News in Brief

A refuse and recycling vehicle in Lambeth being used to collect food waste

Lambeth council is trialling a kitchen waste recycling scheme, which will see food and green waste from households used within the borough confines.

Around 250 households in Stockwell, Larkhall and Clapham Town have been provided with kitchen caddys to collect their scraps in. These will be turned into compost in Stockwell.

The compost will soon be made available to residents and community groups in the area.

O-I Recycling has signed up former Cambridge City council recycling officer Gill Lee as its recycling manager for England.

Ms Lee has over 10 years' experience with Cambridge, Fife and Dundee city councils and succeeds Jim Powell who is retiring after ten years with the company.

Sheena Leimon, UK human resources director for O-I says, “We are delighted that Gill has chosen to join O-I as she has already led the recycling efforts of one of the UK’s most dynamic local authorities.

“Her drive and experience will help O-I secure the colour separated glass we require and develop the market for glass to the benefit of O-I, local authorities, contractors and the general public alike,” she added.

Street sweepers promote the new recycling scheme in Lewisham

Street sweepers across Lewisham are helping to increase the boroughs recycling rate by separating its litter.

As the litter pickers pick up waste, they will sort the materials into recyclable and non-recyclable rubbish.

Over the next 12 months the campaign will be rolled out across the boroughs streets and parks.

A pilot scheme has been running since February of this year and so far 10 tonnes of recyclable rubbish has been collected.

A range of software to help producers' comply with their obligations under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive has been introduced by Webix Solutions GmbH.

The German company teamed up with St.Albans-based consultancy Perchards to create the XPRes brand – which helps to convert producer sale data into reports required by national agencies. Legislative updates and compliance costs comparisons will also be available in future.

David Perchard, Perchards partner, said: “Sorting out the matrix of national requirements is a nightmare, particularly for companies marketing a wide range of products.”

Webix CEO, Frank Fischer, added: “The software needs only a minimum of training.”

Cornish babies are trying out washable nappies (photo: Cornish Real Nappy Project)

Real nappy toolkits handed out

Every midwife and GP's surgery in Cornwall will receive a real nappy toolkit under plans to encourage parents to use washable nappies.

The Cornish Real Nappy Project revealed today (Weds) that it has started to give out washable nappy samples, promotional posters, information about real nappies and a DVD to encourage parents to reduce the number of disposable nappies they send to landfill.

Project manager Rebecca Thomas said: “The DVD will allow healthcare professionals to present information on washable nappies in a relaxed and easy to understand manner; we also aim to make the DVD available to parents through public libraries.”