Last week at the Geneva motor show, VW announced plans to break into the expanding electric vehicle market. The German carmaker attended the auto show along with every other major industry player, each of which were showcasing a new hybrid or electric model. Chief executive for the new project, Martin Winterkorn, said that the automaker was hoping the car would expand from zero to three percent in the cars' share portfolio by the year 2018. Along with the electric vehicle announcement, VW also used the show to exhibit several new models including the Seat brand's sporty, all-electric model, the IBE. Other carmakers ... 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

Mayor of Houston, TX Annise Parker joined with Solid Waste Management Department Director, Harry Hayes, to announce that 54,000 new households in the Houston area will be the recipients of 96-gal recycling wheelie bins as part of a new community scheme, rewards-for-recycling by RecycleBank. RecycleBank runs programmes across the US designed at helping jumpstart neighbourhood recycling in cities across the nation. The company rewards residents with points for every time they recycle. The more points a household earns is dependent upon how often that household recycles. Points can be redeemed for items at retailers, grocery stores, chemists, and restaurants. Houston City Council ... 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

Aggreko, a Scottish based supplier for emergency power equipment, was able to avoid the economic downturn and is now reporting a staggering 28.7% rise in profits as demand for electrical equipment surges in the developing world. Chief executive for the company, Rupert Soames also announced that the Glasgow-based company saw an increase in capital expenditure guidance from £20 million to £200m for 2010. This new capital will be used to build a multi-million pound facility in Dumbarton. The new plant will help bring 113 jobs to the region as well as be a major expansion for the Clydeside town branch of the ... Full Story

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is set to revamp its recycling habits, which currently are plagued with out-dated facilities and lack of resources. However, now thanks to Fisher Recycling, a local waste management company, companies in the popular resort town will now be able to recycle plastic, glass, and aluminium. Previously, due to a lack of service and facility companies in the Myrtle Beach area could not even recycle the most basic recyclables such as glass and plastic. Thanks to South Myrtle Chamber of Commerce's new 'Going Green' Campaign, Fisher Recycle will now provide auditing services for waste as well as recycling ... 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

A new recycling facility in St Helens, UK just opened up and will be handling a wide range of electrical based recycling for UK based recycling and waste management firm, Viridor. The new recycling centre will taking end-of-life electrical equipment from all over the country. The materials sent for processing at the new site will include e-waste collected from schools, hospitals, households, and businesses across the Northwest section of the UK. The new facility can process up to 40,000 metric tonnes when operating at full capacity. The electrical components are separated at the centre for materials which can be reused such as ... Full Story

The Vancouver winter Olympic Games may have already come to a close, but for those athletes that took home the prized medals will have a piece of that victory to carry with them forever. Although the athletes medals represent a personal victory, the medals now also represent a small victory in eco-friendly recycling. This year, for the first time in the history of the Olympics, the medals were made using recycled metals which were salvaged from discarded e-waste. A Canadian mining company, Teck Resources, was hired by the Olympic Committee to construct the medals using recycled gold, silver, and bronze from ... Full Story