EU directive could put end to mixed collections in Wales
August 16, 2012 at 10:04 am
A new EU directive could mean that many councils in Wales will have to stop operating single-bag recycling collections in 2015.
About half of the councils in Wales currently operate single-bag collections – also known as co-mingling – where residents put all of their waste to be recycled into one bag and the council then sorts it.
However, the new directive states that this practice will have to stop and that instead residents will have to separate the waste to be recycled themselves.
The major problem with this is that many of the councils have invested heavily in sorting facilities which will effectively become redundant if the sorting is carried out by residents instead.
On top of this, the councils will have to invest more money in new vehicles which are capable of carrying out kerb-side collections.
Additionally, many councils currently receive grants from the Welsh government to help with their recycling. However, if they do not follow the directives then they will not be able to get access to this money.
Despite the concerns, others have welcomed the directive saying that co-mingling is not effective and that items that should be recycled often end up being wasted due to being damaged or dirty.
Wales has very impressive recycling levels and some of the most ambitious targets in Europe. Its current recycling rate is nearly 50% and it has a target of 70% by 2025.
There are fears that these targets may be affected if all residents have to start sorting out their own recycling.
Wales beats rest of UK for recycling rates
July 26, 2012 at 10:06 am
The recycling and reusing of waste is something that the whole of the UK needs to take very seriously now that the EU waste framework directive is demanding that the UK has to recycle or reuse 50% of its waste by 2020.
At the moment Wales is leading the field after recent figures showed that the average amount of recycling per household is 48% for the 2011/12 financial year.
The figures were revealed in a report called the Local Authority Municipal Waste Management, January-March 2012, which showed that the recycling rates just keep on going up.
These figures are 4% up on the previous year, and at this rate the country will have no problem hitting the EU targets. Indeed, Wales’ aim is to reach a 52% recycling rate in 2012/13.
England is currently lagging behind on 40%, and each year the increase in the amount of recycling gets smaller, meaning it may become a real challenge to reach its EU targets.
The biggest increases in the amount of waste being recycled or reused were seen in the Vale of Glamorgan and Conwy, with each seeing rises of 10%.
By 2050 the government wants to recycle or reuse all of the country’s waste, and this is its ambitious Towards Zero Waste strategy. As part of this strategy it is aiming to increase recycling rates to 70% by 2025.
Wales is the only country to introduce required targets for municipal waste. In addition, every authority in the country currently operates green and food waste collections separately.
PET bottle recycling up over 50% in Europe
July 22, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Positive figures emerged from Europe recently with the news that recycling levels for PET bottles across the EU last year were up 9.4% to 1.59 million tonnes compared to the previous year.
The figures were released by Petcore (PET Containers Recycling Europe) and EuPR (the European Plastics Recyclers), which are the European recycling trade bodies, and the collection of PET bottles in Europe is now an impressive 51%.
The figures were revealed in a study titled the ‘Post Consumer PET recycling in Europe 2011 and Prospects to 2016’. The study also stated that only three countries in the EU had less than 22.5% recycling rate, which is the target set by the Packaging Waste Directive.
Indeed, over a third of the countries were boasting collection rates of over 70%.
Despite the increasing amount of recycling of PET bottles, there is still more that needs to be done. The total capacity for recycling this material is thought to be 1.9 million tonnes, so there is still a lot more potential. Indeed, Casper van den Dungen, the chair of the EuPR PET Working Group, said that currently we are only using 77% of the total capacity of the recycle plants.
The chairman of Petcore, Roberto Bertaggia, said that he was delighted that the recycling rate had broken through the 50% barrier, and that a total of 140 kilotonnes extra was collected in 2011 compared to the previous year, which amounts to 5.6 billion bottles. He also pledged to “continue to develop and promote PET’s recyclability”.
These positive figures will hopefully spur both the public and the government in the UK to improve the country’s PET recycling rates even further.
£30bn of unused clothing stored in our wardrobes
July 16, 2012 at 3:23 pm
There are currently 1.7 billion items of old clothing stored away in the UK’s wardrobes which have not been used for a year or longer, according to new figures from WRAP, the waste reduction body.
The average home has £4,000 of clothes in its wardrobes, but nearly a third of these are not worn for a year or longer with the main reason being that they no longer fit. All of these clothes are worth a combined total of £30 billion.
WRAP discovered the figures after carrying out research for its study called ‘Valuing Our Clothes’, which suggests that by making more use of our old clothes we can reduce waste, reduce the use of valuable resources and even benefit financially.
The report states that as much as a third of clothing goes to landfill when it is not being used. However, alternatives to this include giving them to charities or local authorities, or even just giving them to friends or exchanging them so that they can then be reused or recycled.
