Greggs achieves "closed loop" recycling

One of the UK's largest bakery retailers, Greggs, has helped to save £12,000 in just three months through recycling its waste plastic.

Former environment secretary David Miliband commends Gregg's technical manager Louise Craven at the BCE awards earlier this year

Through an initiative led from the company's headquarters in Yorkshire, the firm has teamed up with plastics recycler Cromwell Polythene, to recycle all its waste plastic from packaging. This is then converted into sacks and bags, some of which are returned to Gregg's for general waste and segregation of waste plastic.

As a result of waste reduction initiatives such as these, Greggs received a major commendation at this year's Business Commitment to the Environment Awards, which was presented by former environment secretary, David Miliband. James Lee, MD of Cromwell Polythene, said: "Reducing landfill by recycling plastics is an important part of our business. To be able to close the loop by re-supplying recycled sacks and bags to the end user is an additional bonus."

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Recycling.co.uk to invest in WEEE treatment

Waste firm Recycling.co.uk is planning to invest £1 million in new electronics recycling equipment after being awarded approved authorised treatment facility (AATF) status for treating the material.

The company, which has various divisions throughout North West England, is planning to invest money in its 10,000 sq ft centre in Preston, which recycles material including old fridges and TVs. The facility has received AATF approval from the Environment Agency which means it can issue evidence notes for producer compliance schemes, to show that producers have paid for products to be recycled in line with new laws which came into force on July 1 (see letsrecycle.com story).  

Recycling.co.uk's commercial manager Dave Allen said: "We have been involved with the WEEE regulations since the concept was conceived as a directive and we have invested heavily to ensure our systems and processes are absolutely state-of-the-art. In December 2005, we launched a new £750,000 WEEE processing centre and we now have plans to invest a further million pounds in expanding the site."

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Paper recycler donates £21,000 to charity

Aylesford Newsprint has donated £21,000 to help Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital (GOSH) buy four defibrillators.

Chris White, Aylesford Newsprint, Willie Thorne and Dolf Odendaal, GOSH, at the gala event

Commercial manager Chris White presented GOSH's Dolf Odendaal, with a cheque at a gala evening hosted by snooker player Willie Thorne, last Saturday (June, 30 2007) at London Zoo. The money was raised through an auction, a selection of fun games and an annual commitment to support the charity.

The company's area recycling manager Karen Newell, said: "We have just signed an agreement to support GOSH for a further five years, guaranteeing a minimum donation of £32,500. Events like this auction are fun and boost that amount considerably - which is good for everyone."

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Council promotes composting "over a beer"

Worcestershire county council is running a beermat and poster campaign to encourage more young people to compost their waste.

The council is targeting those aged 20 to 35 after its own research showed that 93 per cent of those who had bought compost bins and responded to a composting questionnaire were more than 36-years-old. Malvern TV presenter James Strawbridge is also endorsing the campaign and his picture will appear in the publicity.

Viktoria Salisbury, project development officer for composting, said: "The campaign is aimed at raising awareness of home composting among the younger audience and uses snappy slogans to get people talking about composting over a beer or two. We have chosen James to endorse the campaign because he is a great example of a young man who really does have a passion for the environment."

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Corus aids steel recycling in York

Steel firm Corus has given a new can container and picking line to Yorkshire waste firm Yorwaste to help recycle more cans.

(l-r) Robert Jenkins of Corus Steel Packaging Recycling, inspects the bales of steel packaging for recycling with John Miller of Yorwaste

The company has provided the new equipment to Yorwaste's Hessay-based materials recycling facility on the outskirts of York, to help it recycle 400 tonnes of steel packaging a year - a figure which has increased steadily over the last few years.

John Miller, external affairs manager at Yorwaste, said: "We are very grateful to Corus for providing this crucial equipment, which is key to our work in recycling steel packaging here at Yorwaste's Hessay plant. As a result of the new equipment, we are in an even stronger position to serve the local community and to support the recycling efforts of residents."