Celebrating 100 years of Stanley Park, a real team effort

This week marks a very special milestone for one of Blackpool’s best-loved green spaces, as Stanley Park celebrates its 100th birthday.

Since opening in 1926, Stanley Park has become an important part of life in Blackpool. Today, the Grade II-listed park welcomes more than two million visitors each year and remains a place for people to enjoy, relax, play and make memories.

At Enveco, we’re proud to maintain Stanley Park throughout the year, and it has been a privilege to play our part in its centenary year.

Ahead of the celebrations, teams from across Enveco have been working alongside Blackpool Council, Friends of Stanley Park and volunteers to give the park some extra care and attention ready for this historic occasion.

A huge amount of work has taken place across the park, including removing graffiti, repainting and staining benches, tending flower beds, tidying paths and walkways, and giving the play areas some extra attention.

Teams and volunteers have also helped repaint the crazy golf area, clean and tidy shelters, clear gutters and gullies, refresh assets around the park and spend hours litter picking.

Some of Stanley Park’s much-loved heritage features have received attention too, including cleaning inside the Cocker Clock Tower, planting the floral clock and painting surrounding fencing.

It has involved people from across Enveco, alongside volunteers, Friends of Stanley Park and teams from Blackpool Council – all working towards the same goal.

Diane Farley, Enveco’s Lead Engagement Officer, has been closely involved in the centenary preparations. She said:

“It’s been a pleasure to play a part in such a historic year for Stanley Park. So many people have given their time and worked together to help get the park ready, and it’s been fantastic to see that team effort come together. Stanley Park is such a special place for Blackpool, and we’re incredibly proud to help look after it.”

The centenary has been a true partnership effort, and we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has played a part, our Enveco teams, Friends of Stanley Park, Blackpool Council colleagues and every volunteer who has given their time.

The main centenary celebration takes place on Saturday 3 October, with a full day of activities and entertainment before a spectacular drone show at 8pm.

Happy 100th birthday, Stanley Park! 

Find out what’s happening at Stanley Park’s centenary celebration.

Accessible Blackpool waste and recycling guide using Makaton symbols

We know there’s been a lot of information to take in following the changes to Blackpool’s waste and recycling services.

That’s why we’ve created a new visual recycling guide using Makaton symbols, helping make key recycling information clearer and more accessible. The guide uses Makaton symbols alongside simple information to help explain which bin to use, what goes where and how to recycle correctly at home.

By presenting the information in a more visual way, we hope the guide will support more people across Blackpool to understand and engage with recycling. It’s part of our wider work to make environmental information clear, accessible and easier for our communities to use.

Why does getting it right matter?

Putting the right items in the right bin helps reduce contamination and means more of the materials we collect can be recycled. Whether you’re looking for a quick reminder, supporting someone else or simply prefer information presented visually, we hope the guide helps.

Explore our recycling guide and help us make recycling easier to understand across Blackpool click here!

You can also share the guide with friends, family, schools, community groups or anyone who may find a visual guide useful.

One Year of Making a Difference: Thank You, Theresa!

On 9 September 2025, Theresa Tasker signed up to become a Keep Blackpool Tidy volunteer. One year later, she has already given an incredible 112 hours – and counting – to help care for her local community.

It all started with a simple thought. After noticing litter in her area, Theresa decided: “If you don’t like something, do something about it.” She headed online to find out how she could help, discovered Keep Blackpool Tidy through the Enveco website and signed up to volunteer. Theresa quickly became a valued member of our fantastic volunteer community, regularly heading out with her litter picker and helping to make a visible difference.

Theresa’s dedication hasn’t gone unnoticed. She was also recognised at Blackpool’s Big Thank You Awards, receiving an award for her fantastic contribution and hard work litter picking in her community.

It’s a brilliant achievement and well-deserved recognition for the time and effort Theresa continues to give to helping Keep Blackpool Tidy.

Along the way, she’s made new friends and often gets stopped by passers-by who take the time to thank her for what she’s doing. And after 112 hours of litter picking, there have inevitably been a few unusual discoveries too. Her strangest find so far? Underwear! 

To mark her first anniversary, Theresa popped into Enveco today with some homemade cakes for our teams – complete with tiny litter-themed decorations made from icing! It was a lovely surprise and a perfect way to celebrate her first year.

