An additional 37,000 residences have been added to a new recycling scheme in Halton to encourage more recycling within the borough. The initial six-month pilot being run by RecycleBank used a rewards-based system to encourage householders to recycle more. The pilot was such a success that the council has now extended it to Widnes and Runcorn. Halton Borough Council was the first authority in the north and the second county in the UK to receive the scheme. By 2011, an additional 9,000 homes will become part of the scheme. Cllr Rob Polhill, leader of the Halton Borough Council, said that the roll ... Full Story

A new scheme in Cleveland will see residents having to ensure their recycling is out in a timely manner or risk receiving a fine of $100. As the fine-based recycling schemes grow in popularity worldwide, many local authorities in the UK and US have taken to adopting the scheme. Prior to the coalition government’s announcement that the UK would focus primarily on rewards-based recycling, councils across the country were beginning to adopt penalty-based initiatives. This latest scheme in the US city in Ohio will see RFID smart chips placed into bins in order to monitor which residents are placing rubbish out on ... Full Story

Every Can Counts teamed up with Manchester-based creative agency Studio North to promote workplace recycling at last week’s V Festival. The annual festival hosted a ‘Can you kick it’ football challenge in order to promote the Every Can Counts initiative, which encourages concert goers to exchange at a minimum one empty can and be entered to win VIP campaign tickets to attend next year’s V Festival. Studio North has also been developing ‘on the go’ recycling schemes as well as adding a social media aspect like blogging to Every Can Counts’ website. The campaign has also been featured on Twitter and Facebook ... Full Story

A new reality show, ‘Great British Waste Menu’, scored top marks in the ratings with more than 5 million viewers tuning in on Wednesday, according to the most recent audience figures. The programme features four top ranking chefs who attempt to utilise waste food to make standard restaurant dishes. Drawing in a whopping 5.09 million average for the BBC One, it aired  this week during the 8.30 to 10pm slot. The show was able to outrank ITV’s live segment on the Tottenham Hotspur’s Champion’s League victory where they beat out Young Boys, which drew in 4.11 million airing at 7.30. Overall the ... Full Story

According to councillors across the country, the current waste processing system requires too much red tape making the process more complicated than necessary. At the moment, local authorities are forced to regularly submit information via the Environment Agency’s WasteDataFlow register. The online database, which was implemented in 2004, helps officials monitor the influx of waste. However, councils now are saying the forms on the database, which require regular updates, are time consuming to complete and councils should not encounter this much bureaucracy when managing waste processing. Data entry from each authority is required on a quarterly basis, which many ... Full Story

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Straight, a recycling group based in Leeds, will begin to manufacture its own kerbside recycling boxes after its acquisition of an injection moulding firm. Purchased by Dyro Holdings, owner of Powell Plastics based in Hull, for £2.9m, the purchase will see Straight manufacture its own products internally. However, the purchase was incurred by Straight roughly one-third of it in-house. Dyro, which maintains around 60 staff members, made the bulk of its £10m annual profit selling plastic recycling and waste containers to Straight. The business operates over 20 injection moulding machines and earned £1.12m in profits during 2009. Chief executive at Straight, Jonathan Straight ... Full Story

Outsourcer Serco Plc recently won the prestige as preferred bidder for chunky waste management against a backdrop of government spending uncertainty. The contract, which will cover refuse and recycling collections in the West Midlands council of Sandwell, is estimated to be worth 650 million pounds to the firm over the course of 25 years, Serco announced Thursday. Serco, which also runs London’s new cycle hire scheme and prisons, said that its Waste Improvement Plan will begin in November when the contract is formalised. The Waste Improvement Plan will see 35 per cent of Sandwell’s waste converted into renewable energy. Government budget cuts, which ... Full Story

According to preliminary figures on Welsh council recycling, twelve of the 22 local authorities have passed the national standard for recycling targets. This means that nearly half of the local councils have missed recycling target expectations as required by the Welsh Assembly Government. Councils were instructed to compost or recycle up to 40 per cent of all household waste by 2009/10, but 10 local authorities have fallen short of these goals. According to Ministers, it is believed that recycling targets would have been better reached had it not been for such severe winter weather experienced across the UK this year. They also ... Full Story

After it was revealed that Cumbria collected nearly £3m in unused medicine, patients are being encouraged to decline medicine they do not intend to take. Almost £3m in prescription medicine waste had to be destroyed in Cumbria after being turned in by patients who did not use them. The NHS office within the county said that 13.6 metric tonnes of rubbish last year was safely disposed of medical waste. In the wake of the growing pile of prescription drug waste, NHS has now begun to urge patients to think before refilling an unneeded prescription or declining one prescribed that is unnecessary. According ... Full Story

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has announced its second wave of a new waste management project designed to involve students, teachers and education communities around Mumbai city in recycling initiatives. After completing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian government, the institute will now be able to implement the second phase of its programme. The memorandum of understanding calls for the TERI to access the state's vulnerability to global climate change. The project has been dubbed SEARCH and was previously launched nationwide back in 2009. The main goal of the scheme seeks to create awareness among educational facilities centred around sustainable ... Full Story

The government announced a wide-ranging review of issues surrounding policies on waste and the question of burning waste to generate power is a prominent point to be covered. Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman yesterday announced a major review of waste policy and options for the handling of waste. The review is to be carried out by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The review will aim to gather information on and the views of the public, as well as other stakeholders, towards a range of issues involving waste. Though the study will consider how recycling rates can be boosted ... Full Story