Residents of Hertfordshire are being encouraged to begin dropping off redundant batteries at specific drop-off points as a means of boosting recycle efforts for battery waste. The scheme, scheduled to begin sometime this month, will require battery disposal to be handled at specific drop-off bins by all residents. Hertfordshire County Council approved the scheme after a study released the figures that only three percent of all batteries across the UK were being re-used. Executive member for waste, as well as the chairman of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, Derrick Ashley stated that batteries are comprised of important chemicals and materials such as ... Full Story

Ella's Kitchen, a leading manufacturer of organic baby-food, is launching a programme for the collection of non-recyclable baby-food containers. The company, which claims they are the first to launch such a programme, will be targeted towards kids, parents, and teachers attending preschool, nursery, or toddler groups. By saving the packaging from Ella's Kitchen baby food containers, customers of the popular baby-food suppliers can receive up to 2p per pouch to be donated to either charity or a local school of the customer's choice. Participants can simply download a Royal Mail label for free and send the pouches into Ella's Kitchen. The collected ... Full Story

Across the UK pro-privacy groups are lashing out at city councils wanting to adopt the microchip wheelie bin system. A new report has surfaced warning the public that up to 2.6 million chips have already been installed in an effort to monitor households which are throwing out waste which could be recycled. Supporters of the move to implant chips into wheelie bins are saying that the move will promote better recycling habits across the UK, however opponents of the tactic claim that its too Big Brother-esque, and they fear the government will use the microchips to punish those who do not ... Full Story

A train station in Bromley will be the site for a new recycling scheme trial designed to help commuters recycle cans and plastic bottles. Three new recycling units will be placed at the station and Bromley Council will be in charge of emptying and recycling the waste collected there. Southeastern will partner with Bromley South station for the scheme set to began March 2. For the first time, commuters at this station will be capable of separating out their paper, plastic, and metal can garbage avoiding sending such waste to a landfill. The Bromley Council has said that it will be responsible ... Full Story

A new recycling scheme which could pave the way for more effect recycling methods could receive Government funding within just a few weeks. Bristol City Council has put through a motion for approval for funding for placing microchips into wheelie bins. Currently the funding decision is under review by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). If the volunteer-based rewards scheme is approved, Bristol will be the first district to approve such a measure. The scheme calls for black wheelie bins to be outfitted with microchips which will weight the amount of waste being recycled per household. Incentives ... Full Story

The British Plastics Federation issued a statement in the wake of the Government's Consultation publishing their paper 'Implementing the Packaging Strategy" in which they proposed that 56.9% of plastic packaging be recycled by 2020. In the statement the British Plastics Federation claims that the target, which would constitute a 32% increase over the course of under ten years, is unachievable and sets an impossible standard. They continued stating that even if the amount of funding needed was given to build adequate facilities to up the recycling infrastructure, the goal could still not be reached in time. The statement continues to criticise the ... Full Story

WEEE, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, will be the focus this year at the Recycle Week campaign scheduled for June. This will mark the first time one particular waste issue has been given priority over others. WRAP's Recycle Now Partners announced the theme on their website just before a March 1st spring drive will launch to promote greater residential recycling in areas such as WEEE. Recycle Week is held annually since its inception in 2004, but normally it focuses on general reuse, reduce and recycle issues. The change in focus is indicative of WRAP's urgent need to get UK households to recycle ... Full Story

After the announcement of Bristol City Council's newest recycling reward scheme, a Labour councillor has warned that the scheme could become a "big stick" punishment for householders who are not recycling regularly. It was reported yesterday that Cotham, Redland, and Bishopston will be encouraged to recycle more household waste in order to earn cash incentives. The total incentive could reach up to £40 per year for each participating household. In all the trial will include 2,000 households to start. A small microchip will be placed into new wheelie bins which will then be distributed to participating households. The microchips will allow the ... Full Story

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has been identified by experts as a growing issue for countries to begin dealing with more aggressively. The UN, recently released a report warning developing countries to begin recycling their e-waste or it could have an unsavory impact on the environment down the line. In response to this growing need, A UK based waste management company, EnvironCom has opened up their largest WEEE facility to date. Located in Grantham, the facility consists of four separate plants which can process and recycle up to 100,000 tonnes per year of  WEEE waste. That is approximately 10% of ... Full Story

Last year, UK paper mills produced roughly 4.3m tonnes of board and paper. Although these numbers indicated a 14% drop from figures in 2008, the trend over the last five years has shown that paper production across the UK has been dropping steadily. In all the paper packaging industry has dropped in production by 31% since 2004. However, industry officials are arguing that the industry was struggling before the recession hit, and in some cases, according to Andrew Barneston, corrugated sector manager for Confederation of Paper Industries, this made the industry more prepared to handle the economic downturn. It seems that now ... Full Story

The Bristol City Council will conduct trials on a new recycling scheme aimed at boosting residential recycling efforts. Residents in three separate areas around Bristol will participate in the trial which will involve cash incentives for recycling. The scheme centers around reducing the amount of black bag waste produced by each household, and those households which produce the least will be rewarded with cash prizes. Residents who volunteer to participate will be given a chipped wheelie bin. New collection vehicles will be outfitted with weighing equipment in order to record the weights of the bins each week. Incentives will be given ... Full Story

Oxfam's Trading Director, David McCullough has responded to today's announcement that M&S will move forward in the next stage of the Plan A sustainability journey. The trading director said that Oxfam is thrilled to be partnering with M&S and is encouraged by the ambitious focus of Plan A's next phase. The company has donated four million items to the shops to help British shoppers begin purchasing recycled clothing, he added. Clothing that would have otherwise ended up in various landfill sites around the country. The donated clothing has helped to raise £2 million which is in turn used for charitable causes helping ... Full Story