News in Brief

(left to right) Ray Fish of Enterprise MRS with Cllr Malcolm Alexander of East Herts council and Robert Jenkins of Corus overseeing the new steel recycling operation

East Hertfordshire council has expanded its kerbside collection scheme to include steel cans, after receiving support from reprocessor Corus.

Serving 55,000 homes, the collection scheme was originally paper-only, but constractors Enterprise MRS will now pick up food and drink cans, paint cans and aerosols as well as paper and glass. Corus has supplied the council with steel can processing equipment for the Whittam Mills sorting plant in Buntingford.

Dave Williams, manager of Corus Steel Packaging Recycling, said: “We are committed to continuing to provide better infrastructure for the recycling of steel packaging so that it can be reused time and again. It is great to be able to help another council to include steel packaging in its kerbside collections.”

Residents in South Oxfordshire are being warned to be on their guard concerning a “scam” involving their green recycling boxes.

The council has received reports of a white middle-aged man posing as a council employee to sell recycling boxes to residents. There have also been a number of calls from residents about their new recycling boxes going missing. South Oxfordshire council is reminding residents that recycling boxes are free and available from a number of council outlets.

Cllr David Dodds, cabinet member with responsibility for public amenities, said: “This is clearly an unscrupulous act by an individual preying on the desire by residents to do their bit and recycle effectively. There is no charge for our recycling boxes. I ask people to be vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour to the council or the Police.”

Abitibi's Claire James with (centre) Cllr David Becket and Cllr Jeremy Lefroy of Newcastle-under-Lyme borough council launch the new plastic scheme

Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire is being given a new plastic recycling service by collection firm Abitibi-Consolidated Recycling Europe.

The borough is trialling the new service at six established bring sites, and if successful the scheme would be expanded to 13 locations to serve around 50,000 local residents. Abitibi's UK operations manager David Jaffa said the plastics banks should yield around three tonnes a week by the time the service is fully rolled out.

Cllr. David Becket, cabinet member responsible for the environment and recycling, said: “The introduction of these banks means that, through a combination of bring sites and our kerbside collection service, residents can recycle a bigger proportion of their household waste than ever before, including paper, glass, cans, textiles and now, plastic bottles.”

A “swap shop” scheme is the latest idea being used on Merseyside to help residents cut down on waste, with the first of a series of events taking place tomorrow at Noctorum Community Centre in Prenton.

The Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority is now backing the swap shop events, which had previously been run on an occasional basis by community groups, but will now be rolled out across the region.

The Authority's chairman, Cllr Kevin Cluskey, said: “Minimising the amount of waste we produce is crucial in the waste hierarchy – in many ways it’s more important than recycling. If we don’t reduce the amount of waste we’re sending to landfill then we could pay the price environmentally and financially.”

Left to right, Duncan Francis, Howard Jonas, and John White, newly appointed directors of Vetspeed Ltd

Animal wastes management company Vetspeed Ltd has made changes to its management team with the appointment of three new board members after the retirement of co-founding director, Clive Jackson.

General manager Howard Jonas, executive general manager John White and commercial manager Duncan Francis have all been appointed directors of the Hertfordshire-based company.

Managing director Ray Hale said: “This is the biggest change at Vetspeed since it was formed as a family-led company in 1979. It reflects our commitment to the future growth and development of the business, and to our customers in the environmental health sector, farming, food production and transport, the veterinary profession and others needing to dispose safely and legally of animal based wastes.”