Councils warned over Christmas recycling contamination
Viridor has called on councils to act to avoid contaminated recycling this Christmas.
Chris Jonas, director of business development at Viridor, spoke out about the issue following the announcement by Defra on England’s top ten recycling authorities.
The message was to follow the best practice in the top performers to avoid unnecessary public spending on contamination.
Mr Jonas said: “Leading councils are repositioning waste as undesirable where spending on waste displaces investment in schools, infrastructure or social care. Waste is being viewed as what remains after reuse, recycling and recovery.
“This Christmas therefore, as many councils conclude local consultations on cuts and efficiency savings, it’s time to look at the value of getting collections right, and the cost of getting it wrong.”
In addition, Mr Jonas called on councils to share best practice and address those where contamination remains a concern.
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Veolia shares festive tips for Southwark residents
Waste management company Veolia is offering waste reduction tips to residents serviced through its Southwark contract to help boost recycling in the borough this Christmas.
According to the company, the festive period produces around 3 million tonnes of waste in the UK. Veolia is highlighting the importance in recycling as much as possible, as last year saw 300 tonnes of waste produced in Southwark over the festive period.
The suggestions include placing trees out for collection or taking them to a collection site, visiting the Love Food Hate Waste website for food portion planning and making gift tags from old greeting cards and sending e-cards.
Fabrice Bouchon, general manager for Veolia Southwark, said: “With an extra 500 million drink cans alone used over Christmas in the UK, it is important to recycle as much as we can and try to minimise the amount of waste we produce.”
Councillor Darren Merrill, cabinet member for recycling and environment, said: “We’re all guilty of producing a little more waste than usual over the festive season. To help keep Southwark a greener place to live, I would urge residents to reduce, re-use and recycle as much as possible.”
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Merseyside to handle Christmas waste at HWRCs
Merseyside waste officers are asking people to use their recycling centre as much as possible this Christmas and New Year, ahead of an anticipated in increase in tonnage of waste from households.
Due to the extra waste created during the festive period, householders are being asked to remember to recycle their cans, bottles, cardboard and real Christmas trees, using HWRCs for any waste that cannot fit in bins and containers already provided to householders.
The region’s 14 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) are operated by Veolia on behalf of Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA).
Carl Beer, chief executive of MRWA, said: “A lot of waste is created at this time of the year so it’s a good chance to boost Merseyside’s recycling levels. Our recycling centres will happily accept the clutter of people’s packaging, bottles and cans – and we’d love your real Christmas trees.”
Jeff Sears, director of Veolia, said: “At this time of year we produce a lot extra waste, so make sure you visit your local Recycling Centre. They will be open throughout the festive period-except Christmas day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, so bring all your extra Christmas recycling and when the festivities come to an end don’t forget to bring your Christmas tree as well and it will be sent to be composted.”
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Scottish shoppers to recycle ‘on-the-go’
Shoppers in Scotland are being urged to use Recycling on the Go bins during the festive period.
Recycle on the Go is a government funded project managed by Zero Waste Scotland which provides recycling facilities in public locations with the aim of achieving a higher recycling rate.
Zero Waste Scotland and plastic recycling organisation RECOUP recently refreshed a number of the bins. The units are used for the collection of plastic bottles, papers and cans.
Richard Lochhead, cabinet secretary for the environment, said: “This is a time of year when people will be laden down with packaging, bags, and bottles as they carry out their Christmas shopping. The Recycle on the Go bins are an ideal way to encourage people to recycle what they don’t need, instead of having to cart it home with them and perhaps end up in the general waste bin.”
Iain Gulland, chief executive, Zero Waste Scotland commented: “Providing recycling facilities in popular public locations will also help Scotland achieve a higher recycling rate and bring financial benefits. It is estimated that achieving a 70% recycling rate by 2025 could boost Scotland’s economy by around £178 million.”
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