Love Food Hate Waste extends global impact
Love Food Hate Waste has extended its campaign to tackle food waste by partnering with Canadian-based Metro Vancouver to deliver a minimisation programme.
The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) campaign will team up with the Canadian firm to deliver a three-year web-based programme to educate residents in Vancouver on how to reduce food waste.
Metro Vancouver is a ‘political body and corporate entity’ that delivers regional services and sets policy on behalf of 24 local authorities.
It is hoped that Love Food Hate Waste will also help Metro Vancouver ban organic waste to landfill from 2015, when the programme is due to be rolled out.
The announcement comes as a ‘new steam of income’ for WRAP, which said the partnership was a ‘proud moment’ for the food waste awareness campaign.
Writing on her blog, Liz Goodwin, chief executive officer of WRAP, said: “What it also highlights is that whether in Vancouver or London, one thing remains the same. There is a common challenge; we’re all consumers of food, so we need to consider the waste impacts this has on a wider scale. WRAP’s work is to help turn that awareness into action.”
CPI warning over weekly waste collections
Government plans to legislate weekly refuse collections risk diverting ‘hundreds of thousands of tonnes’ of paper and card away from recycling, the Confederation of Paper Industries has warned.
Responding to comments made by Eric Pickles at the RWM show in Birmingham last week, CPI said it ‘vehemently opposes’ a legal requirement for councils to collect refuse on a weekly basis, warning that a wholesale return to the system would cost an estimated £200 million per year.
In addition, CPI suggests that fortnightly waste collections result in an extra 25kg of kerbside dry and organic recycling being collected per household each year, while a rollout of weekly collections could see England’s recycling rate drop by ‘around 2%’.
Commenting on DCLG’s ongoing position, CPI’s recovered paper sector manager, Stuart Pohler, said: “Around half of England’s households currently receive fortnightly refuse collections, and local authority organisations generally agree that refuse collection frequency has little impact on customer satisfaction levels.
“According to government statistics published last month, paper and card account for around 42% of household dry recyclables. Clearly, DCLG policy thinking risks diverting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of this valuable resource away from recycling, only for it to be recovered or landfilled further down the waste hierarchy.”
Mr Pohler added CPI would be ‘interested to know’ where Mr Pickles’ policy fits in relation to the Waste Framework Directive.
Foreign Secretary visits Agrivert AD plant
Anaerobic digestion ‘clearly has a part to play’ in meeting the UK’s renewable energy obligations, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has suggested.
Mr Hammond made his comments while on a visit to Agrivert’s Trumps Farm AD facility in Surrey on September 12, which is in the MP’s constituency of Runnymede and Weybridge.
Taking time out of his busy international schedule, Mr Hammond remarked that the local community had accepted the plant as ‘far less disruptive’ than the previously proposed incinerator.
He said: “These facilities are required to recycle our waste and produce renewable energy. Anaerobic Digestion clearly has a part to play in meeting the UK’s renewable energy obligations whilst providing a cost effective recycling solution for organic wastes.
“This facility on the Trumps Farm site has been accepted by the local community as far less disruptive than the previously proposed incinerator.”
The 50,000 tonnes-per-year capacity plant was officially opened in June 2014 by Norman Grundon of Grundon, which invested in the plant.
Agrivert’s commercial director Harry Waters – who met the Foreign Secretary alongside Grundon’s Clayton Sullivan Webb – added that both companies were ‘delighted’ Mr Hammond had made time to visit the facility.
Every Can Counts calls on retail sector to sign up
Can recycling programme Every Can Counts has called on the retail sector to sign up ahead of new waste regulations scheduled for 2015.
The programme claims that participating shopping centres have ensured that over 80% of waste is recycled, with retailers setting their own long term objectives to ensure staff recycle daily.
The new Waste (England and Wales) Regulations will see businesses required to separate waste paper, metal, plastic and glass for collection from January next year.
A total of 12 shopping centres have registered to the cans campaign since it launched in 2009, which works closely with centre management to educate staff, retail tenants and shoppers.
Rick Hindley, executive director of Every Can Counts, said: “By offering insight and advice, along with free supporting communication materials to create highly visible recycling points, we are working with shopping centres to improve recycling facilities, infrastructure, and education, ensuring that retailers and staff are well placed to comply with the new legislation.”
William Tracey to deliver zero waste Ryder Cup
William Tracey Group has been appointed to provide waste services at the 2014 Ryder Cup, which tees off at Gleneagles in Scotland on Friday (September 26).
Together with Spectrum Service Solutions, William Tracey will help provide the first ever ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’ event, recycling an estimated 500 tonnes of waste left by up to 45,000 spectators each day.
The two firms have previously worked together at other large-scale events, including The Great Scottish Run, the Scottish Open Championship at Royal Aberdeen, and BBC at the Quay this summer.
Commenting on its appointment, William Tracey Group’s managing director non-hazardous waste, Robin Stevenson said: “We are delighted to be working again with Spectrum Service Solutions at the 2014 Ryder Cup to deliver this ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’ event.
“The Ryder Cup provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase everything that is great about this country and an important part of this is Scotland’s position as a global leader in recycling and sustainable resource management.”
Traditionally a contest between golfers from Europe and the United States, the Ryder Cup will run until Sunday.
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