The agreement to send the Clemenceau, once the flagship of the French navy, to Able UK, ends an embarrassing five-year saga that had the toxic vessel being passed around the world looking for a final resting place.  The deal to scrap the 32,700-tonne Clemenceau is said to be the biggest of its kind in Europe.

The French Defence Ministry awarded the contract to Able UK after the Environment Agency issued a waste management licence that allows the Hartlepool firm to dismantle ships and oil rigs at its TERRC facility at Graythorp.  The company is due to begin recycling work on the 780ft-long (238 metre) vessel later this year. (more…)

The UK uses over 900,000 tonnes of aluminium, with around 73% of this having been recycled.  Due to the high unit value, large items such as those used for transport and building applications, achieve as much as a 95% rate of return for recycling.

However, the aluminium used for packaging is much more difficult to collect, as it is very light and is often discarded in every home, school, office, pub and restaurant.  This should not be the case, as auluminium is one of the easiest materials to recycle. (more…)

After recycling the metal, low level nuclear waste will be taken to the nearby storage facility at Drigg.  Studsvik say the operation will be completely safe and monitored on a regular basis.

A spokesman for Studsvik, which operates similar facilities in Sweden, said it would serve the UK’s nuclear industry, whose sites are now being decommissioned under the control of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

He said: “To meet the government’s decommissioning targets, new facilities need to be constructed to provide alternative methods for cleaning the materials that will be removed during the decommissioning process. (more…)

The project is being run in conjunction with an Australian owned recycling company called Closed Loop Recycling.  London Remade are also part of this great project, which is partly funded from WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme).  The 6-month trial involves around 1,500 tonnes of recycled PET (rPET) plastics being incorporated into salad bowls, beverage bottles, recipe pots and trays, with the recycled content ranging between 30% to 50%.

The trial packaging was launched in Marks & Spencer’s stores across the UK earlier this month and carries on-pack declarations and messages such as “packaging made from 50% recycled material, 100% recyclable”, as well as the closed loop recycling logo. Throughout the duration of the trial customer reaction will be assessed through a series of in-store survey activities. (more…)

The plan includes building an ‘Energy from Waste’ unit - a combined heat and power plant to generate electricity for sale to the national grid and heat in the form of steam for sale locally.

A report prepared for the meeting said: “The new directive requires that the council significantly reduces the amount of biodegradable waste that it landfills, which means that the council must find an alternative solution.”

The report said the plant would take three years to build and would operate for 25 years, using waste that remained after recycling to create energy for sale. (more…)

re:Cycling offers recyclers a weekly prize draw worth £100. Winners get a Halfords Voucher that can be exchanged for a bicycle or related goods at any of their 400 stores around the UK. Anyone registered at the www.eachonecounts.co.uk website who sends a recyclable item for a partner charity is automatically entered into the draw. The online ‘checker’ on this site easily identifies items that are classified as recyclable in this scheme.

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European Union lawmakers approved new targets today for the recycling and re-using of waste, and measures to reduce the amount of waste that is incinerated or dumped in landfill sites.

The European Parliament voted for the target of re-using or recycling 50% of the main types of EU household waste by 2020, and 70% of all building and demolition waste.

Europe generates a staggering 1.8 billion tonnes of waste each and every year.  This amounts to around 3.5 tonnes of waste per person, with less than a third of this waste being recycled.  About one seventh of Europe’s rubbish is municipal waste, with the rest coming from shops, restaurants, industry and agriculture.  In some member states up to 90% of its waste is sent to landfill sites. (more…)

South Norfolk Council was one of the first in the UK to fit the bins with such microchips, but has abandoned the £250,000 scheme after the council beleived the technology used to weigh the bins was unreliable.

Councillor David Bills said: “The data that was coming out was not foolproof and you must appreciate that if one is charging or reimbursing people based on data, that data has got to be correct 100% each day of the year.

“If it’s not, people are going to start querying it and it’s going to lead to all sorts of problems.” (more…)

So Strange Youngens and Plymouth Youth Dance Company are appealing for any unwanted items that they can use for the production, including unwanted wetsuits, briefcases, business suits and old mobile phones.  After the show has finished all the materials used will be recycled again.

Alexandra Harris, one of the performers, said: “We want this performance to open people’s minds and think about the imprint they are making on the world.”

Anyone who would like to help out by donating items to the production is asked to contact the Barbican Theatre.

Derby City Council has taken steps to boost cardboard recycling in the area by providing facilities throughout the region where people can take such items to be recycled.  Carton banks have been located at Asda in Sinfin, Tesco in Mickleover and the Sainsbury’s at Kingsway Retail Park and The Wyvern.  A bank has also been located at the Raynesway Recycling Centre. 

Councillor Mike Carr said: “We have been recycling cardboard in Derby for some time, but I think the fact that lined cardboard cartons were not recyclable was frustrating and sometimes confused people.

“Now they can take these drinks cartons to the carton banks at five recycling sites and I would like to encourage people, when they visit these sites, to remember to take along their cardboard cartons from now on.”