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

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

The first week of June is Recycle Now Week in Loughborough and Charnwood and to celebrate the event the local councils have organized a series of events promoting the use of reusable shopping bags. The events will take place at local supermarkets in the area. Charnwood Borough Council will use the week to highlight the “Just One More Thing” campaign. The Council plans to educate consumers about the impact they can have on the environment merely by reducing the number of plastic carrier bags they use on every trip to the supermarket. In the UK, it is estimated that the average person ... Full Story

Recycle Week starts on June 2nd and will see Pendle Council partner with Asda in order to celebrate the event. Council members and staff at the Colne store will join forces in order to better educate community members about recycling while they shop. The foyer of the store will host a recycling exhibition for the duration of Recycle Week. Staff in the store will be available to answer questions from shoppers about recyclable items and recycling locations. Environmentally friendly products will be on sale all week including items made from recycled plastics like pens, pencils and pencil sharpeners. The store and council will ... Full Story

A reusable green bag is being created and designed specifically for Metlon in order to encourage recycling at the local level and promote the “Think Melton, Shop Melton” campaign. A group of councillors comprised of various parties has agreed to the concept and is inviting officers to pursue more in depth research into the matter. In addition, they are exploring the possibility of partnership on the idea with the town centre. If the idea were pursued, the bag’s design would be the subject of a competition and corporate sponsors would be invited to participate in realizing the project. Matthew Jones, recycling and education ... Full Story

According to Greenpeace, new game consoles produced by Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are a “toxic menace”. The environmental group recently produced a report damning the physical construction of the consoles because of the hazardous chemicals they contain. Greenpeace regularly reviews electronic manufacturers and their products and evaluates their environmental impact. Their regular report ranks electronic companies based on their greenness. The report most recently ranked Nintendo as the worst console manufacturing company. Microsoft didn’t do much better and was third from the bottom. Sony, only slightly better, placed fourth from last. The Greenpeace report is entitled “Playing Dirty.” It found that game consoles ... Full Story

Environmental awareness was one of the topics discussed by Samsung executives at the recent Samsung Printing InspirAsia Tour in Bali, Indonesia. Senior vice president of Samsung Electronics' Digital Printing Division's Strategic Marketing Team, Jang Jae Lee, described the Korean’s inspiration to be green in a presentation. In 2004, the Samsung Green Take-back Program began recycling used toner cartridges, particularly for businesses and enterprises. The program is a voluntary one which offers no other incentive to corporations to participate other than the promise of minimizing their impact on the environment. Since 2004, the company’s various green initiatives have won it awards from groups in ... Full Story

Gathering groceries from the store causes more pounds of trash more year than many people will believe. From the grocery store to your home, the bags which hold your grocery gatherings are used then tossed out with the trash. These bags are made from two products which are both recyclable, but tend to be thrown in the trash rather than recycled. When the checkout person asks paper or plastic, say neither. The choice of bringing your own bags to the grocery store may not make a change today, but as more and more people move from packing their groceries in ... Full Story

PlastiPure is introducing a plastic completely free of estrogenics, a toxin found in most plastics which has been linked with a variety of health problems including breast and ovarian cancer in women and prostate cancer and altered sperm count in men. With the growing concern of the effects of such additives in many plastic products, this Texas company has taken a major step in producing a safer, more environmentally friendly plastic. With all of the concern about the effects on the environment and on our health from toxins that are being produced by products, such ... Full Story

A new shopping bag that is friendly to the environment has been unveiled by the Rye Chamber of Commerce. The reusable shopping bag is made of jute and has been designed by Steve Duffy who is a local artist and potter. The reusable shopping bags bear an image of the skyline of Rye. The Rye Chamber of Commerce has been very active in recycling initiatives and for over twenty four months the Chamber has been partnering with the Rother Environmental Group and Smurfit Recycling in a cardboard recycling project. The scheme has turned out to be a success and more than ... Full Story

Shoppers in California could end up incurring recycling charges for using plastic carrier bags. Two bills which are set to be deliberated by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee would permit charges of between fifteen to twenty five cents on every plastic bag in a bid to dissuade big retailers and pharmacy stores from using plastic carrier bags. Defenders of the move say this was bound to happen after a scheme was introduced in July 2007 which required big retailers and drug stores to begin recycling plastic carrier bags as well as selling shopping bags that were reusable. The president of the California ... Full Story

A new recycling scheme in the United Kingdom is to be first tried out in an industrial estate. The industrial estate where the experimental recycling initiative will be conducted in is the Bilton Industrial Estate and seven huge recycling bins and individual office bins from Slough Estates Group will be delivered there. If the trial turns out to be a success in giving encouragement to business organisations to increase their rate of recycling, SEGRO will expand the scheme to more of its outlets all over the United Kingdom. Ben Allen, a surveyor at the estate, hailed the scheme saying it provided a ... Full Story