Hillingdon launches ‘missing' campaign
Using publicity echoing a ‘missing persons' poster, the scheme wil be launched by creating mountains of waste in Hillingdon town centre to raise awareness about how much waste a typical household produces each year. Last month, the council launched a dedicated email address to answer recycling queries and questions, and has since invested in fifteen additional street recycling bins to be installed across the borough in response to the feedback.
Kathy Sparks, deputy director of environment and consumer protection, said: “Hillingdon already has a good recycling rate but we need to improve this. The new campaign aims to encourage residents to think more about recycling and what they are throwing away to help reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill.”
Sweetener manufacturer given £54,000 fine
Sweetener manufacturer Merisant UK has been fined £54,000 for failing to comply with its packaging waste recycling obligations.
Wycombe magistrates' court fined the High Wycombe company for avoiding costs totalling £40,000 by not registering with a producer responsibility scheme between 2001 and 2006 when it handled 534 tonnes of packaging. The company, which imports and sells low calorie sweeteners to retailers and wholesalers in the UK, including Canderel, was obligated under the Producer Responsibility Obligations regulations to pay towards the costs of recycling but failed to do so. The court also awarded £5,154 to the Environment Agency in compensation for unpaid registration fees as well as costs of £3,094.21, bringing the total to be paid by Merisant to £62,248.21.
Environment Agency officer Karen Roberts said: “The money raised from compliance with this legislation goes directly to the recycling industry and the failure by this company to ensure it met its responsibilities means that there was less investment in the recycling industry than there should have been.”
Eco launches subsidiary
Headed by business development director Peter Hardy, Eco Equip will operate from Eco's existing site in Parley, Dorset, and will target firms involved in skips, recycling, quarries, primary aggregates and sand and gravel, as well as in-vessel compost (IVC) plants, wood recyclers and plant hire operators.
Mr Hardy said: “Eco has the huge advantage of 14 years experience of not just using the equipment but also adapting it to our specific needs. It means Eco Equip customers can enjoy all the benefits, and none of the downsides, of the learning curve we have undergone since 1994.”
Zero waste award for Welsh village
A doorstep recycling scheme in Monmouthshire has been awarded with the title of Innovation Project of the Year at the Wales Recycling Awards.
Run by not-for-profit organisation Monmouthshire Community Recycling (MCR) in partnership with Monmouthshire county council, the ‘Zero Waste Village' initiative began in 2007 to investigate what could be achieved in two different areas of the county – St Arvans village, near Chepstow, and urban North Abergavenny – by offering doorstep collections for materials including food and garden waste, plastics, mobile phones, batteries and even ash from some wood burning fires. The scheme, which had 95% participation from St Arvan residents and doubled participation in North Abergavenny, achieved a 75% recycling rate, which is the equivalent of Welsh Assembly Government targets for 2025.
Paul Quayle, Monmouthshire county council's waste strategy officer, said “It's a fantastic achievement by the residents, shopkeepers, recycling crews and the zero waste team, who have worked so hard to help Monmouthshire lead the way in this area. We hope to roll out this concept across the county over the next few years.”
‘Eagle-eyed' sorter saves spectacles
Sorter Inga Lygutiene spotted the reading glasses belonging to Irene Brown, 89, after the Mildenhall resident's spectacles accidently fell into her brown composting box for kitchen waste. The glasses undertook a three-week journey to Greenview's Lackford site, where Ms Lygutiene spotted them after they had been taken by a conveyor belt through a revolving screener barrel and onto the picking line. Using the telephone number inside the case, the reading glasses were then given back to a relieved Mrs Brown.
Peter Clarke, the facility site manager, said: “Our team here all do a fine job and it is a testament to our exacting standards that an item as small as this was spotted amongst the 75-odd tons of waste that we processed that day.”
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