The president of the Guernsey Building Trades Employers Association has said that the island’s building industry cannot recycle properly as it hasn’t enough land and facilities. Cliver Fennar, however, said despite this, Guernsey’s Grand Bouet housing project was a great model for other constructors, managing to recycle a massive 95 per cent of waste. Mr Fennar claimed that while facilities were available in some places, there were not enough for recycling to be rolled out across the whole of the building industry. He added that there is currently no strategy in place to encourage people in the construction business to recycle ... Full Story

A new study by the Environment Agency has concluded that plastic bags are not as bad for the environment as previously thought. The organisation, which is charged with improving the green credentials of England and Wales, found that depending on how many times they are reused, different types of bags have different impacts on the environment. As well as typical high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bags, the research also looked at low-density polyethylene (LDPE) products - often called “bags for life”- as well as non woven cotton bags made of polypropylene (PP). The agency concluded that if a HDPE bag is reused for shopping, ... Full Story

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Thirsty residents in the south of England are being urged to take a ‘tap water test’ in a bid to cut down on waste created from bottled drinks. Councils across Dorset are urging people to go back to tap as part of a new drive to cut waste and save money and energy.   Recycling teams are heading out across the region where they are setting up stands and inviting residents to rediscover the taste ... Full Story

  The Price of Wales’s curtains are to be recycled into carrier bags as an exercise in sustainability. People attending the 12-day garden party on the Mall in London in September will be able to sow their own bags out of the former royal curtains of Clarence House.   Known as a Morsbag scheme, after founder Claire Morsman, the Prince believes it is a prime example of how people can reduce ... Full Story

UK firm Dairy Crest is expanding the availability of its more environmentally-friendly milk in bags. Dairy Crest recently announced sales figures that illustrate the success the milk producer has already demonstrated in trials of the new format of bagged milk. The format has proved popular with both consumers and several national retail chains. Dairy Crest offers a unique, patented bagged milk product called Jugit. Jugit features a reusable, easy-to-pour jug into which Jugit pouched milk (milk in a special bag) is inserted. The design requires substantially less packaging material for retail handling and delivery of the milk to the customer, whilst ... Full Story

Biffa Waste Services has just signed a 25-year contract with West Sussex County Council, marking the authorities greenest deal ever. The contract, which will see Biffa provide for the management of non-recyclable household waste over a long-term time period, will include the construction of a Mechanical Biological Treatment facility near an existing landfill site in Warnham. The state-of-the-art plant will take non-recyclable rubbish and turn it into reusable items such as electricity and compost. Operations are expected to begin by 2013. With the addition of the plant, just north of Horsham, the council will fulfill a promise made to West Sussex residents ... Full Story

Vacuum maker, Electrolux is jumping on the green bandwagon with its latest marketing campaign designed to offer consumers a contrast to BP's marketing tactics. Shortly before its recent environmental woes, BP switched its logo to a sunflower in green and yellow colours and changed its campaign slogan to 'beyond petroleum'. However, its ongoing ecological disaster has continually undermined its move to 'go green'. Electrolux, however, has decided to take a different approach with an impeccably timed scheme to take plastics from the ocean and use them as material in their vacuum cleaners. According to Electrolux CEO Hans Straberg, the oceans are filled ... Full Story

Recycling rates are continuing to be on the rise in Scotland, prompting the government to once again increase recycling target rates. Currently, the country is comfortably meeting their target recycling rate of 30%. A recent report released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency indicates that currently recycling and composting rates are now at 35.9%. The government had set this target between October 2008 and September 2009, and reached their goal, even surpassing it by a little more than five percent. However, in order to keep improving upon recycling habits within Scotland, the country will now aim to have a 40% recycling ... Full Story

As technology now advances at such a fast rate there are suddenly hundreds of millions of electronic devices that have been cast aside for the newer model. One of the increasing problems of waste management is how to deal and dispose of e-waste.  E-waste, which includes items like computers, mobile phones, printers, and televisions, is rapidly becoming one of the biggest problems for communities aiming to reduce the size of their landfills.  The United Kingdom has been particularly ineffective at dealing with e-waste, which has given birth to a score of new businesses, some of which are unethical.  According to ... Full Story

Mobile phone recycling has become one of the fastest growing segments of the recycling industry, as companies are popping up all over the world to handle the massive amount of unused mobile phones that are sitting around drawers.  The UK alone is estimated to have at least ninety million unused phones and in America there are almost twice as many phones as humans. Although phone manufacturers agree that this is a major problem, they differ on the ways to solve it. Sony Ericsson has been at the forefront of reusing mobile phone components in medical equipment, cameras, and other electronic ... Full Story

Recently there was a report about a family in the United Kingdom who managed to go an entire year, filling only one rubbish bin.  One of the ways in which this super eco-family was able to reduce their waste to nearly zero was to reduce the amount of textiles that they brought into their home and were later thrown away.  This can be done in a variety of ways, largely by buying only second hand clothes or by repairing used clothes instead of throwing them away.  One of the things holding back the growth of textile recycling in the United ... Full Story