Theresa’s story shows exactly what Keep Blackpool Tidy is about: people taking pride in where they live and making a difference, one small action at a time.

From everyone at Enveco, thank you, Theresa, for an amazing first year – and here’s to many more hours of litter picking!

Fridge and Freezer Disposal at Blackpool HWRC – Latest Update

Fridge and Freezer Disposal: Why Is the Service Changing?

You may have noticed that our Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) has had periods where we have been able to accept fridges and freezers, followed by periods where we have had to temporarily stop. We understand this can be confusing, so we wanted to explain why.

What’s happening?

There is currently a national shortage of specialist fridge and freezer recycling capacity, which is affecting councils and recycling centres across the UK.

Fridges and freezers cannot be processed in the same way as general electrical items. They contain refrigerants and insulating materials which require specialist treatment, meaning there are only a limited number of facilities in the UK able to process them safely.

Over the past year, UK processing capacity has been significantly reduced following facility closures, fires and other operational disruption.

One of the largest facilities, formerly operated by Unimetals in Newport, has not operated since late 2025. It previously processed around 600,000 appliances a year, and it is now reported that tens of thousands of fridges and freezers remain at the site awaiting a solution.

What does this mean for Blackpool?

The national backlog affects how quickly fridges and freezers can be removed from our HWRC for specialist processing.

This means our ability to accept them can change depending on the storage capacity available at the site and whether collections can take place.

We may therefore be able to accept fridges and freezers at certain times but have to temporarily pause acceptance when capacity is reached.

Please check before you visit

We know residents want to dispose of their appliances responsibly and appreciate your patience and understanding while this national issue continues.

We’ll continue to provide updates on our website and social media channels as the situation changes.

For more information about the national situation, you can read the recent industry update from Letsrecycle.com – Tens of thousands of fridges in limbo at former Unimetals site.

Please check the latest HWRC information before travelling to the site.

Greener Hospitality: Simple Sustainability Tips for Blackpool Businesses

Blackpool’s hospitality industry plays a huge part in welcoming millions of visitors to our town every year – and small changes across hundreds of businesses can have a big environmental impact.

Whether you run a hotel, café, restaurant, bar or visitor attraction, here are a few places to start.

Reduce food waste

• Keep an eye on what regularly comes back from customers or is left unused in the kitchen. Reviewing portions, stock rotation and ordering can help identify where food is being wasted.

Make recycling easy

• Clear, well-positioned bins make it easier for both employees and customers to make the right choice. Keep signage simple and make sure your team understands what goes where. A quick conversation during staff inductions can prevent recyclable materials being put into general waste.

Don’t forget the smaller items

• Batteries and vapes should never be placed in general waste. Lithium batteries can become damaged during collection and processing and create a serious fire risk. Make sure employees know how these items should be stored and disposed of safely.

Reduce, reuse, then recycle

• Look at what comes into your business as well as what leaves it. Could suppliers reduce unnecessary packaging? Could something be reused rather than replaced? Could unwanted furniture or equipment have another life elsewhere?

Be part of a cleaner Blackpool

• Sustainability isn’t only about what happens inside your business.
• Encouraging customers and employees to dispose of waste responsibly and supporting initiatives such as Keep Blackpool Tidy can make a visible difference to the town we all share.

Are you looking at your business waste?

Whether you run a hotel, restaurant, café, bar or other hospitality business, having the right waste and recycling service can make it easier to manage your waste responsibly.

Enveco provides commercial waste and recycling collections across Blackpool, with options to suit different businesses and waste requirements.

Want to find out how we can help your business?

Explore Enveco Commercial Waste services

Small changes across Blackpool’s businesses can add up to something much bigger.

Keep Blackpool Tidy volunteers visit Eco Town at Farington

Where does our waste actually go?

On Friday 21st and Wednesday 26th of August, our Engagement Team took members of the Keep Blackpool Tidy community on a day out with a difference – visiting Eco Town at Farington Waste Recovery Park.

Our volunteers already give their time to help care for Blackpool, so the visit was an opportunity to give something back while helping them learn even more about the wider waste journey.

Eco Town is an interactive environmental education experience where visitors can discover how household waste is sorted, how valuable materials are recovered and how some waste can ultimately be used to produce energy.