Another alternative is to sell your old clothes which could have financial benefits as well, which could be tempting in these times of austerity.
By using clothes for longer, the report also suggests that we could reduce the use of resources such as carbon, water and waste which could go down 20% to 30% if we use clothes for just nine months longer than normal, and this could potentially save £5 billion in resources.
WRAP also suggests a business model whereby retailers purchase their own clothes back from the consumers and resell them. Over half of people surveyed said they would be happy to do this, and two thirds said they would be open to buying returned clothes.
Unilever encouraging tea bag recycling
May 27, 2012 at 3:26 pm
Unilever, the world’s largest tea company, has recently got together with two councils in Essex to collaborate on a marketing campaign aimed at encouraging more tea drinkers to recycle their tea bags rather than sending them to landfill.
Brentwood Borough Council, Chelmsford Council and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) have all joined up with Unilever to promote the new campaign, which features the famous monkey from one of Unilever’s biggest brands, PG Tips.
96% of all tea in Britain is brewed using a tea bag. That is a lot of tea bags, and despite the fact that they can easily be used as compost, WRAP estimates the amount of tea bags going to landfill at 370,000 tonnes each year.
The campaign is encouraging more people to dispose of their tea bags in their kerbside food waste collections rather than in their standard waste.
Unilever has stated that it wants to reduce the amount of waste that it sends to landfill by 50% over the next eight years. As part of its own waste reduction targets, Paul Sherratt at Unilever said that the company wants to “encourage consumers to recycle wherever they can”. He also said that putting tea bags into the food waste is a “small habit change that everyone can adopt”.
Even if you do not have a food waste collection facility provided by your council, it is still easy to put tea bags and other food waste into a compost bin to prevent it being sent to landfill. If you have a small outside space you can install a small compost bin and this is one of the easiest ways to do your part for the environment with very little effort.
Bath recycles more than half its waste
May 13, 2012 at 3:57 pm
For the first time since its existence as a district in 1996, Bath has recycled more than half its waste, earning itself the title of the district with the largest annual rise in recycling.
New research shows that in the last year Bath and North East Somerset recycled 52% of household waste – an increase of 46% from last year’s figures. Statistics show that due to the increase of recycling, 14,000 tonnes of household waste have been cut from the overall amount dumped at land fill sites. This is a significant environmentally friendly landmark for Bath as the area has gone from a 12% recycling rate in 1996 to 52% in 2012.
The success has been attributed to a number of factors, namely the doorstep food waste collection scheme which began in October 2010. Councillor David Dixon (Lib-Dem, Oldfield), Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods comments that “The council’s investment in providing food waste collections is a key factor behind this latest success. We are pleased with the high participation rate and welcome people’s enthusiasm for the service.” The achievement also comes following initiatives which have increased the number of kerbside collection services for varying recyclable goods, and in the midst of a newly built waste treatment plant.
The effects of recycling have been positive for Bath. The food collection scheme has meant that last year 4,300 tonnes of food waste was used as composting rather than deposited at land fill sites. The results haven’t just been green. Due to the reduction of land fill waste, £118,000 has been saved on land fill tax, releasing a large capital sum for Bath council to distribute elsewhere. Councillor Dixon stressed this by saying: “Not only does the level of harmful gases released into the atmosphere reduce, but the council’s landfill tax charge bill is cut, meaning more money is available to protect frontline services.”
Despite Bath’s recent recycling success, 30,000 homes are still not participating in the move to ‘go green’. The council is urging these households to take part in the scheme to both help the environment and save precious budget.
Size doesn’t matter, we can all do our bit
May 1, 2012 at 3:33 pm
With the growing concern for the environment over recent years and the ever increasing trend of ‘going green’, recycling has been brought to the forefront of our minds with questions of how we, as individuals, can do ‘our bit’ to help the cause. As with many topical issues being faced by the world today, the small amount of help that we can give, seems futile and more for our own peace of mind than for the causes themselves.
But in fact, this isn’t the case at all when it comes to caring for the environment. When will we start to believe environmental organisations begging us to work together as a team to save our planet, starting by merely separating the waste in our homes? After all, was it not each and every one of us that got us into this mess in the first place?
But, of course, being the humans that we are, we need moral support and constant praise for the help that we are providing. It often seems that unless we raise millions of pounds or recycle half of Hackney, nobody bats an eyelid. Well, all this is starting to change as we see the face of small efforts being nationally recognised.
In the small town of Newmarket in Suffolk, due to rising costs and government cuts, the recycling centre was recently in danger of being closed down. The community itself showed its strengths in preserving the environment by proclaiming that the people would rather pay a small amount to recycle than see the centre closed.
