CHILDREN and those who care about the environment will get a chance to find out more and do their bit as Bexleyheath’s Mall shopping centre launches its EnviroMall week.

The event, which began on Monday runs through until Sunday (30th) One of the targets of this year’s event is to get visitors to The Mall to help recycle 250,000 coathangers.

And to encourage people to bring their hangers along, The Mall is offering people the chance to win a year’s supply of locally grown organic fruit and vegetables in a lucky draw.

More than 100 million hangers are sent to landfill every year, when they could be recycled.

Peter Sedge, manager of The Mall said: “There are more than 530 million unwanted coathangers stashed away in UK homes and we want to help raise awareness and reduce the numbers that go to landfill or just sit unused at home.”

It is the first shopping centre in the UK to offer coathanger recycling.

By teaming up with Shanks Waste Management and Severnside recycling, the hangers will be turned into anything from car components to wheelie bins.

Anyone interested in the Government’s car scrappage scheme or green motoring can find out more from today (26) until Sunday when an eco-friendly car will be on display, with staff from W.J.King to explain the details.

Also there for the rest of the week will be the Royal Mail with its Simply Drop stand.

Staff from Royal Mail will be telling people how people can use Simply Drop to raise cash for charity or themselves, by recycling technology such as old mobile phones, inkjet cartridges, MP3 players or digital cameras.

The Bexleyheath centre has been doing some green work of its own, adding timers to in-house television monitors; putting lights not in the shopping areas on movement sensors and introducing LED lights where possible, to reduce its energy usage.

It also recycles all of its cardboard and polythene.