BREW announces funding for SMEs
The Defra-funded centre – which is currently part of a consortium comprised of the Local Government Association, Oxfordshire county council and the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) – intends to support projects which drive material, energy and water reduction in public sector organisations and local businesses communities for the first time, after having helped to divert 74,000 tonnes of local authority resources from landfill over the past three years. The BREW Centre's aim is to support a handful of projects with services such as the police, fire and rescue and the NHS as demonstrators for a national roll-out of the scheme.
Susan Kent, BREW Centre manager, said: “These projects will have long-term knock-on benefits to the efficiency of organisations, big and small, and will hopefully lead to better services that tackle climate change.”
Isle of Wight pupils learn about composting
Pupils at both Cowes and Yarmouth primary schools made ‘rot pots' to demonstrate the composting process on a small scale, showing how, over time, waste food and vegetable scraps can be turned into a useful, fertile compost which can be used in the garden. The year two pupils also visited a landfill site on the island, while Yarmouth students took part in a fashion show featuring clothes made from waste. In addition, children at Cowes Primary's after school club took part in education workshops with council recycling officer, Laura Kay.
Ms Kay said: “By visiting schools and involving pupils in fun projects like these we hope to encourage children and their families to reduce, re-use and recycle their rubbish.”
North Devon records 43% recycling rate
Figures published by North Devon council show that the authority has recorded a 43% recycling rate for the second half of 2008.
The figure – which is an increase of 2% on the same period for the year before – equates to 9,825 tonnes of waste, such as glass, plastic, garden waste and textiles, being recycled by the authority between June and December. The council has set itself some ambitious targets for the future, and intends to increase the recycling rate to 50% by 2010 through its green bin, box and bag system.
Councillor Rodney Cann, portfolio holder for waste and recycling, said: “These are great results which show that people of North Devon are taking recycling seriously and they should be congratulated for that. However, there is no room for complacency and I would encourage everyone to continue to look at what else they can recycle, to further reduce the amount of waste which is still going to landfill.”
Organic waste service expanded in Swansea
Currently serving 35,000 homes in the South Wales city, the extension to the service is set to see receptacles delivered to households within the new catchment area ahead of plans to cater for almost every household within the city by May 2009. Along with the expansion announced today (January 12), the council explained that the existing fortnightly service for kitchen waste is set to be changed to a weekly service.
John Hague, cabinet member for environment at Swansea council, said: “Residents now have a wide range of kerbside recycling services available at their disposal. These will all assist in helping us to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill and will also benefit our environment.”
Viridor's parent company enters FTSE 100
The FTSE Group – which runs the Financial Times Stock Exchange – has announced that the Pennon Group PLC entered its FTSE 100 share index on Friday (January 9).
Pennon is the parent company of both Viridor Waste Management and South West Water, and upon entering became the only company from Cornwall and Devon to appear in the top 100 list of UK companies. Pennon, which has headquarters in Exeter, was formed in 1989 following the privatisation of the water industry in England and Wales.
Group chairman, Ken Harvey, said: “We are delighted to be entering the FTSE 100 of leading companies for the first time. This marks an important milestone for Pennon and its subsidiary companies South West Water and Viridor.”
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