In response to this, a charity named Newmarket Open Door, renowned mostly for its work with rehousing young people in need, decided to save the centre in late August by taking it over. They are charging as little as £3 to dispose of waste difficult to get rid of and nothing for profitable recyclable goods. Anything deemed as reusable is now sold in their charity supermarket in Mildenhall, to raise funds for the causes they facilitate. In addition to this, they have also introduced a number of recycling based initiatives such as waste paper drop-off points at local churches.
Let’s Recycle has introduced a new category in their national ‘Awards for Excellence’ to recognise community achievements such as these across the nation – ‘The Best Community Recycling Initiative’. Open Door has been nominated for this award, winners of which, will be announced this evening by Channel 4’s John Snow.
Plastic Bottle Island
February 15, 2012 at 4:53 pm
A British man has taken home recycling to paradise by not only building his own eco-island out of plastic bottles off the coast of Mexico, but running eco-tours there too.
Artist and eco-pioneer, Richard Sowa, is a modern-day Robinson Crusoe after designing and building Spiral Island II, his own private island, out of 150,000 plastic bottles. Joysxee is around 25 meters in diameter, floating offshore at holiday hotspot Isla Mujeres.
Spiral Island I was Sowa’s first project and attracted attention from green-lovers all over the world for being the first purely recycled island. However, disaster struck and seven years after it was first created, the island was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005.
Undeterred, and in the true spirit of recycling, the second floating recycled island was built with the help of like-minded, environmentally aware volunteers who helped produce an eco-haven with a house, three beaches and all mod-cons, such as a washing machine which runs off wave power. Even beautiful features such as a waterfall and river exist with the help of solar energy.
Harnessing the power of the wind, water and sun, and by creating its own balanced island ecology, Sowa does not only live a green life but a self-sufficient one as well, with fruit and vegetables grown on his island-paradise too.
Holidaymakers can pop across to this eco- island to marvel at how plastic has been turned into paradise. Future plans are to sail this eco-boat around the world, on a voyage to spread the message about recycling and how to live in an environmentally-aware way.
Dialysis Bag Wallets
January 30, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Clutch bags made out of coffee foil packaging; marble-like tabletops made of button scraps; and furniture made from pressed thermal pressed cartons; not to mention wallets made from hospital dialysis bags.
Contemporary design inspired by environmental issues defines modern green companies such as Osisu, in Thailand, where the emphasis is on fashion, function and feeling as if you are doing your bit for the planet in style.
Waste from construction sites and manufacturing is transformed into trendy furniture, home décor products and accessories through the work of architect Dr Singh Intrachooto. His company offers advice and ideas on what factories, and other companies wanting to use their waste in a productive and profitable way, can do.
By not manufacturing the products, which are made by the companies producing the waste, there is no need for this eco-design company to have huge premises and get involved in the nitty-gritty of the production line. The products are given the stamp of approval by Osisu before being sold in eco-shops and high-end designer style home furnishing outlets in Bangkok.
Being green in Asia is about being hip, rather than hippy. Without the cultural history of green-awareness, there are no negative connotations or stereotypes associated with recycling and caring about the environment, which has sometimes been attributed to this cause in the West.
In many ways this gives companies like Osisu scope to market recycling and other green issues in a modern style that defines ecological ideas in a way that is less about feeling bad about the destruction of the planet and wastefulness of resources, and more about clever use of natural products in design.
Beach Garbage Hotel
January 27, 2012 at 4:44 pm
How do you make a statement on the state of the world’s oceans? Make a hotel out of rubbish of course. Made from 12 tonnes of beach debris, in the centre of Madrid, the Garbage Beach Hotel, was temporarily opened in January 2011. The aim was to send a message to the tourism industry about the future of holiday hot-spots, not just in Spain, but in the rest of Europe too, if the waters and coastlines were not cleaned up soon.
The five bedroom hotel was littered with decoration ranging from toys, to plastic drums and tyres, and all the flotsam and jetsam washed up on the polluted shores of many of Europe’s beaches.
This is not the first eco-hotel either. Sweden’s renowned Ice Hotel has to be the ultimate recycling project. Rebuilt every year, the ice and snow melts back into the river. Of course there is an environmental impact of building and running the hotel, so efforts to produce more renewable energy than is consumed are being made. The architects of the Ice Hotel have made a pledge to be CO2 negative by 2015.
In the UK, even hotel chain Premier Inn has opened its first eco-lodge, in January 2012, designed to use less energy. Features at the 65 bedroom Cornish hotel include ground source heat pumps for adjusting room temperature and water temperature.
Sustainably-sourced timber, LED lighting and key cards which ensure energy is not used up in unoccupied rooms, add to the green-consciousness of this business, with plans to incorporate many of these energy-saving architectural and design features in future builds.
