Friends of Doonies Farm, the group that runs the farm, have said that their concern is that organic waste at the site would endanger their animals by attracting vermin.

According to the city council, however, no organic matter would be handled at the site.

Earlier this year, the council withdrew the farm’s subsidy and it gave the facility six months to show that it could be viable. Doonies Farm is now operated by a charity.

At a private meeting to be held late this week, councillors are scheduled to discuss the recycling plant proposal.

The chairman of Friends of Doonies, John Sleigh, said: “We feel there could be a health issue and a welfare issue if there is to be organic matter being decomposed so close to some of the animals in what is hopefully going to be a tourist attraction.” The group is now responsible for running the farm.

Sleigh added: “We already have one dump next to us and, understandably, the entire group are very nervous about the prospect of having two.”

In its last budget, the city council withdrew the subsidy given to the 210-acre farm. Doonies Farm supporters have been given six months to find alternative funding.

Thanks to news.bbc.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.dooniesfarm.co.uk

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 leader, Robert Aldridge, said: “These figures show that we are making real progress in our drive to cut the amount of Edinburgh’s waste that ends up as landfill. We are determined to build on this success and plan to cut the amount of waste disposed of in this way even further in future years.”

Aldridge added: “In addition, the council welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to a ‘zero waste’ future for Scotland, and are confident of achieving our ambitious target of 40% recycling by 2012.”

Thanks to news.bbc.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.edinburgh.gov.uk

Cartridge World is planning to plant a tree for every 25 refilled or remanufactured printer cartridges it sells during National Tree Week - by encouraging its customers to ‘Plant a Tree NOT a Cartridge’.  Its (participating) stores are now inviting nominations for trees from local schools, charities, nursing homes, parks and churches - or anywhere where the new trees will benefit the community.

National Tree Week runs from Wednesday, November 26 to Sunday, December 7, 2008.  During this time, Cartridge World estimates it will prevent a minimum of 80,000 cartridges from being ‘planted’ in landfill.  As a result, at least 3,000 local organisations could soon be benefitting from the new trees.

Mark Holland, UK General Manager for Cartridge World, said: “Everyone can support the ‘Plant a Tree NOT a Cartridge’ campaign.  All you have to do is have your empty cartridges refilled at your nearest Cartridge World store.

“The credit crunch could well limit corporate social responsibility schemes in the coming year.  We’re hoping many businesses will get involved, using this as an opportunity to work with the local Cartridge World store to the benefit of their community.”

To nominate an organisation to receive a tree, contact your local Cartridge World by calling 0800 18 33 800.

Cartridge World is the market leading retailer of refilled and remanufactured printer cartridges.  Using specifically formulated inks or toner, the Cartridge World stores can refill almost any inkjet or toner cartridge.  The end result is a high quality product offering the customer substantial savings on the cost of an original and an environmentally-friendly alternative to throwing the cartridge into landfill.

For further information on Cartridge World, visit www.cartridgeworld.co.uk.

For further information on National Tree Week, visit www.treecouncil.org.uk .

Six years ago Robert Shepherd ran his export company that was involved in supplying second-hand white goods to Africa, and also supplying other products, including HP Sauce.

On a business trip to Senegal, he learned that due to a new EU environmental regulation, his firm would no longer be permitted to export fridges to Africa. “We lost a million pounds overnight,” he said.

The EU directive was aimed at reducing CFC gas emissions in order to protect the earth’s ozone layer. CFC gases are widely used as coolants, which meant that old fridges in the UK, among other countries, could no longer be tossed out like ordinary rubbish – or sold second-hand.

What Shepherd saw was the business potential in the new need for recycling facilities for fridges, and he created the Global Environmental Recycling Company to answer this need - with capital from his existing export business.

He established his own facility, which was capable of recycling 99 per cent of each used fridge. The boom in business was short-lived, however.  “We knew that prices were going to plummet,” commented Shepherd. “We used to be paid £15-£20 for each fridge we handled but now you get basically nothing to recycle a fridge, so you have got to live off the materials produced from it.”

Thanks to business.timesonline.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

ec.europa.eu

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: “The partnership is aiming for just eight per cent of Northumberland’s waste to be sent to landfill by 2012. That will make the county one of the greenest for waste management in the UK.”

The West Sleekburn waste management facility is scheduled to be fully-operational in April 2009 and is a critical component of the joint plan between the Northumberland County Council and SITA UK to increase recycling and to divert as much waste as possible.

The two core elements that comprise the facility are a waste transfer station (WTS) and a materials recycling facility (MRF).

As much as 50,000 tonnes of mixed dry recyclables will be processed at the MRF annually. Dry recyclables include cans, cardboard, magazines, newspapers and plastic bottles that are collected by the recycling schemes operated by local district councils across Northumberland.

Thanks to www.mhwmagazine.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information about this article please visit their website.

www.sita.co.uk

Eigg islanders have made it to the finals in the NESTA UK Big Green Challenge and have won a £20,000 grant.

The purpose of the grant is to help islanders reduce carbon emissions on the islands to zero and also to fund a website to be called ‘Build Your Own Green Island.’

Eigg and nine other competition finalists are vying for a share in the £1 million in prizes.

