Carluccio's fined £15,000 for packaging waste offence
Based in Covent Garden in London, Carluccio's PLC runs a chain of Italian restaurants and food shops, and, on October 22, the company pleaded guilty to failing to register with the Environment Agency as a producer of packaging and failing to meet its requirements to recover and recycle packaging waste between 2004 and 2006. The nature of its business means that it handles a range of packaging, including; wine bottles, jars, cardboard boxes, bags, labels, pallets and shrink wrap, but had failed to cater for its Producer Responsibility Obligations.
It was calculated Carluccio's had avoided costs of around £16,778 by not registering or purchasing the correct amount of packaging recovery notes as required by the regulation since 2002, and was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay the Environment Agency compensation of £4,159. The magistrates also ordered the company to pay £2,400 in costs to the Environment Agency.
Furniture reuse project wins social enterprise award
SOFA Project, which is a member of the Furniture Reuse Network, was awarded the ‘Social Enterprise Mark' as a means of demonstrating its environmentally and socially beneficial credentials. The scheme, which is being piloted in the south-west ahead of a nationwide rollout later this year, offers social enterprises a simple way of informing customers of their wider social or environmental impacts, as well as differentiating themselves from private business.
Julian Williams, SOFA Project director, said: “The accreditation scheme could have been designed with SOFA in mind – ‘trading for people and planet' is exactly what we do. Helen Holland is a keen supporter of all that SOFA does for the people of Bristol, so we are delighted she has agreed to present the Mark to us.”
Princess Royal to visit Abitibi Bridgewater Mill
The Princess Royal is set to visit AbitibiBowater's Bridgewater mill at the end of October to unveil a specially liveried paperbank aimed at boosting donations to the children's charity Save The Children.
The visit marks the donation of £1 million by AbitibiBowater Recycling Europe to the charity, of which the Princess Royal is President. This comes as a direct result of its £1 per tonne kerbside recycling programme, and the company is to celebrate the occasion with a reception on Friday October 31 for those local authorities who participate in the scheme, local Save the Children volunteers and for the company's own operational staff. During her visit the Princess Royal will also unveil a plaque to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Bridgewater mill in Ellesmere Port.
Ron Humphreys, managing director of AbitibiBowater Recycling Europe, said: “Having successfully achieved our first million, we're raising the bar with the additional donation of £5 per tonne for all the paper that comes through our new Save the Children banks, which will be strategically sited throughout the UK.”
Yorwaste invests £60,000 in telecoms upgrade
The new system, which has been installed by Gateshead-based Executel, will link Yorwaste's headquarters in Northallerton with operating centres in Scarborough, York, Pickering, Skipton, Catterick and Whitby, each of which has been equipped with its own ‘IP telephony platform'. The result is that Yorwaste's head office, five recycling plants and 13 remote branch office users will now be connected to a single data network, which in turn enables them to operate and communicate as if under one roof.
Malcolm Downs, development manager for Yorwaste, said the investment in new technology, was a “big step for us, improving our voice and data communications considerably. Executel offered a complete solution and project-managed the turnkey package extremely efficiently.”
Warwickshire launch recycling scheme for local business
Warwickshire county council is set to launch a programme intended to help businesses divert more waste from landfill and increase recycling rates.
The scheme, which is being funded through a landfill tax windfall of £160,000 awarded by the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) Centre, is intended to alert businesses to the fact that recycling card, paper and glass is up to 30 per cent cheaper than landfilling the waste and will work with partners to find ways of helping businesses with recycling collections. Initially being launched in Leamington, the council is also holding talks to spread the scheme throughout the Warwick district to Nuneaton and Rugby, where the borough council already collects card/paper in the business improvement district.
Councillor Martin Heatley, portfolio holder for the environment at Warwickshire county council, said: “Landfill tax is due to increase again in the spring of next year from £32 a tonne to £40 a tonne, putting yet more pressure on local businesses who pay for waste collections. This recycling scheme offers a 30 per cent saving at the moment, and then even greater savings next year when the landfill tax levy increases.”
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