News in Brief

A London furniture reuse charity has reported a 14% increase in donations for 2006 but says there is a lot of work still to be done.

The London Furniture Reuse Network (FRN) says the 73,000 items donated by the capital's residents last year, helped14,500 families living in hardship and poverty. The charity is pleased but is aiming to help 300,000 families.

FRN’s regional development manager, Richard Featherstone, said: “This is fantastic news for the reuse sector. The figures indicate a continual increase in the number of Londoners who choose to send their furniture and appliances for reuse rather than fly tipping or sending them to landfill. However there is still a long way to go and much campaigning still to be done.”

Cllr Alistair Kerr at the textile recycling bank in Tarbolton getting rid of some unwanted clothing

Householders in South Ayrshire recycled over 82 tonnes of old clothes last year – a 20% increase on the performance in 2005, the council has revealed.

South Ayrshire council, in partnership with Nathans WasteSavers, rolled out an additional 21 textile banks across the borough last year. Collected materials are sorted at the Nathans WasteSavers depot in Denny, with useful clothing sold to markets in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia and other material made into mattress felt and wiping cloths.

Funds raised from the sale of the goods are passed back to various charities including Capability Scotland, Multiple Sclerosis Society and The Sick Kids Friends Foundation.

Cllr Alistair Kerr, convener of the council's commercial and business services committee said: “I would like to thank everyone in South Ayrshire for their tremendous efforts and I hope that this continues during 2007 so that we can beat our 2006 total in 2007.”

An opportunity to use recycled tyres to surface some of the 3,000 km of public pathways in need of repair has been identified by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

WRAP has funded a trial using recycled rubber from used tyres to surface a bridleway in Nottinghamshire and has monitored it for wear and tear since April – with very positive results.

Nottingham council's recreational routes officer Peter Jarman said: “The initial trial has shown some positive findings and there are certainly opportunities to use recycled rubber in the future. In the mean time, we are going to continue to monitor the trial section to assess continual performance and wear and tear.”

Local TV personality James Strawbridge is getting behind the home composting campaign

Worcestershire county council is encouraging younger homeowners to get involved in its home composting scheme, after research found 93% of those taking part in the scheme are over 36.

Officers are targeting those aged between 20 and 35, who could represent a fifth of the population, to persuade them that composting at home can be as fashionable as cooking or gardening has become. The campaign is being endorsed by TV presenter James Strawbridge, from the “It's Not Easy Being Green” show.

Viktoria Salisbury, project development officer for composting at the council, said: “One of my volunteers once told me that his perceptions of the type of person composts were changing and that it wasn't only balding, middle-aged men, who wear socks with their sandals who compost. I think he's right, composting is an activity for all age groups and our new campaign is trying to reflect this.”

A social housing development in Cambridgeshire is to have a topsoil on its landscaped gardens made up of recycled organic matter, including potatoes, flowers, vegetables, grass cuttings and leaves.

House-builder Countryside Properties, which is building the Hampton Vale East development on behalf of social housing organisation, Circle Anglia Housing, has ordered 1,000 tonnes of the topsoil, 300 of which has already been laid.

Countryside Properties had been jointly-approached by soil manufacturer Bettaland Products, and environmental business support organisation, Remade East, a Development Agency-funded scheme, working in the composted materials market, in east England.