A home composting-themed float, festooned with giant worms and huge pieces of fruit and vegetables, was among the attractions at Manchester Pride – the annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender festival which took place in August.

Created by Manchester City Council’s Waste and Recycling team and local partners, the float was built on to the base of a recycling collection vehicle, where staff, dressed in flamboyant hats, covered in decorative fruit and vegetables, used compost bins as drums to entertain the crowds.

Bunches of flowers, transported in pink wheelbarrows, were handed out to the many people who lined the streets to watch the colourful parade on August 25, which formed part of the entertainment for the 10-day festival.

The float also displayed banners with website details for information about home composting and other recycling issues.

This was the first time that Manchester City Council and its partners had used Manchester Pride as a platform for educating the public about the importance of home composting.

They felt the event presented an ideal opportunity to embrace Manchester’s diverse population whilst raising awareness of home composting and recycling issues among the thousands of people in the city and surrounding area who watch the event.

Fliss Paris, Environmental Awareness Officer for Manchester City Council’s Waste and Recycling Team, said: “Home composting and recycling is something that everyone can do and this is a message that we want to communicate to all sectors of the community.

“Manchester Pride gave us an ideal opportunity to reach out to hundreds of people including Manchester’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, to promote home composting in a fun and accessible way.

“Our float was very well received and generated lots of interest from the crowds. It is definitely something that we would consider doing again next year.”

The float was created by Manchester City Council in conjunction with the local home composting advisor for the national Recycle Now Home Composting Campaign, the GLOSS (Gorton Leads On Sustainability Strategy) Project run by Debdale Eco Centre, Fairfield Materials Management and Greater Manchester Waste (Manchester Collections) Ltd.

For further media information contact:

Helen Prowse (020 7440 2416) or Holly Smale (020 7440 2415)

3 Monkeys Communications
Email: Helen@3-monkeys.co.uk or Holly@3-monkeys.co.uk

or

Lynne Gunn (01295 819662)
WRAP
lynne.gunn@wrap.org.uk

Friday, 24th August, 2007 at 3:28 pm