News in Brief

European Metal Recycling has acquired its rival Mountstar Metal Corporation, according to sources within the two companies.

The acquisition, which is believed to exclude the Brookside copper division, emerged last week just weeks after Mountstar completed a “much needed” extension to its headquarters in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, to cater for its expanding staff. Mountstar had been a subsidiary of Amalgamated Metal Corporation.

As well as Biggleswade, the company also has sites in Gloucester, Yeovil, Nottingham, Willenhall in the West Midlands and Burnopfield in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It has been trading its scrap metals overseas for over 50 years. A spokeswoman for EMR said: “We are not issuing a comment at this time.”

Attitudes towards recycling are more positive than ever, according to a new survey from waste management firm Hippowaste.

Two thirds of householders are now regularly recycling according to the survey

In a study of 1500 consumers, over 70% of UK householders rated themselves as good or excellent recyclers, with two thirds spending at least half an hour a week doing their bit. In particular, householders in the West Midlands were the most likely to recycle, followed by those in East and South East England. Meanwhile, householders in the North East and Yorkshire regions had more self-confessed poor recyclers.

Lisa Fines, head of marketing and retail at Hippowaste, said: “On the whole these findings show some really positive trends and increases in household waste recycling.”

Durham county council is taking a new approach to reducing the amount of packaging waste it sends to landfill by encouraging residents to grow their own food.

The authority is working in partnership with Teesdale Conservation Volunteers Trust and Teesdale District Council to run free workshops showing people how to grow vegetables and compost their waste. The results will then be analysed by Sunderland University.

Councillor Alan Cox, Cabinet member for waste management, said: “We want to find out if showing people how to grow their own vegetables leads to the take-up of home composting or a reduction in the amount of over-packaged goods bought which should mean less waste for us to dispose of.”

The Laundry team celebrating gaining 1,000 customers, at a bar made from recycled materials

A kerbside recycling service for small businesses covering six London boroughs has celebrated after signing up its 1,000th customer.

The Laundry, a partnership between BioRegional Development Group and London Recycling Ltd, signed up the entertainment production company Toast TV, which is based in Soho where the Laundry service first started its office paper collections in 2003.

The team from the Laundry celebrated the milestone with customers at an “eco-party” at the Mum and Dad Photographic Studio in Shoreditch last week, making the most of a “green bar” constructed from reclaimed materials by London-based furniture re-use group Green-Works.

Tom Bird, the managing director of metal recycling giant Sims Group UK Ltd, has been appointed president of the European Ferrous Recovery and Recycling Association. (EFR)

Mr Bird, who has considerable experience in the world ferrous scrap market while presiding over Sims in the UK, will replace Christian Rubach of German company Intereroh AG.

The EFR, which is a daughter association to the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), develops membership in new EU countries and works with the European steel industry on a number of common trading, legal and technical issues which could effect the worldwide trade of steel scrap.