Here’s how to get discounted car parking in Leeds city centre throughout October

Last year, the parking operator recycled hundreds of single-use plastic bottles in a month after offering customers 20p off their parking for every 500ml plastic bottle brought to CitiPark’s Merrion Centre car park.

This year’s scheme will offer a discount of 5p for every plastic bag handed in to the Merrion Centre and Leeds Dock car parks throughout October.

Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide, which can take hundreds of years to biodegrade depending on the type of plastic.

Charlotte-Daisy Leeming, head of corporate social responsibilities at CitiPark, said: “We’re extremely pleased to see our recycling scheme return for the second year running following a successful launch last year.

“Today’s society has become so dependent on the convenience of single-use plastic and too often we neglect the implications its use has on our environment and future generations.

“Incentives such as our recycling scheme enable us to shed light on the scale of the issue and draw attention to the single-use plastic products contributing most to the problem, such as bags and bottles.”

Once collected, the plastic bags will be donated to local schools for a project encouraging pupils to find organisations that will work with them to provide long-term, practical recycling solutions for single-use plastic products. CitiPark is also taking part in ‘Merrion Centre Goes Green’ at the Merrion Centre from Monday, October 7 to Friday 11. The week-long series of activities will focus on sustainability, health and well-being, recycling and protecting the environment.