News in Brief

Local authorities are being “strongly encouraged” to contact local community waste groups to apply for Defra's 4 million waste partnership fund.

Application deadline for the fund is on January 4 – only three weeks away. Only community groups themselves can apply for the fund, but grants are aimed at helping partnerships with local authorities on waste.

Defra said its Waste Partnership Fund will “give a real opportunity for community groups to play a wider role in local waste management services” and that high quality bids could “make a real difference in the long term”.

Of the 4 million fund, 3 million is available for community group bids. Remaining funds are going to establish four regional co-ordinators to strengthen community recycling in the South West, the North West, Yorkshire & Humberside and the Eastern region.

More details on the fund can be found on the Defra Website.

Aylesford Newsprint is calling on those in the recycling and waste sector to pack a camera if they are going on a Christmas holiday this year.

A South African musician recycled an oil can into a guitar in one entry for Aylesford's photography competition

The Kent-based paper recycler is running a photography competition to find the top snaps of recycling activities throughout the world. The overall winning photographer will pick up 1,000 in holiday vouchers, while two other category winners will pick up 500 in vouchers.

Celebrating 20 years of the company's 100% recycled newsprint, the Wish You Were Recycling Here competition appeals to the “recycling nerd that lies dormant in almost everyone working within the waste management industry”, the company said.

Aylesford is asking entrants to take photographs of recycling banks, collection schemes and other recycling activities in unusual places – the further away the better.

Photos will be judged in three categories: Everyday Practices; Unusual Places; and Unusual Projects. The winning photo in each category will receive 500 in travel vouchers and the overall winner will receive an additional voucher worth 500.

Entries will be accepted until August 31, 2005, and can be emailed to recycling@aylnews.com along with full contact information. Pictures can also be posted to Aylesford Newsprint Ltd, Recycling Department, Newsprint House, Bellingham Way, Aylesford, Kent, ME20 7DL

A new campaign launched today aims to increase the use of recycled woodchip by local authorities.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme's Recycled Wood Works Wonders campaign encourages councils to use recycled wood chip in 'higher-value' markets such as play surfaces, mulches, pathways and roundabouts.

The organisation said it could demonstrate that recycled wood chip can make cost effective surfaces and is currently undergoing trials with a number of local authorities including Redditch borough council.

Julia Turner, material development manager for wood at WRAP said: “Recycled wood chip is an excellent mulch, pathway and play surface material. It offers many performance benefits, is cost effective due to its long lasting properties and requires little maintenance.”

The panel board industry is the primary user of post-consumer recycled wood in the UK in 2003, consuming 90% of the waste wood that is recycled. Animal bedding, mulches and landscaping are thought to account for around 5% of recycled wood used in the UK.

A spokesman for WRAP said that it was not encouraging a diversion of wood from boardmills, but was looking to divert more waste wood from the waste stream.