Labour names shadow environment secretary
The Labour MP for Croydon North, Steve Reed, has been appointed as shadow environment secretary.
He will replace Jim McMahon, who stood down yesterday as part of Labour’s reshuffle.
Steve Reed MP @SteveReedMP has been appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. pic.twitter.com/yGzycHrKPO
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) September 4, 2023
In his resignation letter, Mr McMahon said the decision was taken for the benefit of his health.
Steve Reed has been MP for Croydon North since 2012 and also shadow secretary of state for communities and local government between 2020 and 2021.
In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “I’m delighted to be appointed Shadow Secretary of State for DEFRA. I will work tirelessly to preserve our precious nature, win a fairer deal for farmers, tackle food price inflation and end the scandal of sewage being dumped in our rivers, lakes and seas.
“Thank you to [Jim McMahon] for his excellent work as my predecessor, including exposing how the Tories have undermined British farming and damaged our waterways with their shameful sewage scandal.”
Cardiff’s waste services hit by Unite’s industrial action
Cardiff council has said large parts of its waste service are going to be hit by industrial action throughout September.
Last month, Unite said industrial action across local authority services is being planned in a dispute over pay (see letsrecycle.com story).
Cardiff explained that between 4-18 September, the collection of garden waste “may have to be cancelled to support ensuring [other] services are not impacted.”
Other services likely to be hit by disruption are its dry mixed recycling service, bulky waste services, hygiene waste and some recycling centres.
The council said: “To ensure the council can continue to collect most of your black bins and black bags, food waste, and recycling, new collection arrangements are being prepared in case they are required during the strike.
“It is also possible other changes may have to be announced during the industrial action due to further unforeseen disruption.”
Brent faces opposition to twin-stream
A petition against Brent council’s plans to switch to twin-stream collections has gathered nearly 400 signatures.
The council consulted on the plans last year, saying they would save money, improve the borough’s recycling rate and be in line with the government’s delayed guidance on consistency in household recycling in England.
Currently, Brent residents place all their cardboard, paper, plastic, cans and glass recycling into one blue-topped commingled bin, which is collected weekly.
The council has proposed giving residents a sack to separate fibre, including mixed paper, cardboard and newspapers, from containers such as plastic tubs and cans. Brent would then collect the two sets of materials on alternate weeks.
However, the move has faced some local opposition. The petition’s creator, Daniel Futter, said: “It will not be remotely feasible to keep up with regular deliveries or even receipt of a daily newspaper. Residents will have more paper/cardboard than can be recycled under this new system.
“If this is done, it will cause substantial inconvenience for residents due to the infrequent collection. This will encourage dumping as people will be unable to store their paper. This will affect the entirety of the borough. Brent needs to ensure the collection of paper is once a week and a bin is provided for this purpose.”
Tesco becomes latest supermarket to switch to clear lids for milk bottles
Tesco has announced that it is working with suppliers to remove coloured plastic lids from its own-brand milk bottles to make them easier to recycle
The retailer said that by removing coloured plastic and changing blue, red and green milk caps to a clear alternative – on around 425 million bottles of milk every year – Tesco is “improving the quality of recovered material from household waste and enabling the cap to be recycled back into milk bottles”.
Coloured plastic currently needs to be processed separately from clear packaging, With Tesco claiming the change means that each year 3,900 extra tonnes of recycled plastic can go back into making new bottles, a process which can be repeated every time a customer recycles it.
The move will be seen in all Tesco stores, and across 4 pint, 2 pint and 1 pint bottles of milk.
James Waddy, category director for dairy at Tesco, said: “Ensuring our packaging is as sustainable as possible is really important to us, and customer feedback on our trial of these new clear milk caps has been overwhelmingly positive. We will continue to look for ways to improve the packaging of our products, and make it even easier for customers to recycle at home.”
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