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News in Brief

News in Brief

The campaign featuring TV host Denise Van Outen was praised for its informative natureThe 2007 Recycle Now Week campaign featuring Denise Van Outen in a dress made of recycled household materials has won a national communications award.

Recycle Now 2007 campaign scoops award

The campaign, devised by Oldham-based Pelican Public Relations, ran from June 2-8 in 2007 on behalf of WRAP (see letsrecycle.com story) and was awarded the Chartered Institute of Public Relations President's Grand Prix as the best not-for-profit campaign undertaken by a UK PR consultancy in 2007 and 2008. The ‘Green Goes Glam' campaign ran nationwide and was praised for being a “carefully coordinated and fresh faced approach to the national Recycle Now Week” by the CIPR judges.

CIPR president Kevin Taylor said: “At times of economic and business uncertainty, winning an award helps you to stand out from the crowd and gives a great boost to your staff, your market recognition and your overall business confidence. The winners have all demonstrated not only that their work is among the best in the country, but also the value that PR can deliver to a business. They should be proud of their achievements.”


Operator competence scheme launched

The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) has launched a scheme to help operators meet the competence requirements of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2007 for permitted waste facilities.

Jointly developed with the Waste Management Training and Advisory Board (WAMITAB), the scheme identifies that different facilities require differing levels of technical competence due to the risk that they pose, and has broken up the scheme into High Risk, Medium Risk and Low Risk to reflect this.

The scheme was approved by Defra and the Welsh Assembly Government on December 22 2008, with more details on the scheme due to be appear on the CIWM website shortly.


Bradford appoints new strategic director

Ian Bairstow will be responsible for waste management and environmental health in his new role
Ian Bairstow will be responsible for waste management and environmental health in his new role
Bradford council has appointed Ian Bairstow as its new strategic director for environment and neighbourhoods.

Currently the existing assistant director for waste management and streetscene, Mr Bairstow will replace Richard Wixey, who retired earlier last year through ill health. Having been at the council for four years, Mr Bairstow has engaged with many areas of waste management in the authority including leading the council's waste procurement project to find a partner for the long-term management of the district's waste. In his new role, Mr Bairstow will take overall responsibility for waste management, environmental health and neighbourhood services for the Council.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, executive member for environment, said: “I am sure Ian will continue to drive forward this important service and deliver excellent quality services to our residents. I am pleased that the position has been filled by someone who knows the district well and has already worked for the Council for a number of years.”


Still markets for material, West Sussex claims

West Sussex county council has encouraged residents to continue to recycle and claimed that there is still a market for its recovered materials.

Despite sharp falls in the prices paid for recovered paper, metals and plastics, the county council has said that it still has a market for its collected material. Having worked with its collection contractor Viridor Waste Management, the council said that it is closely monitoring the situation to ensure that the market can be maintained and that the authority continues to improve on its 38% recycling rate, with plans to achieve a 45% recycling rate by 2015.

Derrick Whittington, county council cabinet member for strategic planning, said: “West Sussex residents can be assured their recyclables are being collected, recycled and reprocessed as normal. Because of this, the District, Borough and County Council's waste experts urge residents to continue with their magnificent recycling efforts.”


Food waste collections rolled out in Rhondda

The Rhondda street services team and the caddies to be distributed to 20,000 homes
The Rhondda street services team and the caddies to be distributed to 20,000 homes
Rhondda Cynon Taf council in South Wales has begun rolling out its food waste collection scheme to 20,000 homes.

The scheme currently serves 7,000 residents, with all households using the council's weekly kerbside recycling scheme being approached to use the food waste scheme as well, which would see them issued a kitchen caddy and liners. Claiming that food waste comprises 30% of waste produced by its residents, Rhondda council hopes that the addition of food waste collections will help it to meet increasing Welsh Government targets of recycling 40% of waste by 2010. The addition of the food waste stream comes in the wake of plans to develop a state-of-the-art food and green waste recycling facility at Bryn Pica in conjunction with Merthyr Tydfill borough council (see letsrecycle.com story).

Councillor Anthony Christopher, deputy leader and cabinet member for frontline services said: “The food waste recycling scheme is the latest project in an ongoing campaign to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. We would encourage everyone in the county borough to adopt the scheme because it is easy, clean and ultimately better for the environment.”

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