The need to reduce energy costs and the consumption of electricity while using natural resources more efficiently are some of the main forces behind the significant growth in green goods spending, a new report has forecasted. According to Verdantix's study, UK spending from Britain’s biggest firms on the likes of energy, environment, or green initiatives from 2010 and 2015 is to grow by 12 per cent this year –  which leaves the forecast for growth of UK gross domestic product at only 0.6 per cent trailing in its wake. The study predicts growth across the green goods market and it will apparently ... Full Story

Opponents of the plans to develop a number of waste incinerators across Wales have welcomed the news that they will be allowed to have their arguments heard in person by assembly members. After three separate petitions, the National Assembly's petitions committee finally  decided to conduct an inquiry. The petitions all oppose energy from waste plants that have been planned for sites in southeastern Wales and north Wales. Members of the committee have said that they are to call on every side to give evidence, with those that are for and against the proposed plans to give oral evidence on any disadvantages or ... Full Story

Local companies looking to bid for long-term waste contracts have claimed that they could save ratepayers in Northern Ireland at least £20m per year. The 25-year-long contracts have been set up to guarantee that NI's councils meet EU targets that were set on recycling while avoiding huge fines. A dozen waste companies not involved in the process have made claims that they would be happy to do exactly the same work but at a cheaper rate -saving councils a whopping £500m by the time the full terms of the contract are through, they said. The Stormont committee will question those involved on ... Full Story

A warning was this week issued on the dangers of illegal tyre dumping, at the same time officials start to clear at least 7,000 of them that were left on farmland. Over 20,000 were stored on land located in Towyn close to Abergele, Conwy, by a male claiming that he intended to personally recycle them. The man fled abroad and the owner of the land, Maria Burt, was left to foot the bill for their removal as part of a saga she described as being a nightmare experience. In a statement made by one of its staff, Dylan Williams, the Environment Agency ... Full Story

A new process aimed at recycling road sweepings will hopefully save seven councils money. According to Warwickshire County Council, around £400,000 per year will be saved over seven years while the the area's recycling rate is boosted by three per cent at least. The scheme covers Coventry and Warwickshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, and Worcestershire. Run by SITA UK from Wolverhampton, a new processing facility will handle a whopping 30,500 tonnes a year that will come directly from seven authorities, namely Warwickshire County Council,  Staffordshire County Council,  Worcestershire County Council, Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Leicestershire County Council and Herefordshire ... Full Story

The UK might be further behind matching the European End-of-Life recycling targets than was previously thought, after the Coalition revised ELV recovery guidelines relative to residual fuels last month. Last month the BIS, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, took steps to remove weight allowances that it had originally set as part of its ELV recovery guidelines. These allowed one per cent of the weight of ELVs to be automatically classed, as this was believed to be the total weight of left over residual fuels in an average vehicle that would usually be collected for reprocessing or use. Last month the ... Full Story

Extra collections were made from recycling banks in Guernsey over the Christmas period, as previously announced by the Public Services Department. Deputy Minister Scott Ogier told of how extra facilities were to be in place in an attempt to help cope with increases in recycling. At the time, he said that Christmas excesses always generate huge amounts of waste and that islanders would continue their good work by recycling as much as possible. Guernsey's Recycling Officer, Ms Tina Norman-Ross, commented that many sites might still fill up quickly, as they did, particularly on Boxing Day - traditionally the peak time. Norman-Ross said ... Full Story

A new £1m recycling centre has officially opened in Norfolk. The centre, located in Dereham, will deal with 6,000 tonnes’ worth of household rubbish ever year while recycling over 70 per cent of it, according to Norfolk County Council. The opening of the facility increases Norfolk's network of functioning recycling centres to 20, which makes it among England’s most extensive. County councillor Bill Borrett, who is responsible for Norfolk County Council’s environment and waste department, said that the site aims to boost recycling while diverting waste from landfill. Mr Borrett continued by adding that the site comes as a vital part of his ... Full Story

The waste treatment facility set to be built close to Millerhill’s old rail marshalling yards in Edinburgh has been given the green light by councillors. The joint venture between councils in Edinburgh and Midlothian is to operate 24 hours per day, seven days a week, while recycling municipal waste. For now,  a detailed planning application won’t be submitted until the mentioned councils have found a contractor to build it. The first facility, currently out to tender, is to deal with food waste. According to insiders, it is highly likely that the successful bidder will put forward a planning application next summer, in ... Full Story

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Scotland's largest council is one of the poorest performers in terms of recycling household waste, as pointed out by recently published statistics. Glasgow was responsible for producing over 66,000 tonnes of waste across this year’s second quarter yet only recycled around 26.8 per cent. The rest was sent to landfill. Figures released by Sepa, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency , display a worrying national recycling rate of just over 43.5%. In the capital city of Edinburgh, over 35 per cent of household waste was either recycled or composted. Sepa’s latest set of figures coincide with new and improved methods of presenting household ... Full Story

Nottingham-based waste management experts Wastecycle will invest £2.5 million and double the capacity of their materials recycling facility at Colwick, in the city’s eastern suburbs. As it stands, the MRF currently has capacity enough to sort roughly 30,000 tonnes of dry recyclable waste a year. With help from the investment, this will be extended to 60,000 tonnes per year. Equipment that includes a ballistic separator will be installed by KMH Ltd, an Irish company. The investment is to be made in accordance with the new five-year contract that was won by Wastecycle for sorting dry recyclables on the behalf of Nottingham’s city ... Full Story