Recycling rates in Northern Ireland have increased just 1.2 per cent from 2008, according to new numbers released today. Household recycling is on the rise from last year according to the Northern Ireland municipal waste management statistics annual report. It further shows that recycling between April 2009 and April 2010 superseded targets set forth by quarterly waste management figures. The annual report indicates that household waste arisings in the area dropped from 879,846 in 2008 to 875,062 tonnes collected during 2009. The reduction represents a decrease of nearly 5,000 tonnes. However, the percentage of household rubbish that ... Full Story

The Government today said that industry work on increasing anaerobic digestion use around the country would be welcome. According to the invitation, the Government believes more steps need to be taken to aggressively launch widespread use of the new technology, which breaks down organic waste using microorganisms. AD can reduce food, farm and other types of organic material waste by converting it to fuel and other energy forms. The UK currently produces 100 million tonnes of waste per year, which if funneled through AD processes could generate up seven per cent of the UK’s required renewable energy for ... Full Story

Councils in Wales could face fines of up to £200 per tonne as new statutory recycling targets go into affect across the country. The Welsh Assembly Government said earlier in the month that it would become the UK’s first government to require mandatory recycling targets for local councils. Statutory targets will begin in 2012 and require local authorities to recycle more than 50 per cent of waste. By 2025, councils in Wales must recycling 70 per cent of waste or risk facing steep fines from the government. Consultations are already underway for means to implement the mandates, one of ... Full Story

The county council in Surrey said that householders’ waste reducing efforts have saved the region nearly £3 million in landfill tax. Residents have kept 75,000 tonnes of waste from ending up in landfill during the most recent fiscal year. By recycling more, householders have allowed a reduction of over 25 per cent in cost to the council. Dr Lynne Hack, cabinet member for the environment on Surrey County Council, said that the effort that the community had made was a great example of how working together could save the environment and save money. He added that the increase ... Full Story

A new £1m recycling facility has opened in Leicestershire village for public use. The county council-owned site sits on the edge of Moutsorrel and will replace the centre at Sileby, which has now gone defunct. Local residents first opposed the building on Granite Way as fears grew that the facility would cause noise pollution and increase traffic. The council, however, said that the recycling centre would greatly reduce pollution and allow for more efficiency than the previous site. Protestors continued to oppose the move, however, saying the building would be too close to residential areas Over a ... Full Story

The Maritime Union of Australia and Danish dock workers have both expressed growing concern as workers load hazardous waste onto a ship headed for Denmark. The toxic waste, which comes from the Orica plant, will be transported to Denmark on the Beluga Fascination, which currently sits off the New South Wales coast. However, safety officials have grown increasingly nervous as the same ship failed a safety inspection in China earlier this year. According to Mariann Lloyd-Smith, a spokeswoman for Australian Toxic Network, it is known that the Beluga Fascination failed an earlier health and safety inspection while docked ... Full Story

A new Environment Agency report shows that overall businesses are doing better at moving towards sustainability despite difficult economic times. The Greener Business report, published yesterday, states that poor performance from some industries, particularly waste firms, has been causing the most pollution incidents across the sectors that fall under the Agency’s care. However, the report, which covers England and Wales, also says that the majority of operators have shown improvement in their attention to sensitive environmental issues. Over half of the sites that fall under the Environment Agency’s jurisdiction earned a top ‘A’ rating from the governing body. This is a 47 ... Full Story

UK high street retailers Marks & Spencer announced its on track to reach its sustainability goals by 2015, which will make it the world’s first major retailer to go 100 per cent sustainable. According to the grocer’s half-year results, it is inline to meet half of its 180 total sustainability targets by next April, which puts the retailer way ahead of schedule. Former chief executive of the company Sir Stuart Rose founded the scheme, called Plan A, three years ago. So far, since its inception, the company has improved its fuel efficiency by 10 per cent introducing ‘teardrop’ trailers designed to ... Full Story

High street retailers could be wasting as much as £1billion per year on heat keeping shops at temperatures equivalent to Jamaica and letting doors stay open. A study from Cambridge University suggests that stores could save as much as 54 per cent of energy costs by keeping doors closed and turning down thermostats. Furthermore, if two-thirds of the nation took similar measures, the UK could save the equivalent of taking 1.1 million cars from the roads in carbon emissions. Research in London suggests that Britain is losing out on valuable resources as irresponsible businesses allow energy waste to ... Full Story

Authorities are treating the circumstances of a woman’s death, whose body was found at a waste site in North Lanarkshire, as suspicious. A man and his dog in Airdrie found the woman’s body, which remains unidentified, as they walked near Moss Side Avenue. Officers in Strathclyde said that a post mortem has been ordered to determine how the woman died and reiterated that enquires remained in the early stages. Detective Supt Alan Buchanan, the lead officer in the investigation, said that the initial enquires revealed that the body had been in the waste yard since Sunday evening. Authorities have appealed to any ... Full Story

Nearly 20,000 households are set to receive sealed lockable boxes as part of a new food waste collection scheme in Edinburgh. The lockable boxes will be issued to the 20,000 homes as part of a new pilot designed to test a variety of housing types in the capital’s eastern districts. If the project proves successful, the food waste collections scheme will be offered to the remainder of the city, which will include 250,000 homes. Each year, around 50,000 tonnes of food rubbish is thrown away in Edinburgh. The council said with the new collection programme it hopes to recycle around 20,000 tonnes ... Full Story

Plans for a £100 million controversial waste incinerator have been blocked by the government after six years of battling in Perth. The Scottish Government ruled yesterday that the scheme would be rejected, six years after the initial project was proposed. According to MSP Roseanna Cunningham, the decision was the right one for the right reasons. Planning reported Scott Ferrie was at the forefront of the decision to dismiss the appeal after widespread outcries from local campaign groups. In what is now being considered Perth’s longest saga in history, Grundon Waste Management will have to look elsewhere to ... Full Story