Furniture Recycling Scheme Wins Award
March 14, 2006 at 2:35 am
An East London furniture recycling project has won a prestigious award at the Liveable City Awards. Homestore, who provide struggling families with low cost furniture won first prize in the awards which recognise and reward outstanding achievements in sustainable development, in relation to environment, economy and social issues.
The manager of Homestore gratefully accepted the award stating ‘”It’s a great honour because it’s a prestigious award and reflects how as an organisation both social aims and the environment are at the heart of our work.”
If you would like to find out more about the project or live in East London would like to donate any household goods to Homestore, then see their website here.
Fines for disorganised rubbish
March 13, 2006 at 3:54 pm
A number of councils have introduced fines for those households who throw items that could be recycled into their ordinary rubbish or who contaminate their recycling boxes or bags with ordinary household waste.
Councils are under pressure to reduce landfill waste and increase recycling so they are beginning to put pressure on households to recycle more and recycle properly.
The scheme seems to be working as since Barnet were the first council to introduce compulsory recycling backed by fines, recycling levels have increased from 17% to 29% in just two years. Many other councils have contacted them with interest, so you may see this scheme introduced near you.
Councils Reduce Rubbish Collections to Encourage Recycling
March 7, 2006 at 10:29 am
Many councils in Wales, either already have, or are planning to cut rubbish collections to once every 2 weeks rather than a weekly collection. This is to encourage recycling, with only one wheelie bin being emptied every fortnight but 2 recycling boxes emptied every week.
The local authorities have certain recycling targets to meet or they will be faced with fines. By 2007, 25% of all rubbish should be recycled and by 2010, 40 % of rubbish.
Many people are worried about collections being reduced to once a fortnight as they think that rubbish will become piled up and could create hygeine risks but the argument from Environmental group Friends of the Earth is that if households recycle more, their rubbish bags will be emptier and the bins will not get as full as quickly.
Where I live, recycling is made easy by the council, with one bin bag for all recyclable materials. This definiately reduces our rubbish with the bin never full on collection day. For tips on how to reduce your rubbish and recycle more check our handy tips section or print out our recycling guide to stick on the wall at home.
Cash for your Empties?
March 7, 2006 at 10:05 am
People in the UK may be unfamiliar with this concept and the idea of a ‘bottlebill’.
A bottlebill is a law which requires retailers to take a deposit for beer or soft drink bottles which is then refunded when the empties are returned to encourage a high rate of recycling.
The idea started back in the 50’s and was aimed at reducing costs for companies by producing less bottles and also to reduce the amount of rubbish in the waste stream.
Many US states and various European countries use this system but it doesn’t ever seem to have been implemented as a recycling method in the UK. Would it work if introduced? Would you take back your empties for cash?
For more infomation on bottlebills, take a look at www.bottlebill.org.