All projects will be judged in the coming 12 months. Other finalists in the competition include London’s Back 2 Earth, Three Green Valleys in the Brecon Beacons and the Waste Oil Recycling in Prisons project in West Sussex.

The chairman of the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust, John Hutchison, said that the organisation was proud to be the only finalist from Scotland.

Hutchinson added: “Reducing Eigg’s CO2 emissions is vital to our sustainability, but we’re very much looking forward to monitoring and sharing what we’ve achieved with the rest of the country.

He continued: “The interest in the Big Green Challenge has been building since Eigg Electric brought 24-hour renewable power to our community. We expect it to increase further as our Big Green Challenge Year unfolds.”

Thanks to news.bbc.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.nesta.org.uk

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 situation has prompted the government to seek a solution regarding the waste storage problem during the period until demand recovers, and this week it made a commitment to partner with environmental and recycling organizations to do so.

In a statement issued jointly by Defra, the Environment Agency, the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP), it was said that although the demand for some waste materials had dropped sharply, the government remains committed to making sure “that this does not undermine public confidence in the value of recycling, nor lead to unacceptable environmental consequences.”

The statement also said that the government would aim to “avoid actions which exacerbate the situation whilst markets stabilize,” and will continue its support of recycling and waste minimisation efforts, encouraging that waste is sent to landfills only as “a last resort.”

Thanks to www.businessgreen.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.defra.gov.uk

The group, known as E-Stewards, has launched an initiative to certify and accredit North American recycling companies as “responsible recyclers.” Recent studies of electronics recycling practices have revealed that most North American e-waste ends up in African and Chinese landfills.

Studies include the television report by CBS, “Following the Trail of Toxic E-Waste” and the recently-released report by U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) entitled “Electronic Waste: EPA Needs to Better Control Harmful U.S. Exports through Stronger Enforcement and More Comprehensive Regulation.”

The E-Steward certification plan will “forbid the dumping of toxic e-waste in developing countries, local landfills and incinerators; the use of prison labor to process e-waste; and the unauthorized release of private data contained in discarded computers.”

At the present time, 32 recyclers operating in 92 locations have been certified by the E-Stewards, including 14 pioneers in recycling designated E-Steward Founders. ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) certification and third-party auditing will be introduced by 2010.

For more information on this article please visit www.goodcleantech.com.

e-stewards.org

At this time, the country lacks the capacity to handle the increasing amounts of paper being collected for recycling. This means that there is a need to depend on exports, and leaves the recycling effort vulnerable to rapid fluctuations in price, the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) has said.

The Far East had been buying nearly 75 per cent of Britain’s paper exports, but in recent weeks, the demand has almost disappeared, the CPI noted.

“With no obvious signs of Far East buyers returning to the market soon there is a serious possibility that storage of recyclables may end up being a high-risk strategy with huge costs to those requiring storage, including the taxpayers through local authorities,” CPI said in a statement.”

The group’s recovered paper sector manager, Peter Seggie, commented: “The worst-case scenario is that some material collected for recycling could go to incineration or landfill,”

Annually, Britain collects approximately 8.6m tonnes of paper for recycling, but the country’s papermakers are only set up to handle less than half this amount, meaning a dependence on buyers from abroad to purchase the balance.

Thanks to www.guardian.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.paper.org.uk

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 compared with Plymouth and Bristol.

The city of Plymouth came in third in the rankings, but scored highest in environmental performance. Newcastle moved up from eighth to fourth position – the only city in the north making it into the top five.

Bristol’s success was partly due to the impressive improvement in its recycling and composting rates, and also to its high scores on the quality of its water, waste collection and green spaces, according to the report issued.

Although Brighton and Hove moved up in the environmental ranking since last year, that in itself wasn’t sufficient to stop Bristol claiming the top spot.

The seaside city in East Sussex was commended for climate change strategy, provision of education, green spaces, recycling rates and transport services.

www.forumforthefuture.org

The financial hub of the capital will soon install dozens of bins which the manufacturer claims are ‘bomb proof,’ and capable of absorbing the strongest explosions.

Although advertising restrictions are in place within the Square Mile, in line with heritage considerations, each bin will feature a video screen broadcasting financial news and also carrying messages from corporate sponsors, who will pay a fee fro the video advertising to Media Metrica, the company responsible for installing the bins.

Media Metrica will also charge the news agencies running feeds on the video screens.

A deal for the installation of the bins has been signed by the City of London Corporation, and Renew has been contracted to recycle bin contents. The first bins are scheduled to be installed in January.

The bomb-proof bins with their video features may sound expensive, but the bill won’t be footed by taxpayers. Media Metrica will pay the costs of manufacture, transportation, installation, cleaning, maintenance and repair and insurance, in return for the right of managing the information panels housing the recycling units.

www.metrica.net

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, reaching a recycling level of 58 per cent of all its domestic waste.

The wheelie bin system that the district council introduced in 2006, to some controversy, is credited with the success. Three bins are used to separate domestic, green and recycling waste, and although not warmly welcomed by the general population at the time, have proven that they are a workable solution.

Councillor Dick Edginton, the portfolio holder for amenities, said: “Education has been at the heart of our approach to recycling. We have given recycling advice to thousands of families and attended many community events to encourage residents to come on board with this lifestyle changing project.”

Thanks to www.skegnessstandard.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.e-lindsey.gov.uk