WRAP Cymru and Fareshare unite on food waste
WRAP Cymru and redistribution charity Fareshare held the first Welsh Surplus Food Waste Summit yesterday (8 June), in a bid to explore opportunities to improve the sharing of edible food to charities.
The summit follows WRAP’s latest research, which claims retailers and manufacturers could increase redistribution from 90 million meals across the UK, to 360 million meals.
The summit outlined current examples of redistribution schemes, drawing on experience from schemes including Tesco’s work with FareShare FoodCloud, and a WRAP Cymru project to examine redistribution opportunities involving student volunteers from Swansea University.
Carl Nichols, Head of WRAP Cymru, said: “Food waste is a priority material in the Welsh Government’s Towards Zero Waste strategy because of its environmental impact. But reducing the amount of good food that gets thrown away and redistributing it to the people who need it the most can make a big difference to Welsh communities and families, which is why redistribution is a key element of WRAP Cymru’s Wales Food Waste Prevention Programme”.
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Neath Port Talbot to implement ‘side waste’ policy
Neath Port Talbot households will soon be limited in the number of black bags they can present for collection, as the council prepares to implement its ‘side waste policy’ to improve recycling performance.
The move will bring the county borough into line with the Welsh Government’s ‘Collections Blueprint’ guidance and also many other local authority areas in Wales that limit the amount of general waste per household.
From June 2016 Neath Port Talbot properties which have wheeled bin collections will be allowed a maximum of one additional black bag. Properties without bins will be allowed to present up to four black bags per fortnightly collection.
The limit will reduce further from Spring 2017 to no additional bags for properties with bin collections and to a maximum of three black bags for properties without bins.
Council Leader Cllr Ali Thomas OBE said: “Neath Port Talbot has made great progress in improving its recycling performance, but recent analysis has shown that we need to make further changes in order to meet future recycling targets, avoid heavy fines and improve the environment.”
“The Council has recently completed the roll out of the second phase of Recycle+, meaning more households than ever can now access the improved recycling service. The third and final phase will be completed by April 2017 and alongside the phased introduction of our side waste policy will help to ensure that Neath Port Talbot is well-placed to meet our future aims.”
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Recolight extends lamp recycling service
UK WEEE compliance scheme Recolight has extended its free of charge lamp recycling service.
The company is lowering the threshold companies need to meet to qualify to have their lamps recycled – meaning that businesses collecting 1,000 lamps or more every three months do not pay a charge. Recolight’s lamp collection service also includes the provision of free of charge containers.
Nigel Harvey, Recolight chief executive, said: “Expanding access to waste lamp recycling is very important to us. By lowering the threshold and allowing more businesses to become collection points, we hope that as many lamps as possible will be recycled.”
Recolight has a UK-wide network of over 2,700 collection points.
Since the company’s founding in 2007, it claims to have recycled 245 million lamps, LEDs and luminaries.
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Government changes threatens renewable sector
The Renewable Energy Association (REA) has warned government policies may slow growth in the sector, particularly for anaerobic digestion, in the years ahead.
In its annual REView report the renewables sector REA has raised concerns that the government’s 2020 renewable energy targets may not be met.
In particular, the organisation has claimed that there has been a drop in the number of AD projects in the pipeline.
Dr. Nina Skorupska, CBE, said: “This year was another record for British renewables. Employment, investment and deployment increased, while costs fell and the industry continued to mature. It was yet another year where the renewables industry outperformed UK growth rates.
“However, the industry was blindsided this year with over a dozen sudden and severe policy changes, which we expect will be reflected in next year’s report. While many businesses have been left reeling and deployment has begun to slow, as an industry we will persevere, we will innovate and we will continue to grow.”
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Scottish Recycle Week 2016 details unveiled
Cabinet Secretary for Environment Roseanna Cunningham has announced details of the Scottish Recycle Week 2016, which will run from 12 to 18 September, coinciding with Recycle Week throughout the UK.
In the run up to the week local authorities, businesses, community groups, schools and colleges are being encouraged to get involved and take action to help boost recycling.
Commenting on the initiative, Ms Cunningham said: “We are lucky to be blessed with a stunning environment that is one of our most precious assets. It is crucial that we protect our resources and that’s key to our ambitions for a more circular economy in Scotland, where we keep products and materials in valuable use for longer.
“We’ve made great progress increasing recycling in recent years. For example in 2010 only 12% of households had food waste collections, while new figures show that has increased to 75%. It has never been easier to recycle your waste, but we still have further to go.”
Resources body Zero Waste Scotland will be co-ordinating communications work around the initiative.
Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland, said: “Recycle Week is all about getting as many people in Scotland as possible aware of the need to recycle more and to recycle better.
“More people than ever are recycling, especially in relation to food waste, which has a huge environmental impact. But we can all be better at it, and during Recycle Week we’ll be highlighting the importance of doing our bit – providing advice on what and how to recycle best, exploding some of the myths in the process, with a series of high profile events and activities. I hope as many people as possible will get involved.”
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