Blackpool boosts beachfront sustainability with bold new recycling bins on the promenade unveiled by Jowita Przystał  

The popular holiday resort has been awarded £12,500 through the #InTheLoop grant fund, to boost out-of-home recycling for residents and visitors 

Blackpool Council’s environmental service provider Enveco, has been awarded £12,500 to install its first ever on-the-go recycling bins along its famous beachfront promenade.  

The funding is being provided by trade body Natural Source Waters Association (NSWA) as part of the #InTheLoop recycling initiative which is run by environmental charity Hubbub.  

At the launch, BBC Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer and former winner, Jowita Przystał, unveiled the first of 20 recycling bins, dedicated to collecting plastic bottles and drinks cans for recycling.  

The bins are being introduced along Blackpool’s promenade, famous for its iconic Tower, Comedy Carpet and three piers. The seafront and beach is a popular spot for picnicking and will be the first time Blackpool will have dedicated recycling bins to make it easy for the 20 million visitors per year, to recycle drink containers when visiting the country’s premier holiday resort.  

Finding recycling bins for drinks containers while out and about can be difficult in the UK. With the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) delayed until October 2027 the #InTheLoop campaign aims to help alleviate the issue and boost efforts to secure as many plastic drinks bottles and cans for recycling as possible.   

Blackpool’s new bins will have clear signage to guide people on what can be collected for recycling. They will be positioned along the promenade alongside general waste bins that are already in situ, to make recycling plastic bottles and cans when visiting the beach as easy as possible. Brightly coloured chalk footprints, including ballroom dancing shoes and seagull tracks (one of Keep Blackpool Tidy’s mascots), will be spray-painted on the promenade to help people easily find the bins. 

Jowita Przystał, Dancer and former Strictly Come Dancing winner, said: “Dancing in Blackpool is always so special to me and many of my fellow dancers. It is great to see the seaside resort taking positive steps towards becoming more sustainable. I am thrilled to be invited to reveal the first of 20 new bins in the area. The colourful In The Loop designs fit so well with this playful destination, while also communicating the important message of recycling on-the-go. I’ll certainly be using them on my way to and from rehearsals and performances on the dance floor!” 

Cllr Lynn Williams MBE, Leader of Blackpool Council, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to raise the awareness of ‘ On the Go Recycling ‘ to everyone visiting our promenade and beach. The high profile Promenade location will give plenty of scope to recycle responsibly and reduce the level of plastic cans and bottles being littered on the beach entering the seas and oceans, and their devastating impact on the environment.” 

Cllr Adrian Hoyle, Chairman of Board Enveco NW said:  ‘Blackpool provides bins at all access steps to the beach during the bathing season (May – September), between North and South Pier. The award of the grant is a great opportunity to increase the recycling of materials that would normally be disposed of as general waste. The grant awarded will allow for 20 specific recycling, to maximise the recycling potential of plastic bottles and cans and the continued education for recycling responsibly.” 

Anthony Walker, at Natural Source Waters Association, who represent natural source water producers in the UK, said : “Bottles and cans are a vital and valuable commodity, and we want these containers to be captured so they can be recycled into new ones. Producers are keen to make it as easy as possible for people to recycle the right things in the right places and Hubbub’s #InTheLoop campaign is a proven way of doing this. It improves both recycling rates and the quality of material collected on-the-go, helping these containers get another life, whilst also reducing litter. The next step in achieving a circular economy for bottles and cans is for aligned deposit return schemes to be introduced across the four nations of the UK, which is why we are working with UK Governments to make this happen.” 

Hubbub launched #InTheLoop in 2018. Since then, over 2.5 million plastic and glass bottles and cans have been collected and recycled. There are now over 600 #InTheLoop bins across the country, providing solutions for towns and cities such as Blackpool who want to tackle out-of-home recycling.  

The campaign is based on the #InTheLoop toolkit which was funded by environmental compliance scheme Ecosurety and brings together key learnings and insights gathered from previous trials and aims to act as a blueprint for future projects.  

For more information on the grant funding and to access the In The Loop toolkit, including downloadable assets, visit www.intheloop.org.uk or contact intheloop@hubbub.org.uk