News in Brief

The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management's (CIWM) spring conference on Wednesday (March 14) will consider how to meet the challenges of climate change, coinciding with a new government Climate Change Bill being published this week.

Speakers at the CIWM conference entitled “Living in a Material World” will give delegates advice on drawing up workable solutions for the waste management industry to help cut the UK's carbon output under the Climate Change Bill.

To book a place at the conference on Wednesday, March 14, at One Great George Street, London, log on to www.ciwm.co.uk/springbookingform.

The public were encouraged to feed the cows in Lewisham

Recycling bins disguised as cows are set to be rolled out across London after a trial scheme boosted recycling by 61% in three months.

The pilot in New Cross Gate was so successful that Lewisham council in south London has ordered another 80 bins to expand the service. Hackney council in east London has asked for 200. Design company Source Communications, art installation experts Artmongers, and waste container suppliers Taylor were all involved in the project.

Taylor's sales manager Julian Gaylor said: “If you capture people’s imagination and make recycling attractive and fun, they are far more likely to participate. As well as increasing recycling, incidents of fly-posting and vandalism were eliminated.”

Norfolk county council has appointed Environmental Waste Controls (EWC) as the new contractor to run 18 of its 19 household waste recycling centres.

From April 1, the national waste firm will take over from Norfolk Environmental Waste Services (NEWS) and Waste Recycling Group (WRG) to provide a new service including 24-hour CCTV and recycling facilities for drink cartons. New low-level bins will also remove the need for customers to climb steps.

Norfolk county council's cabinet member for waste and the environment Ian Monson said: “The new contract is really good news for the people of Norfolk as it will bring a consistently high standard of service right across the country. We are working very hard with the contractor to minimise any disruption but each site will need to be closed for a day while new equipment is installed.”

Credit Suisse hosted a textile recycling stand that picked up 308 kg of old clothes and shoes for recycling

Financial services company Credit Suisse has taken part in a textile recycling scheme collecting old clothes and shoes for the benefit of charity TRAID.

London Recycling Ltd collected 308 kg of materials from Credit Suisse's offices in London's Canary Wharf, as part of the TRAID – Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development – 'Suit into Loot' scheme. Collected clothes will now be sold in charity shops, with funds raised going to overseas projects for needy youngsters.

Canning Town-based London Recycling Ltd runs the textile collections twice a year for any businesses in the City and Canary Wharf areas of London – postcodes EC1 and EC4 – to take part. This year, collections will be in the City from April 16th to 19th, and from August 13th to 17th, as well as at Canary Wharf from August 20th-25th.

The Court of Appeal has rejected a challenge lodged by Newhaven resident Nicola Day against the Waste Local Plan in East Sussex and Brighton & Hove.

The application, to overturn the naming of Newhaven's North Quay as a suitable site for a recycling of energy from waste facility, was defeated in the High Court and upheld by the Court of Appeal. The judgment follows East Sussex provisionally approving an Energy from Waste facility in Newhaven last month (see letsrecycle.com story).

Welcoming the judgement, East Susses county council leader Peter Jones said: “This challenge has cost tax payers about 150,000, including most of Ms Day's costs – money that surely should have been better spent on much needed services rather than legal fees. But I am very pleased that we now have a document that gives clear guidance for decisions on waste planning applications across East Sussex and Brighton & Hove.”