News in Brief

Valpak's recycle-more website is launching a second national recycling competition for primary schools and youth groups under its &#39B;in to Win' banner.

The competition aims to raise awareness of recycling and waste issues among young people under the age of 11, and offers a number of prizes for groups carrying out their own recycling projects.

The winner of the competition will receive 2,000 from food manufacturer Kellogg's to spend on their recycling project as well as a Plaswood activity table, made from recycled carrier bags from supermarket chain Waitrose and a digital camera from Fujifilm.

Other prizes in the competition include more Plaswood products, computer vouchers from PC World and digital cameras from Fujifilm.

Commenting on the competition, recycle-more brand manager Georgina Collins said: “We are looking for really inventive ideas that show the young people have thought creatively about recycling in their school or community.”

Other corporate sponsors for the competition, which features a range of smaller prizes for runners-up, include Alcoa, SCRIB and Corus.

Waste management company Wyvern is to open 2 million worth of developments at its Dimmer landfill site in Somerset on November 20.

The development includes a materials recycling facility that will separate and sort 4,500 tonnes of cans and plastics each year, a figure which Wyvern hopes to increase to 10,000 tonnes a year in future.

Andrew Olie, managing director at Wyvern, said: “We invested heavily in Dimmer and we are proud of what we are trying to achieve – especially driving up the amount of recycling we do.”

Other developments at the site include new areas to shred green waste, new baling equipment and an expansion of the landfill facility including a new drainage system.

Edinburgh city council has doubled the amount of household waste it collects for recycling over the last 18 months.

In April 2000, the council had a recycling rate of 5.5% and by September 2003 it had risen to 11%. The council now collects 5.5 tonnes of recyclables each day in the city.

The improved recycling performance is a result of the city council's new kerbside paper collection service for 120,000 households and a green garden collection for 12,000 households. Other factors contributing to the increased tonnages include the introduction of solid wood collection points at CA sites and the expansion of city recycling points.

Councilor Robert Cairns, executive member for environmental services at Edinburgh city council, said: “The introduction of a kerbside paper collection and green waste collection has encouraged more people in Edinburgh to recycle. We have ambitious plans to bring in more recycling schemes which will boost the city’s recycling rate further.”

The city councilis seeking 28 million from the Scottish Executive's Strategic Waste Plan in an attempt to reach its 25% recycling target by 2006-07 (see letsrecycle.com story).