A spokesman speaking on behalf of the London Assembly has incited the mayor's office to improve upon available recycling facilities for London's public transport system. According to Mike Tuffrey, environment spokesman for the Lib-Dems in the assembly, Transport for London's free morning newspaper deal was required to provide fully-integrated recycling facilities. However, Mr Tuffrey says that those services were never rolled out throughout the city, and are now seriously lacking. He added that each day more than 1.5 million newspapers are given away fro free across the city. Commuters do not have access to the facilities to properly recycling unwanted newspapers, ... Full Story

New recycling bins have been put in at the Newcastle Airport as a means of helping passengers dispose of plastic and paper waste in a more eco-friendly manner. The specially created bins were installed at 40 locations across the airport terminal during the past week as efforts across the country are being increased to boost recycling. Part of the larger, Recycle Zone project, the scheme will help passengers recycle in a more convenient manner. The Recycle Zone project is being managed in conjunction with WRAP, Coca-Cola Enterprises, and Recoup. Currently, the UK boasts over 50 set recycling zones, however, that number is ... Full Story

Popular furniture giant IKEA just launched a recycling initiative designed to encourage its employees to recycle more. The initiative, part of the retailer's overall zero waste to landfill programme, will aim to raise recycling awareness for its 700 employees that work in the firm's distribution centres. The scheme was launched at IKEA's Peterborough distribution centre last week in conjunction with Viridor. Viridor will be doing two roadshows, the first at the Peterborough site and a second in Doncaster later in the summer. The 'Recycle for IKEA' aims to improve recycling awareness, understanding, and efforts by offering employee training and awareness seminars. Viridor, ... Full Story

There’s a new phonebook in town. BT has announced the ‘compact’ phonebook, a new green alternative to the normal gigantic phonebook, millions of which are delivered every year. Sadly for BT, the phonebook is not nearly as sustainable as the company hoped. The ‘Say No to Phonebooks’ campaign reported that BT saved only mere 2200 tons of paper, a measly savings in comparison to the 62,000 tons of paper main phonebook suppliers BT, Yell, and Thomson use every year. The campaign claims that phonebooks produce an unwarranted amount of waste, ... Full Story

Entering into a two-year contract with Bryson Recycling, Lurgan-based paper processing company, Huhtamaki, will ensure that paper waste is collected by Bryson and processed locally in Armagh and Banbridge, Northern Ireland. Under the new agreement, Bryson's kerbside box service will collect paper that will be sent to Huhtamaki's plant in Lurgan. The service, which has been running since 2002 in Armagh and Banbridge, will be able to expand as Bryson begins conducting business with more local companies. After collection, Bryson will send the paper waste to the plant in Lurgan where it will be recycled and moulded into items such as egg ... Full Story

Florida's Department of Environmental Protection launched the 'Easy As One' campaign's first regional collection fair over the weekend in Tallahassee on the Downtown MarketPlace grounds. More than 2,400 plastic bags were recycled at the event, and 300 pounds of paper goods were shredded and sent to be recycled. Additionally, a total of 50 old mobile handsets were collected and given to the Big Bend Victim Assistance Coalition. DEP Deputy Secretary Mimi Drew said that the collection event proved that recycling can make a difference. Ms Drew added that thousands of plastic bags were successfully collected and recycled, and a charitable organisation was ... Full Story

Thursday is free coffee day at Starbucks for all customers who bring a reusable tumbler to all participating retail outlets. As part of its efforts to encourage customers to bring their own mugs to cut down on paper products, Starbucks will offer a free cup of brewed coffee to any customer that brings their own reusable mug. Currently, Starbucks has set the goal of using 100 per cent reusable and recyclable materials for all their cups by 2015. In order to achieve this, Starbucks will have to make sure their cups can be recycled in all major cities. The coffee giant ... Full Story

Cintas Corp. announced they will organise a scheme of community events designed to recycle over 400 tonnes in paper waste in celebration of Earth Day. The events will feature 'community-wide shredding' and will be held throughout this month. Local businesses as well as community groups have been asked to participate in the shred events which will be sponsored by Cintas. The events will feature a convenient way for community members to dispose of 'confidential' files and paperwork in a way that is sustainable, secure, and environmentally friendly. The programme aims to recycle up to or more than 400 tonnes, and for each ... Full Story

According to the Environment Agency’s recently published National Packaging Waste Database, over 1.86 million tonnes of packaging was recycled in 2009. Angus Macpherson, managing director of the Environment Exchange, said that contrary to earlier forecasts, the country’s recycling target had been met last year. He added that there were two main reasons for the success. Macpherson reasoned that the supply of Packaging Recovery Notes (PRN) in Q3 and Q4 had significantly increased, mainly due to export growth, while the demand for packaging had dropped dramatically by some 150,000 tonnes, which was lower than the 2008 level. He said that the combination ... Full Story

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has recently organised a consultation with the hope of introducing landfill bans on nine waste materials – including paper, cards, food, textiles, metals, wood, electronic devices, glass and plastics. Entitled ‘Consultation on the Introduction of Restrictions on the Landfilling of Certain Wastes’, the meeting was held at the Baywaters’ Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in eastern London. Speaking to MRW interviewers, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said a ban on certain materials in landfills could fuel the development for more MRFs and anaerobic digestion plants. Benn informed that the sorting of rubbish would normally ... Full Story

UK residents are being urged to recycle their old phone books in order to prevent massive amounts of paper waste which has begun accumulating in UK landfill sites. Each year thousands of the popular Yellow Pages phone directories are issued to their customers, however many do not recycle the old phone books leaving paper waste to pile up across the country. Each year in Redbridge thousands of copies of the popular phone directory are being sent into the rubbish bin and hauled straight to a landfill. Now, the Redbridge Council is hoping to curb this environmentally unfriendly habit and encourage residents ... Full Story

Today PM Custom Weddings will launch a new series of eco-friendly wedding invitations. As people move more and more to environmentally friendly products, PM Custom Weddings and other companies are looking to satisfy those demands as well as do their part to help the environment. As couples become eco-conscious, so do suppliers and vendors. Now PM Custom Weddings will offer all of the wedding invitation designs they offer printed on 100 percent recycled paper. With the rise in 'green' weddings, eco-chic 100 percent recycled wedding invitations are becoming the latest trend. Couples will be able to pick from numerous designs whilst still ... Full Story