Recyclingbins Recyclingbins

It’s not Easter if you don’t feast on a chocolate egg or three. The first chocolate Easter eggs in Britain were introduced by Fry’s in 1873, and now they make up around 10% of our annual spending on chocolate. Just incase you were wondering, we munch our way through about 80 million chocolate eggs every year. Not great for our waistlines, or for the environment.

In recent years some supermarkets have been making strides towards reducing their impact on the environment, they are realising now that if they want to build customer loyalty they need to show that they care about the issues their customers care about.

Hubbub have announced that Starbucks will be financing a fund that will support recycling projects around the UK from the funds raised from the 5p charge

A director at the Aluminum Association in the US has warned about the crushing of cans before being recycled, the machinery sorts materials by type and shape so if a can is crushed it may not recognise it and will push it into the non recyclable pile which ends up at landfill or incineration.  

This weeks Recycling Roundup features stories including a new recycling centre has opened in Peterborough to help decling recycling rates, residents who live near an energy recovery centre after concerns were raised about the noise from the vehicles, and finally a council in Ireland has been criticised after it sent out an Irish language leaflet about recycling to residents who's first language is not Gaelic

Ribena have announced that it is redesigning its Ribena Bottles by reducing the size of the sleeves and making them more transparent, this is part of the company's pledge to make all of it's packaging 100% Recyclable.  

This weeks Recycling Roundup features stories including a new purple wheelie bin called Poppy is teaching people across Ayrshire about new wheelie bins being rolled out, a free recycling point has been installed as East Cambrideshire's District Council offices to encourage the recycling of crisp and sweet packets, and finally an engineer is using discarded glass and gin bottles to create gifts.

 

Lidl is going to be removing all of its large 9p reusable bags from all of the Welsh stores to help reduce the plastic pollution, it will affect all 54 stores across Wales and it is estimated that it will save around 150 tonnes of plastic per year.  

KP snacks are the latest company to launch a recycling scheme for their packaging, they have joined up with Terracycle for the collection of nuts, crisps, popcorn and pretzel packets which will then be collected and turned into new items like garden furniture.

Since 1992 around 72% of the world's plastic waste has ended up in China and Hong Kong, but with China banning the importation of recycling, what are the ramifications of this?

One of the largest retail property owners in the UK is set to pilot a textile recycling scheme where people can recycling their old clothes by dropping them off at a shopping centre in Oxford.

This weeks Recycling Roundup features stories including North Lincolnshire council collected over 1000 tonnes of recycling after the christmas period, the NHS Trust has saved over £100k by recycling unwanted hospital equipment and furniture, and finally a charity in Preston that helps offenders gain employment has won an award.

Local authorities can boost their recycling rates by over 1% and save over £450k in waste disposal if they introduced a bulky waste collection service.  Figures by WRAP suggest that 50% of goods that are taken to the recycling centre could be reused.  

There have been calls for clothing brands and retailers to pay a penny on each item they sell to fund a clothing recycling scheme, MP's say that 'fast fashion' contributes to global warming, water pollution and air pollution.  

Hovis has joined forces with TerraCycle to launch a bread recycling scheme, only 1 in ten local authorities recycle bread bags so you can see why consumers who want to do the right thing have such a problem.  

Big companies are increasingly offering incentives to help reduce waste and recycle more, these incentives often include freebies, discounts and loyalty points.  All this seems great however a lot of people are not aware that these incentives even exist.  

The recycling provider is introducing a free glass waste collection service for businesses in the vehicle industry.  The company said it is aiming to remove the burden from businesses who are reluctant or unable to recycle.

This weeks Recycling Roundup features stories including a new nationwide contact lense recycling scheme being launched, a clothes recycling bank is being removed from a retail park after a spate of flytipping around Christmas time, and finally a Co-op in Ipswich is raising awareness around the towns kerbside recycling.  

The fact that we are recycling more is great for the environment, however do we think of the toll it takes on the collectors body on a daily basis.  Research has shown that it is having a detrimental effect on binmen's backs, so is it time to ban the recycling boxes and offer an alternative?

The plastics reprocessing copmpany Recycling Technologies has announced that it is joining forces with Swindon Council to develop an advanced plastics recycling facility which will be the first of its kind in England.

LG Electronics USA have been recognised by the US EPA for leading the way in responsible electronics recycling leadership, mainly for the collection of a large amount of electronic items and sending them to a third party for recycling.  

The drive for recycling is not a new concept, it dates back as early as our ancestors were repairing, recycling and reusing materials.  People often made small flint tools from old axes and ground down ceramics to new pots and materials for houses.