News in Brief

Computer designs West London rounds

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is to start providing three rather than two waste collections for 75,000 householders after new routing and scheduling software identified how it could make its service more efficient. The service will be provided by the council's waste management partner, SITA UK.

Cllr Nicholas Paget-Brown, cabinet member for environmental services at Kensington and Chelsea council, said: “The idea was to try and rebalance the crews' workloads to make them safer and fairer and to explore the potential of efficiency savings. The computer identified two collection cycles – we're proposing to put more than half of our residents on a cycle in which there are two clear days between collections and the remainder on a three per week cycle.”

Cylch calls for carbon focus

The chief executive of the Welsh Community Recycling Network has called for carbon to become the new currency in order to combat climate change.

Writing in the letsrecycle.com opinions section this week, Mal Williams said that carbon should influence all decisions in the material world in the same way that financial profits influence decisions now. In particular, the Cylch CEO and chair of the Campaign for Real Recycling said that all company reports should contain details of financial social and environmental performance, with tender documents also specifying accountability in all these fields.

He said: “Accountancy should expand its remit to cover these challenges – right now.”

Greenwich to switch to three-bin system

The London borough of Greenwich is preparing to switch to a new three-bin kerbside waste and recycling service this winter.

From Monday January 21 2008, the council's waste team will collection garden and food waste every week in residents existing green wheeled bins or in special biodegradable cornstarch bags. Collections for mixed dry recycling, which includes paper, card, glass, cans and plastic will also be collected once a week in either blue-top wheeled bins or the clear sacks already provided to many households. Anything that cannot be recycle will be collected every fortnight in a black sack.

Councillor Rajwant Sidhu, cabinet member for a Greener Greenwich, said: “As 21 January gets nearer we will be contacting all the households affected by the change with full details for their collection days and exactly which waste goes in each of your bins or bags.”

Source-separation campaign enters Parliament

It held a Parliamentary reception on Wednesday, hosted by Newport East MP, taking its concerns about the quality of recycling schemes to MPs including Liberal Democrat leadership contender Chris Huhne.

Commenting after the event, campaign coordinator Andy Moore said: “The support of many MPs today is indicative that this is an issue that should be of importance to central and local government. Now that the campaign has secured funding for a second year, we plan to put greater emphasis on improving our dialogue with local authorities and encourage them to take a closer look at the relationship between material quality and collection methods.”

Euro WEEE scheme gains 1,000th member

The European Recycling Platform – which handles producer obligations to recycle waste electronics across Europe – has signed up its 1,000th member.

The company was set up in 2002 by Braun, Electrolux, HP and Sony in response to the introduction of the European Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive (WEEE) and was the first WEEE compliance scheme to launch operations in multiple European countries. To date, ERP has collected and treated over 180,000 tonne of WEE and seen rapid expansion in its membership.

Umberto Raiteri, ERP chief executive, said: “We are very proud that ERP now has 1,000 members. This is a huge accomplishment and it reaffirms that our members value the service we provide. ERP has always aimed to be the market leader, and we are plased that companies trust us with their WEEE needs.”