The US Environmental Protection Agency said that it will propose new regulations to reduce the amount of mercury waste generated by dental offices beginning next year. The proposed law, which could be finalised by 2012, will reverse an EPA policy from the Bush administration that gave dentists voluntary guidelines to reduce mercury waste. The new rule will require dentists to install a device that allows the mercury from old fillings to be reused or recycled. According to Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project and a forerunner on the National Mercury Products Campaign, the proposal by the current EPA to end ... Full Story

Plans to ban certain materials from being sent to landfills, which would have included food, metals and paper, have been scrapped by ministers after a government report warned that doing so could increase fly tipping. Householders will no longer be faced with the requirement of having to install slop buckets within their kitchens in the wake of the government report indicating that forcing people to separate out food waste could lead to more fly tipping instances. Furthermore, the year long consultation culminating in the report found that by forcing households to collect food waste councils would have to use more taxes ... Full Story

As local authorities across the country step up their recycling efforts, new figures revealed that waste battery recycling rates have risen more than five per cent in a three month period. Scientists at the Environment Agency learned that 16.15 per cent of all waste batteries had been sent to recycling during 2010's second quarter. This is in comparison to the 9.15 per cent that was recycled during the first three months of this year. The increase in battery recycling is partially being attributed to a new scheme that requires retail outlets that sell large quantities of batteries to provide in-store recycling bins ... Full Story

Westfield Shopping Centre announced today the launch of its new recycling initiative, which will see an expected 675 tonnes of beverage containers diverted from landfill per year. The scheme, which will be rolled out on a national level, could collect enough recyclable material to fill nine Olympic swimming pools per year. The Parliamentary Secretary for the NSW Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, Angela D’Amore MP was on hand to official kick-off the campaign at the Westfield mall in Burwood, NSW yesterday. According to Ms. D’Amore the coordinated recycling plan was a first for Australia and that it would significantly ... Full Story

The City of York Council said that it will resume its box deliveries for its kerbside recycling scheme for households that have not yet received them.Deliveries were placed on hold at the peak of the summer holiday season in order to avoid the risk of boxes being left outside houses while families were away on vacation. Over 30,000 households had already received the new boxes at the beginning of summer and the remainder – around 40,000 households – will all have the new boxes beginning 6 September. The new box scheme incorporates three containers, each designed to store specific recyclable materials ... Full Story

A new scheme will be launched in Nuneaton and Bedworth as part of a larger initiative to boost household recycling rates in the area. With a particular focus on beverage cans and metal packaging materials, the scheme will incorporate a series of leaflets that will be sent door-to-door designed to explain to borough residents how the new programme will work. Lasting 6 weeks, the scheme will encompass the existing Red Box kerbside recycling scheme that the local council currently operates. ‘Metal Matters’, as the initiative has been dubbed, will see residents aim to increase the amount of metal packaging ... Full Story

Scotgold Resources has had their application to reopen a gold mine in Loch Lomond National park turned down. The firm had been opening to begin work at the Cononish Mine, near Tyndrum, after it was abandoned back in 1997. However, Dr Mike Cantlay, convener of the National Park Authority, said that the potential financial benefits could not be justified against the conservation concerns. Scotgold had applied to mine for both silver and gold and construct a processing plant at the mine’s surface. Dr Cantlay said that the biggest concern was the design and scale including the visual impact of the ... Full Story

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A new company in Canada has become the country’s fastest growing direct-from-consumers precious metals recycling firm. Today the firm announced that it will be opening several more store fronts as the increasing popularity of gold and silver recycling becomes widespread throughout Canada. Recycle Frog will host a series of public events to kick off the store ... Full Story

The latest figures from the Environment Agency show a marked increase in the amounts of packaging being recovered and recycled in the second quarter of 2010 but aluminium recovery is down. Some reprocessors have yet to report their data but about 1.8 million tonnes of packaging was recovered or recycled. This represents a 7.5 per cent increase over the same period of 2009. The amount of glass recovered was up by a handy 18 per cent, to 472,912 tonnes. However, some 3,000 tonnes less aluminium was recovered compared to last year. That’s a drop of 20 per cent. The lower ... Full Story

The European metal packaging industry is making moves to improve its current recycling rate of 71 per cent. The carbon footprint of cans made by members of Empac (European Metal Packaging), will now be calculated on an interactive scorecard.   The aim of the scheme is to build on the group’s current recycling rate, which was recorded as being at 71 per cent in 2008. The calculator will also allow for consistent answers to an increasing ... Full Story

An international project supported by the European Commission is taking bike recycling to a new level and fostering stronger international connections between local bike recycling organisations. The Talking Bikes project is aimed at giving people from different cycling countries opportunities to meet, share information and experiences and build cultural bridges. Language training is a key aspect of the programme, and participants are encouraged to learn each others’ respective tongues. Tyneside organisation Recyke Y’Bike saves bicycles from landfills, giving them new leases on life. The group also promote cycling as an environmentally-friendly form of transport. As part of the Talking Bikes programme, ... Full Story