Christmas has come early for one charity which benefits from Edinburgh residents' ever-increasing recycling efforts.

For every tonne of material recycled through the familiar red and blue box kerbside collection scheme £1 is donated to the Save the Children charity by AbitibiBowater Recycling Europe (AbitibiBowater), the company that runs the service on behalf of the Council.

A £10,000 donation, accounting for eight months' worth of kerbside recycling, has been presented to the charity.

This sum was raised through the multimaterial kerbside scheme, which collects cans, cardboard, glass, paper and textiles. The service, which makes it easier for people to recycle, has been in operation since June 2005 and approximately 120,000 residents are currently on the collection routes.

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Councillor Robert Aldridge, Environment Leader, said:
"This donation is credit to the hard work of Edinburgh residents in adopting the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle message. I'm sure they will be as delighted as I am to see that their recycling efforts will be helping such a worthy cause."

Speaking for AbitibiBowater, UK operations manager David Jaffa said:
"The Save the Children scheme represents a win-win situation for Edinburgh's recyclers. On the one hand they are doing something that benefits the environment, while on the other every tonne they recycle raises much needed funds for children."

Tanya Strongman, Community Fundraising Executive from Save the Children's Scotland team, said:
"We are incredibly grateful for such a huge donation, especially as it's raised from the city's recycling efforts, which makes it doubly worthwhile. This is a wonderful Christmas present from the people of Edinburgh to vulnerable children in Scotland and throughout the world."