The visit gave our volunteers the opportunity to see what happens beyond the bin. Through interactive exhibits and seeing waste processes in action, the group could explore how everyday decisions around reducing, reusing and recycling connect to the much bigger waste system. Eco Town itself is divided into Materials, Mechanical and Bio areas, with 13 interactive streets to explore. It was also a chance to spend time together, ask questions and recognise the contribution our volunteers make throughout the year.

Keep Blackpool Tidy volunteering is about more than collecting litter. We want our volunteer community to feel informed, involved and valued, with opportunities to learn more about the environmental work taking place both in Blackpool and beyond.

These opportunities sit alongside our wider programme of volunteer events, education and community engagement. Blackpool’s volunteers contributed just under 2,500 hours during 2024/25, demonstrating just how much community action takes place alongside our operational services.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us – and, as always, to all our Keep Blackpool Tidy volunteers for the time they give to our town.

Together, we’re learning, sharing and helping to Keep Blackpool Tidy. 💚

Summer at Enveco: A season of hard work and achievement

Enveco NW Summer 2026: A Busy Summer Across Blackpool

From major waste and recycling changes and periods of extreme heat to increased visitor numbers, summer events and seasonal demand, teams right across Enveco have been working hard during one of our busiest periods of the year.

But amongst the challenges, there has also been plenty to celebrate. Here are some of our summer highlights.

Big changes to waste and recycling

This summer has seen one of the biggest changes to Blackpool’s waste services, with Phase Two introducing food waste collections alongside the move to three-weekly residual waste collections. It has been a significant change for residents and a huge operational undertaking for our teams, who continue to work hard as the new services settle in. Our officers, managers and support teams have also been working hard behind the scenes, helping residents with their questions and supporting our frontline teams as the changes continue to settle in.

Keeping Blackpool Tidy

It’s also been an exceptionally busy summer for our Street Cleansing teams, with increased footfall and major events, including the Blackpool Air Show, bringing additional demand. Alongside keeping our streets, town centre and promenade clean, teams have continued seasonal work across the town, including weed spraying and management.

Community action has continued throughout the summer, with residents, volunteers, businesses and corporate groups getting involved in litter picks and environmental activities.

Our Litter Pick Marathon was another fantastic example of people coming together to look after Blackpool and its coastline, supporting the work our Street Cleansing teams carry out every day.

Blackpool in Bloom gets even bigger

This year’s Blackpool in Bloom was our biggest yet!

More than 70 residents, businesses and community groups entered, followed by four busy days of judging and an awards ceremony attended by more than 180 guests at the Village Hotel.

Led by our Engagement and Marketing Team, with support from teams across Enveco, it was a fantastic celebration of gardening, biodiversity, community spirit and the people helping make Blackpool bloom.

Green Flag success

There was more reason to celebrate when eight of Blackpool’s parks and green spaces once again received prestigious Green Flag Awards.

It’s fantastic recognition for the year-round work that goes into caring for our parks and open spaces, particularly during such a demanding growing season.

Alongside maintaining Blackpool’s parks, green spaces, verges and floral displays throughout a busy growing season, our Grounds Maintenance teams have also been preparing Stanley Park for its centenary year.

National recognition

Our work is also receiving recognition further afield.

Enveco has been named a finalist for the LARAC Circular Economy Award and Green Council of the Year at the Political Purpose Awards, while two of our long-serving colleagues are finalists in the ROAR Environmental 100 Awards.

It’s fantastic to see both our services and the people behind them being recognised.

A huge team effort

Our Domestic Waste Collections, Street Cleansing, Grounds Maintenance, Household Waste Recycling Centre, Commercial Services and Engagement teams have all been working hard throughout one of our busiest periods of the year.

Behind the scenes, our CVMU team has continued working hard to keep our vehicles on the road, while our office, operational, management and support teams have been managing increased workloads, supporting residents and helping our frontline services continue to deliver.

So, while we celebrate everything that has been achieved, we want to say a huge thank you to every team across Enveco, as well as our volunteers, partners and communities who continue to play their part.

And a big thank you to Blackpool residents. It’s been a period of significant change, particularly across waste and recycling services, and we appreciate your patience, understanding and support as the changes continue to settle in.

It’s certainly been a busy summer – thank you to everyone who has played a part.