Liverpool 'icon' coming to BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend

The city’s legendary purple bins are due to appear in a special activation space at the Sefton Park event, running from Friday May 23 to Sunday May 25.

Purple Patch is an interactive space where attendees can relax and charge their phones for free while learning about recycling across Liverpool. Liverpool City Council commissioned local art company social enterprise Make CIC to create the space as part of a campaign to help tackle the city’s low recycling rates.

Make CIC has brought together local artists and makers to create a striking and sustainable display. Inside, visitors will find charging points and a DJ deck crafted from repurposed purple bins, alongside seating made from reclaimed tyres and artwork on the walls fashioned entirely from residents’ recycled materials.

While inside, festival goers can take part in interactive quizzes to find out what changes they can make at home to improve recycling, live in a sustainable way, and save money in the long run.

Almost two thirds of rubbish thrown away in the city’s purple bins could be recycled, with 18.9 per cent belonging in the blue bin. These figures include the likes of textiles and old clothes, which could be donated, cans and plastic bottles, which can be recycled, and food waste which can be composted.

The council sends approximately 135,000 tonnes of waste to incineration each year, with waste collection and disposal making up 9 per cent of the city’s CO2 emissions.

Following the end of the Big Weekend, the installation will be packed away and reused at future events. People attending the event will be able to find Purple Patch in the main review field.

Councillor Harry Doyle, Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Culture said: “Improving recycling rates is a priority for the Council, but that can only be done by speaking to residents and helping them to understand the bigger picture.

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“We wanted to come up with a creative solution for everyday issues. Make CIC have taken that brief and produced something beyond our expectations. The local artists working on the project understand what’s important to Liverpool and Big Weekend attendees and have created a must-see area.”

He added: “There are incredible artists performing at this year’s event, but Purple Patch is bound to be a real headline act.”