Envar announce new chairman

Envar chairman Bill Elliott

Cambridgeshire-based waste management firm Envar - which owns and operates the largest commercial composting facility in the UK - has named Bill Elliott as its new chairman.

The firm, which is part of the ADAS group of companies, will look to draw on Mr Elliott's 30 years experience in business development in the environmental sector. Having been at SITA for 11 years, where he won manager of the year in 1997, Mr Elliott will now look to increase the market share of Envar's recycling and composting arm and secure further investment in the company's St Ives composting site.

Mr Elliott said: "These are challenging times but the market for waste management operation and innovation has never been stronger. I am really looking forward to driving the further growth of Envar, and continuing improvements to deliver ever greater efficiency and consistent compliance."

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Property guru urges Cumbria to go green

Television presenter Kirstie Allsopp has backed Cumbria county council's attempt to encourage residents to take up home composting.

The star of Channel 4's ‘Location, Location, Location' is supporting the ‘Turn spuds into buds' campaign, a scheme which offers a range of composting bins to Cumbrians at a discount price and has sold 18,000 bins to date. The bins, which cost as little as £8 for a 220 litre container, are intended to help Cumbria in its drive to become Britain's greenest county and build on its current recycling rate of almost 40%.

Ms Allsopp said: "Home composting is not only good for the planet, it's also good for your pocket. By composting everyday waste such as vegetable peelings, tea bags, egg shells and cardboard you can make a nutrient-rich soil enhancer to grow your own veg and flowers in."

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Closed Loop donates to Olympic hopefuls

(l-r) Triathlete Zoey Littlechild; Chris Dow, managing director of Closed Loop; Jeremy West, chairman of Living the Dream Trust; karate champion Reece Taylor

Plastic recycling firm Closed Loop Recycling has donated £1,000 to help young athletes in Barking and Dagenham.

The Dagenham-based firm made the donation to Living the Dream Trust, an organisation set up to support young, local athletes to develop their talent and be able to compete in London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, as well as other international events. The borough is currently home to 20 athletes who represent their national squads and the money is intended to help travel, training and equipment costs.

Chris Dow, managing director of Closed Loop Recycling said: "These youngsters are the pride of Barking and Dagenham and we want to help them achieve their dream by supporting them financially."

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Tesco shoppers shun two billion carrier bags

Use of single-use carrier bags in Tesco stores has fallen by 40% compared to two years ago, according to the supermarket giant.

After launching a scheme in August 2006 which rewarded customers Green Clubcard points for not taking a single use carrier bag, the amount of bags used has fallen by two billion. In a bid to encourage more people to take up reusable bags, Tesco has now also brought in designer Cath Kidston to create a range of bags which will be made from recycled plastic bottles. Marie Cure, which is Tesco's Charity of the Year, will receive 50p for every reusable bag sold.

Lucy Neville-Rolfe, corporate legal and affairs director, said: "Our customers have shown us how keen they are to break this environmentally-damaging habit of a lifetime - the "carrot" approach clearly works."

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Medway use characters to increase recycling

Bertie Bottle and Georgie Jar are being used to remind people to recycle in Medway

Medway council is getting the recycling message out to residents with the help of characters named Bertie Bottle and Georgie Jar, as part of a week-long tour.

The costumed figures handed out blue bags to shoppers in Chatham last Wednesday (August 13), and are being used by the council to remind people that they can recycle empty glass bottles and jars along with newspapers, metal cans and plastics bottles as part of Medway's blue box kerbside collections.

Georgie said: "Quite a few of my friends have ended up being sent to overcrowded and ugly landfill sites, when they could have been recycled into something new. Please spare a thought for my glass friends and remember to think blue, not black."