News in Brief

North Hertfordshire district council has improved its recycling collection rate thanks to an additional kerbside collection box.

Since 2003, the council's waste service contractor Serviceteam had been collecting paper and glass for recycling from 45,000 households using 55-litre boxes. A 44-litre box was given to residents in April 2004 to separate the paper from the glass. The move aimed to improve the quality of the material, but has also brought about a 12% increase in the amount of recyclable material collected.

Both the 55-litre boxes and the 44-litre boxes were provided by the Leeds-based recycling container supplier Straight plc.

Following the introduction of dual box kerbside collection the Council’s combined recycling rate for 2003/04 rose to 17.7% of all household waste, an increase of 6% on the previous year. Neil Randall, the council’s service delivery development officer, said he was “extremely pleased” with the progress of the recycling service.

Cambridgeshire food company Stream Foods Ltd has become the latest “free rider” to be prosecuted for failing to pay for its obligation of packaging waste recovery.

After successful Environment Agency action, the company was fined 2,000 with 887 costs at Wisbech Magistrates Court for not fulfilling its producer responsibility obligations under the Packaging Regulations.

Under UK law manufacturers, converters, fillers, retailers or importers that handle over 50 tonnes of packaging each year, or have an annual turnover above 2 million, are obligated to pay for their share of packaging waste recovery and recycling.

Stream Foods had a turnover in 2001/02 of just over 3 million and handled 173.5 tonnes of packaging during 2002. The company has since joined a compliance scheme to fulfil its Packaging Regulations obligations.

After the court hearing, Agency team leader Darren Butler said: “This prosecution shows that all companies must put environmental issues on their agenda and ensure that they meet all their legal obligations.”

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is running a “message in a bottle” campaign to encourage local authorities to take part in plastic recycling schemes.

The campaign comprises 12 regional seminars across the UK, to provide local authorities and members of the waste management sector with information and advice on effectively incorporating plastic bottle collections in kerbside operations.

Paul Davidson, materials sector manager for plastics at WRAP, said: “Currently 295 local authorities operate successful plastic bottle collections and we hope this campaign encourages more local authorities to adopt such schemes.”

The scheme is supported by Rotate, WRAP's technical advice service and Recoup, a plastic bottle recycling organisation. The seminars kick off at Villa Park, Birmingham on September 29 and finish at St James Park, Newcastle next year on February 23.