News in brief

Grundon signs up to WRAP agreement

The voluntary agreement was launched last year by WRAP to support the sector in further reducing waste and recycling.

By signing up, Grundon has committed to reducing food and associated packaging waste by 5% from 2012 levels by the end of 2015. The firm will also need to meet the target of recycling 70% of food and packaging waste by the end of 2015.

Richard Skehens, Grundons chief executive, said: Grundon is delighted to be working with WRAP on this major new initiative to tackle food waste. We wholeheartedly support the aims of the Hospitality and Food Service Agreement and will be actively encouraging our staff, customers and suppliers to waste less food and associated packaging, and to reuse and recycle more

EU funding for waste infrastructure has limited effect

EU funding for infrastructure designed to treat municipal waste has a limited effect on waste management practices, according to the European Court of Auditors (ECA).

The ECA blamed the outcome on poorly implemented supporting measures such as communications campaigns and financial incentives which it said which hampered improvement in waste management. In addition, it found that the performance of projects relying on separate collections of waste residual, organic and recyclables was satisfactory.

The findings were detailed in a report entitled Is structural measures funding for municipal waste management infrastructure projects effective in helping Member States achieve EU waste policy objectives? The report noted that the EU has contributed a significant amount of funding towards waste management infrastructure with 10.8 billion (9.27 billion) being invested during the period between 2000 and 2013.

Commenting on the findings, Ovidiu Ispir, the ECA member responsible for the report, said: Europeans are consuming more, and producing more waste. The EU Waste Directive requires that Member States treat and dispose of waste without risk to water, air and soil and without causing noise or odour problems.

York residents may be consulted on efficiency changes

City of York council is planning to consult with residents on a number of proposed efficiency changes to waste and recycling services.

Subject to agreement next week from cabinet members, the council will consult on options for changes to its garden waste collection service and amending the opening hours at Towthorpe Household Waste Recycling Centre. The council claims the proposals could contribute towards a two year saving of 125,000.

Under the proposals, the council will also stop replacing or providing additional waste and recycling bins free of charge, as well as charging non-York residents 10 to use its recycling sites.

York councillor David Levene, cabinet member for environmental services, said: We are committed to providing the best possible service to residents and businesses, and recognise that to achieve this we need to listen closely to their views as part of this consultation. However, we need to be honest with the public and given the challenging financial situation facing the council a review of all services is essential.

J&B to manage waste at Hartlepool shopping centre

Waste management company J & B Recycling has been awarded a significant new contract with one of North East Englands largest shopping centres.

The company, which is based at Thomlinson Road in Hartlepool, will be responsible for all waste generated by Middleton Grange Shopping Centre in Hartlepool and its 140 tenants.

According to J&B, Middleton Grange is already noticing significant improvements to the way its waste is managed. On the back of the early success of the partnership, J & B Recycling has awarded Middleton Grange Shopping Centre with a Zero Waste to Landfill accreditation.

The amount and different types of waste that are recycled has already been increased, with a range of brand new colour coded bins being introduced to make things easier. Plans devised jointly by the Middleton Grange team and J & B Recycling are already in place to increase this even further over the next few months.

The Centres manager, Mark Rycraft, said: Were already noticing the difference in costs, which have been reduced by around 20 per cent and that means tenants will notice the difference too.

Campaign to increase paper recycling in Derbyshire

Derbyshire county and district councilshave launched a campaign to encourage residents to recycle more of their unwanted paper instead of sending it to landfill.

The awareness-raising campaign has been designed to better inform residents about which types of paper can be recycled, such as brochures, catalogues, junk mail, directories, newspapers and magazines.

Last year, Derbyshire residents generated 350,000 tonnes of waste. Up to 90,000 tonnes was composted and a further 60,000 tonnes was recycled, which including 20,000 tonnes of paper.

However, according to the county council, 10,000 tonnes of paper which could have been recycled was disposed of in households non-recycling bins for landfill, which is enough to fill four Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Derbyshire county councillor John Allsop, cabinet member for technology and recycling, said: With so many types of rubbish to recycle these days its easy to forget what can and cant be recycled. But if every household in Derbyshire recycled just one catalogue or phone book, we could stop more than 600 tonnes of paper going into landfill.