Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) has announced that it wishes to run a trial to determine the best ways to recycle commingled Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) plastics. In addition to the organisation's other plastics trials performed earlier this year, WRAP intends to investigate recycling techniques involving commercial mixed plastics and mixed plastics packaging. WRAP's hope is to use the trial's results to present information regarding large scale techniques on sorting the materials. The report WRAP hopes to publish will be a complementary piece to a report published by WRAP last year, titled: "Developing Bulk WEEE Polymer Separation and Analysis ... Full Story

A few days after the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) invited tenders to join in on its commercial scale plastics recycling trials, many members of the recycling industry have raised concerns over WRAP's new plan to launch a mixed plastic recycling programme. WRAP's aim with the programme is to boost the substandard levels of mixed plastics recycling throughout the UK. While the programme is sound in theory, many members of the recycling industry question the scheme's feasibility and cost effectiveness. UK recycling expert Paul Dumpleton, director for materials management at Shanks, said there are major issues involved with the collection process ... Full Story

Many underdeveloped countries have environmental laws that are quite lax, if they exist at all. It has been shown that many of the mobile phones and ink cartridges collected for recycling have been sent to these countries and dumped into a landfill. This, of course, is defeating the entire purpose. Watchdog groups are aware of this practice and are doing something about it. Fortunately, the number of items being sent to landfills has decreased but more can be done. When you recycle an ink cartridge or mobile phone, try to find a reputable company that isn't part of the landfill ... Full Story

A new report titled "Introduction to Plastics Recycling, 2nd Edition" has been released by Research and Markets. As with the well received previous edition, this report offers valuable information regarding "environmental protection and waste management issues have come to the forefront of both public and political awareness". Except for those directly involved in certain niche industries, not much is known about plastics and their potential for being recycled. The 2nd edition provides pertinent information on plastics, including the options for recycling, particularly mechanical recycling. The easy to read information also addresses major issues associated with recovering and recycling plastics. The material ... Full Story

Solo Cup Europe has joined together with Closed Loop London to produce recycled food-grade plastic for use in the manufacture of its products. Closed Loop London is known for its recycling solutions - the company collects discarded recyclable packaging materials, sorts, cleans and shreds it into tiny flakes that can be used to manufacture new products. The recycled material is sold to manufacturing companies, who in turn use it for new packaging materials, thereby "closing the loop" and preventing unnecessary waste. This partnership will cause Solo Cup Europe to be first company on the market with "a range of fully recycled ... 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

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