a Clean City", and in its fifth successful year the campaign returns to its core aim to "clean up" the city.

More information about Challenge Manchester and how you can participate appears on our website http://www.challengemanchester.co.uk/. You can also e-mail campaigns.team@notes.manchester.gov.uk or telephone 0161 954 9000

Media contact:

Conrad Astley, tel: 0161 234 4027