Plans for the expansion of a waste recycling initiative for retail outlets and businesses in west Oxfordshire are in high gear. The waste recycling initiative was started in mid-2007 and has so far managed to divert one hundred and thirty tonnes of glass and cardboard from being sent to landfills. Currently one hundred and twenty customers have joined the scheme and the West Oxfordshire District Council is planning to add to that number. The recycling boxes are collected on Saturday every week and the customers can choose from four distinct sizes of waste collection boxes. The manager of Usborne Publishing archive store, Zoe Wright ... Full Story

A recycling firm has revealed that due to the testing of the upgrades made at its aerobic digestion facility it was being forced to send more municipal waste to landfill sites. Premier Waste stopped the processing of waste earlier this year in March at its Thornley-based Premier Advanced Recycling Centre after the Environment Agency directed that company dump ten thousand tonnes of the digester's output to landfill sites. Durham county council owns Premier Waste. This was because the environment body was concerned about the amount of plastic and glass found in the compost-like-output. The Environment Agency was also concerned that the processing ... Full Story

A new report has revealed that the rates of recycling for cardboard and bottles have been hugely exaggerated. In New Zealand for instance statistics were doctored to show that the rate of recycling for glass bottles had risen by seventy thousand tonnes. Also the statistics for recycling of cardboard had to be reduced by close to three hundred thousand tonnes since it was discovered that most of what had been claimed to have been cardboard packaging was printed paper and newspapers. The inaccuracies were discovered by an independent audit of National Packaging Covenant Council of Australia which claimed that they were not ... Full Story

The Chief executive of a major UK waste management company has hit back at the Campaign for Real Recycling (CRR) for criticising the practise of co-mingled collections. Ian Wakelin of Greenstar UK, insists that co-mingled ( or mixed) collections could increase recycling levels by 15 per cent. “I don’t agree with the CRR’s argument that co-mingled collections undermine the environmental and financial benefits of recycling.” he commented, describing their criticism as ‘very frustrating’. “The negativity of co-mingled press driven by proponents of kerbside collections is very frustrating. We need to make recycling as simple as possible and the best way to do this ... Full Story

With cheap ferry fares and spectacular scenery, Scandinavia is becoming an increasingly popular holiday destination for summer travelers from the UK. The government recently launched a campaign to help get tourists recycling even while on vacation. Most bottles and cans in Scandinavia have a recycling symbol on the container which indicates that the container can be recycled. Not only does the symbol indicate that you shouldn’t put it in the trash, but it also indicates that a refund is available upon recycling. In Denmark, these marked bottles and cans are worth DKK3.00 each (£0.32) and in Sweden, each bottle or can recycled ... Full Story

The recycling process is still imperfect and unfortunately contains many inefficiencies which make recycling far more expensive. Getting to know the different kinds of plastics can be difficult for household consumers, putting them off recycling all together in some cases. Designer Woo Seok Park has come up with some technology which might help out on the recycling front. The Asimo, a Honda product, although not ready for wide scale use, is a robot which could assist in simplifying the recycling process. The system uses product barcodes in order to classify types of recyclable plastic. The technology scans the barcode, then opens the ... Full Story

Becoming environmentally friendly has gotten quite complicated recently, leaving many consumers eager to help out but unsure of the best way to proceed. For example, should bottles and cans scheduled for recycling be washed out, or will doing so waste more money than it’s worth? Depending on where you’re recycling and what’s being recycled there may be different rules about how to prepare your material for the recycling bin. It is generally recommended to give most cans a rinse before putting them in the recycling bin, as it helps make the recycling process more efficient. Although a rinse is a good idea, ... Full Story

Compared with Californians, recyclers in the UK may have some catching up to do. In 2007, the American state recorded a record number of recyclers and particularly high levels of beverage container recycling. In 2007, the State of California recorded 1.5 billion more bottles and cans recycled compared to number in 2006. The rate of recycling in rose to 67 per cent, an overall increase of seven per cent over the previous year. Department of Conservation Director Bridgett Luther said: "This is tremendous news for California and the environment. By recycling a remarkable number of containers in 2007, it's clear that Californians ... Full Story

Over the weekend residents of Newcastle were shocked to find that a good number of the bottle banks in the town were full to capacity. This led to glass bottles piling up or being left lying around the bottle banks. A disturbed resident wondered why the Inter-Church recycling initiative had been let to die only for the residents to now have to bear with lack of collection services. An inter-church community project used to operate a door to door glass collection and recycling scheme for Newcastle households, but it was forced to fold up earlier in the year because of financial ... Full Story

An environmental policy proposed by the Liberal Democrats intends to reduce the amounts of waste sent to landfills in Sheffield. Councillor Paul Scriven who is the group leader revealed that if the party wins majority seats in Sheffield Council in May they will initiate a second kerbside recycling collection. Ten per cent of Sheffield’s waste presently comprises of glass, of which only a fifth undergoes recycling. Since glass does not burn when incinerated it ends up being sent to landfill sites. The glass now comprises a significant proportion of the fifteen per cent of waste that is dumped in landfills. The Liberal ... Full Story

A glass recycling scheme targeted at business enterprises in Harborough district could see the light of day before summer. Harborough District Council intends to begin the collection service by the end of Spring and is encouraging business enterprises to register their interest in the glass recycling scheme. Close to a hundred letters have been mailed to enterprises such as bars and clubs in the district informing them about the glass recycling scheme. Though the scheme is intended to increase the commercial recycling rates, Harborough District Council is disappointed with the lukewarm response the plan has elicited so far. The scheme has seen business ... Full Story

Glass may be the next target for the Bentonville recycling program. "We will find some way to address that. It's a work in progress," said Mayor Bob McCaslin. City officials are putting together ideas for a new program, which will be separate from the new recycling program by Allied Waste Services. The waste disposal company can’t glass because it is unsafe at the moment and because its trucks are not designed to handle glass, stated Jennifer Fagan, a sales manager for Allied Waste. Recyclable products they can accept are include paper, plastic and aluminum. "All of this stuff gets handled eventually at the recycling facility. ... Full Story