WILDLIFE is going wild for new recycling boxes at Cotswold Wildlife Park.

The Park, near Burford, has signed up to the service to further increase recycling as West Oxfordshire District Council continues to expand its commercial waste and recycling in the district.

Staff at the park, which is home to around 260 different animal species and attracts around 330,000 visitors each year, will use the service to recycle as much waste as possible including food waste from the restaurant and leftovers from the animal feed.

Jamie Craig, Curator of Cotswold Wildlife Park, said: “We’ve always been keen to recycle as much as we can and the service provided by the district council offers an extensive range of opportunities for us to do this.

“Being a large visitor attraction, with over 100 staff and additional volunteers, waste is inevitable and we want to make sure it is dealt with in a way that protects the environment.

“We’re looking forward to the introduction of food waste collections later this month, which will mainly be used for waste from the restaurant. The animals tend to eat most of their food but there will be the odd bits of peel and shells from species like the fruit bats, which are a bit fussier about what they eat.”

West Oxfordshire District Council provides commercial waste and recycling services to around 900 local businesses, as well as some secondary and primary schools, in addition to household collections across the District.

Councillor David Harvey, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “Cotswold Wildlife Park is an important visitor attraction and one of the largest businesses of its kind in the county, and we are delighted to have them on board with our commercial waste and recycling services.

“We are always looking at ways to improve recycling rates and offer more opportunities for recycling and believe this will be a successful partnership. I am sure visitors to the park will be pleased to know that everything is being done to ensure as much waste as possible is being recycled.”

Further information about waste and recycling: www.westoxon.gov.uk/waste or www.westoxon.gov.uk/business