The Edinburgh City Council has reported that the Scottish capital is producing less household rubbish than anywhere else in the country. Over the past year, Edinburgh generated 1.165 tonnes of waste per household, as compared with the average 1.419 tonnes that is Scotland’s national average. Numerous waste minimization initiatives are supported by the City Council of Edinburgh, including awareness-raising efforts on topics such as home composting and recycling unwanted mail. The new figures were published in a report about the City Council’s Waste Prevention Strategy, which is part of the capital city’s response to the Scottish government's Zero Waste consultation. Edinburgh City Council’s environment ... Full Story

The new £13 million integrated waste management facility (IWMF) that SITA UK is constructing in West Sleekburn, Northumberland will soon be completed. In 2006, the company entered into a 28-year PFT contract with the Northumberland County Council, and this new facility forms an integral part of the infrastructure to support that contract. The SITA UK general manager in Northumberland, Richard Hinchcliffe, said: "It is vital for SITA UK, as the county council's partner, to invest in state-of-the-art new facilities that can handle the ever-increasing amount of recycled materials collected, and also achieve the ambitious landfill diversion targets that have been set.” He added: ... Full Story

The government has said that it will do what it can to make it easier for waste handling companies to store materials awaiting recycling until demand from recyclers in other countries, such as China, recovers. In the UK, the recycling market has recently had to deal the crisis brought about by overseas recyclers halting waste material purchases in response to a reduced demand for their final products. As a result, the price of recyclable materials, including cardboard, paper, plastic and metal, has collapsed, meaning that waste handling firms in the UK have not been able to sell the material they collect. The ... Full Story

Bristol has been named the most sustainable city in Britain, beating Brighton and Hove for the distinction. The second-annual Sustainable Cities Index ranked the 20 largest cities in Britain on social, economic and environmental factors. Three tables measure the city’s environmental impact, the quality of life it provides for its residents and "future-proofing" – which is a gauge of how well cities address biodiversity, climate change and recycling issues. Last year’s overall winner in the rankings, Brighton and Hove, was rated highest in quality of life and future-proofing this year, but ranked second overall due to its poorer performance on environmental issues, as ... Full Story

East Lindsey’s green efforts have moved the East Lindsey District Council (ELDC) into the number one spot for recycling in the UK. The ELDC moved up a full 94 places from coming in 95th last year. The council leader, Doreen Stephenson, commented: "This is fantastic news and a ringing endorsement of the efforts of our residents. Homes across the district have really embraced recycling and the fact we now lead the country shows just how exceptional our residents are." A recycling goal of 40 per cent by 2010 has been set for the country, and the ELDC has surpassed this target already, ... Full Story

According to a plastic and waste recycler, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive is not delivering what it was meant to, as export waste levels are on the increase. The director of Axion Recycling, Keith Freegard, said: “It is clear the WEEE Directive is failing to deliver what it set out to do. The best treatment, recovery and recycling techniques should be applied to maximise material re-use and to minimise human health and the environment.” Freegard noted that the WEEE Directive was put in place so that electrical waste would be recycled into new products and hazardous materials would be ... Full Story

Thousands of tons of food waste will be the source of the electricity providing heat and light at Sainsbury supermarkets beginning next year. According to Lawrence Christensen, the chain’s non-executive chair responsible for environmental matters, from 2009 Sainsbury supermarkets will become the first leading retailer in Britain that will recycle waste into methane gas, rather than sending it to landfills. Currently, the group’s 800 stores send 60,000 tons of food waste to landfill sites annually. With the new scheme, the waste will be taken to anaerobic digester plants instead, converted to methane gas and then used to generate electricity. Other waste will be ... Full Story

Camden Council and Gasrec, the first commercial producer of biomethane fuel in the UK, have announced the installation of the first bio-gas refuelling station in London in a six month trial of the viability of biomethane as fuel for a commercial vehicle. In August, Camden Council joined forces with Gasrec, Veolia Environmental Services, the largest waste management company in the UK, and Iveco, the commercial vehicle manufacturer, to conduct a commercial trial involving a street cleansing vehicle fuelled by compressed biomethane. The Council’s York Way depot now has a bio-gas fuelling station, which will provide fuel for the trial vehicle for its ... Full Story

It is expected that the current financial crisis will have an impact on the recycling and waste sectors, leading to both “redundancies and company failures,” the industry announced this past week. With GDP growth expected to drop to at least a negative one per cent, a reduction in the volumes of commercial and industrial waste would be likely, recyclingwasteworld.co.uk has reported. This is supported by comments from Veolia Environnement made early last week indicating that the firm had been seeing “a clear slowdown in business activity since the beginning of the summer”. The company’s statement added: “The effects of the economic slowdown (decline ... Full Story

Britain’s environment minister, Jane Kennedy, has recently announced that six areas in the UK will adopt a “zero” waste approach. Known as ‘Zero Waste Places,’ the areas are committed to take all measures necessary to reduce the impact on the environment of business and community waste, by adopting a plan that is sponsored by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Kennedy noted: "Across England, we are seeing communities come together with innovative ideas and a shared determination to tackle waste locally.” She added: "These six Zero Waste Places will test what can be done to make it easier for ... Full Story

Local councils will have to construct ‘alternative waste treatment facilities’ before the European Union Landfill Directive comes into effect in 2013. A new report, ‘Well Disposed: responding to the waste challenge,’ is warning local councils that they cannot rely simply on less waste being created and increasing recycling amounts to achieve the EU targets by 2013. If plans to build incinerators are delayed by two years, for example, England’s landfill allocation would be exceeded by 13 per cent and it would incur £140 million in penalties, at taxpayer expense, the report explained. The chairman of the UK’s Audit Commission, Michael O'Higgins, stressed: “We ... Full Story

New regulations for recycling in the UK are being called for by the Local Government Association (LGA) after an ITV programme exposed that locally-collected waste meant for recycling was being dumped in rural India. The LGA is demanding a system that is transparent and accountable, encouraging residents to continue recycling efforts. All council leaders in both England and Wales have received letters from the association stressing the necessity of providing residents with reliable information about the sale of recycled materials. The ITV programme tracked down mail – that had been recycled - originally sent to residents of Leicestershire County Council and Tendring, Wellingborough ... Full Story