Locals are being encouraged to get their hands dirty to help promote a ‘Go Green’ campaign.
It is National Go Green Week from the 10th till the 16th of February – an annual week of action on climate change.
In support of the national campaign, local community groups and Greenbank-based councillors are doing everything they can to raise awareness about the environmental issues within Merseyside.
Labour councillor Laura Robertson-Collins told JMU Journalism: “It is go green in every sense of the word. It’s absolutely vital in terms of raising awareness about waste facilities, promoting recycling and composting to minimise waste.”
Many events have already taken place at Liverpool’s Student Union and the Methodist church, but Toxteth Town Hall will be holding a Go Green drop-in centre this Thursday where people can get advice on recycling and composting.
Local residents are also encouraged to attend Fern Grove community Garden on Lodge Lane
in Toxteth this Sunday where seeds for cornflowers, radish, basil, coriander will be planted. It’s hoped the public will become more aware of how easy and cost-effective it can be to grow their own food. Liverpool Council will also be selling compost bins to those who attend.
Cllr Robertson-Collins added: “The cost of landfills is on the rise as is amounts of waste, the council have changed many of the local areas purple bin collections to every two weeks to encourage recycling but the council cannot do this alone.”
It is hoped that the week-long campaign will work alongside the ongoing environmental aims of the council.
Louise Hazan, a spokesperson for People and Planet, said changing behaviours is a key of making people more green. She told JMU Journalism: “Cycling more and changing our own personal behaviour is important, but Go Green Week is also about asking ourselves, and our universities, the bigger questions about how we can tackle the looming climate crisis.
“Current flooding and storms around the UK is just a taster of things to come and Go Green Week is raising awareness of who’s really responsible: the fossil fuel companies continuing to extract and burn more fossil fuels than our atmosphere can handle.”
For more information about The National Go Green week click here.
Additional reporting by Simone Foggin