 Londoners are being encouraged to drink tap water to cut bottle waste |
Almost 80% of Londoner's can't taste the difference between tap water and bottled water, according to a survey from the Western Riverside Waste Authority.
Commissioned to encourage consumers to reduce waste associated with mineral water in plastic bottles, the survey found that two thirds actually prefer the taste of tap water, while hundreds more pledged to ditch bottled water as a result.
Jackie Mc Kay, project co-ordinator for the authority's Recycle Western Riverside campaign, said: “Bottled water consumption is doubling in the UK every five years and over 90% of these plastic bottles end up buried in landfill sites. By turning to the tap our participants are helping to reduce this plastic bottle mountain.”
WEEE schemes invited to workshop
Companies considering applying to become a compliance scheme for under forthcoming WEEE regulations are being invited to attend an Environment Agency workshop on October 31.
The event is being held in Birmingham and is also open to companies intending to meet their own waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) obligations. The event will cover legislative requirements, application procedure and requirements. More information on the event is available at the Environment Agency website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/weee.
Bob Mead, WEEE implementation project manager at the Environment Agency, said: “This workshop will provide prospective operators of compliance schemes an understanding of what is required in both the application process and running of a compliance scheme.”
 Caddies are easy to handle according to Bradford council |
Bradford caddy scheme to expand
Bradford metropolitan borough council is to roll out wheeled bin inner caddies to 90,000 homes in the city, after rolling the service out to 30,000 households already.
The inner caddy, provided by Leeds-based suppliers Straight plc, sits inside a 240 litre bin and enables materials to be collected in the same container separately. Bradford has been using the 55 litre containers to separate glass and cans from paper.
Ian Bairstow, head of service at Bradford, said: “The insert is easy for our operators to remove from the wheeled bin and will allow us to extend the range of materials we collect in a single pass, without increasing the footprint of recycling containers at households.”
Sims brings expands work force
Sims Recycling Solutions has brought in four new business development executives in anticipation of expanded operations under the forthcoming WEEE regulations.
The company has over 400 people employed to deal with WEEE recovery and refurbishment.
Graham Davy, managing director of Sims Recycling Solutions, said: “With the UK's implementation of the WEEE Directive just around the corner, our waste electrical recycling solutions are at the forefront of the UK marketplace.”
Community sector website launched
 The new website is a collaborative effort |
A new website has been launched by Cardiff University to help strengthen understanding of the social enterprise and community sector in managing waste and resources across the UK.
The Social Enterprise and Waste Management Research Network website is part of a Defra funded research project.
Project leader, Somesh Candrashekar, said: “The network is a collaborative effort to draw together emerging ideas, relevant information and pertinent activities concerning resource and waste management within the context of the social economy. We are currently developing a number of events designed to bring researchers and practitioners in this area together to disseminate new ideas and to discuss issues of importance.”
Subscribe for free