News in Brief

Green bins will replace green sacks for garden waste in Liverpool

Liverpool city council has begun the first phase of transforming its recycling services with the roll out of 90,000 green bins across the city.

Aimed to help boost Liverpool's low recycling rates, the new bins will replace green bags over the next two months, with light blue wheeled bins for dry recyclables following in the Spring.

Liverpool's executive member for the environment and heritage, Councillor Berni Turner, said: “Garden waste recycling has proved to be one of the most popular green services we provide. The fact that the green bins can be wheeled around people's gardens will make the whole process more convenient and will hopefully encourage everyone to use it.”

Norfolk Environmental Waste Services has now recycled 100,000 tonnes of material at their state-of-the art recycling facility in Norwich.

The arms-length company, which processes dry recyclables from all of Norfolk's district councils, also provides commercial recycling. In two-and-a-half years, the facility has received a steady increase in material, from 33,000 tonnes in 2004 to 46,000 tonnes last year.

David Beadle, managing director, said: “In just over two years, every local authority in Norfolk has rolled out recycled waste collections from most households. The people have risen to the challenge of recycling their waste.”

Compost Doctors will show catering firms how to deal with food waste

The Community Recycling Network and the Community Composting Network have launched a pilot programme to reduce commercial catering waste with the help of a team of “Compost Doctors”.

The Compost Doctors are all community organisations with years of experience of small scale composting schemes and will be providing expert advice and support in setting up these systems. The scheme has been funded by Defra and is a Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) pilot programme supporting eight Compost Doctors throughout England.

CRN UK Information Officer Lizzy White commented on the scheme: “The amount of kitchen food waste that is produced each year by catering establishments has reached an average 35% of the total waste they produce. This new programme of Compost Doctors gives businesses the opportunity to access expertise to substantially reduce this and improve the health of the environment.”

A farmer in South Wales has been given a 10,000 grant to increase the recycling of green waste collected in Torfaen.

Race Farm will take material from a local civic amenity site at New Inn and turn it into compost for use on agricultural fields. The Environmental Goods and Services Grant was won with the help of the Wales Environment Trust and has helped the farm win a new product.

Andrew Morgan from Race Farm said: “We now also collect wood from the civic amenity site, shred it and make animal bedding for our organic cattle and neighbouring farms. Composting and recycling is the perfect answer to the town’s waste problem as it helps to increase the levels of organic produce on the farm and reduces waste in Torfaen at the same time.”

The Shredder Mobile is compact, manoeuvrable and able to access areas a trailer cannot, its makers say

Warwickshire firm GreenMech has developed a new mobile green waste shredder, mounted on a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vehicle.

The Shredder Mobile is believed to be one of the first incidences of a shredder mounted directly onto a vehicle, rather than being towed as a separate unit. GreenMech of Kings Coughton, near Studley, developed the Shredder Mobile with Worcester county council and Redditch borough council.

GreenMech chairman Tony Turner said: “We produce a comprehensive range of woodchippers and shredders but this is the first time we have built a fully-mounted version. It is the only one of its kind, and we aim to be selling three each month by this time next year.”