By admin on Jun 27, 2008 | In Hazardous Waste, Recycling, Featured, News, Energy | No Comments »
The UK’s first nuclear recycling plant to be based outside an existing atomic facility is being built in Cumbria. The recycling plant is being built by Swedish-based company Studsvik at Lillyhall Industrial Estate near Workington. The site is due to be completed by December and will handle approximatley 3,000 tonnes of scrap metal a year from nuclear sites all over the UK.
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. Read the rest »
By admin on Jun 27, 2008 | In Recycling, News, Home & Garden | No Comments »
Marks and Spencer’s has this month become the first retailer in the UK to trial the use of recycled plastic in food and drink packaging on a large scale and to gauge customer reaction to the concept.
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. Read the rest »
By admin on Jun 25, 2008 | In Household Waste, Recycling, Featured, News | No Comments »
Lincolnshire County Council members will today be asked to back a £917m recycling scheme aimed at helping the county to meet new recycling targets over the next 28 years.
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. Read the rest »
By admin on Jun 23, 2008 | In Energy | 1 Comment »
The Isle of Man is set to stage the worlds first ever Clean Emissions Grand Prix on the island next year. The TTxGP event is scheduled for June 2009 and will provide an exciting opportunity for leading global innovators in racing and clean emission technologies to compete and prove to the world that being green does not mean being slow. Read the rest »
By admin on Jun 23, 2008 | In Hazardous Waste, Featured, Environment, News | No Comments »
An international waste management meeting is being held in Bali, Indonesia to highlight the dangers of hazardous waste. The five-day meeting with ministers from nearly 170 countries will focus on the impact hazardous waste has on human health and livelihoods. They will also be considering setting up a new body on electronic and computer waste.
The conference was opened by Indonesian Environment Minister Rahmat Witoelar, who said that his country was particularly exposed to the illegal dumping of toxic waste.
“Due to its archipelagic nature, with the second longest coastal line in the world, Indonesia is vulnerable to illegal traffic of transboundary hazardous waste,” he said.
The meeting is organised under the UN Basel Convention, an international treaty regulating the global trade in hazardous waste with the aim of minimising its generation and movement across borders. Read the rest »
By admin on Jun 22, 2008 | In Recycling, Home & Garden | No Comments »
Each One Counts, the online recycling campaign for empty printer cartridges and unused mobiles, has launched re:Cycling, a new incentive scheme for active recyclers. The scheme is being run in partnership with Halfords, the UK’s largest cycle retailer.
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.
Read the rest »
By admin on Jun 19, 2008 | In Environment, Business | No Comments »
McDonalds have utilised a fresh idea to marketing by having a billboard built which actually grows. The billboard, created for McDonalds by ad-maker Leo Burnett, contained different varieties of lettuce used by McDonalds which spelt out ”Fresh Salads” as the lettuce grew. Read the rest »
By admin on Jun 17, 2008 | In Recycling, Environment, News, Home & Garden | No Comments »
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. Read the rest »
By admin on Jun 16, 2008 | In Recycling, Featured, Environment, News, Home & Garden | No Comments »
A council which was one of the first in the UK to introduce microchipped wheelie bins ahead of a possible “pay as you throw” scheme has abandoned the project after saying it was unworkable. The idea behind the government-funded project was to encourage households to increase recycling and cut the amount of waste going to landfil sites.
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.” Read the rest »
By admin on Jun 16, 2008 | In Featured, Environment, Energy, Guides | No Comments »
With fuel costs at an all-time high, there has never been a better time to start taking more consideration on your fuel consumption. We have therefore put together 10 top tips to help reduce your fuel consumption, whether this is petrol or diesel. By following some of these tips, you will not only help the environment, but also save money at the same time.
1. Only use your car if it’s necessary. If the destination is close by, walk or bike it.
2. Keep your car well maintained. A poorly tuned engine can up fuel consumption by a massive 50 per cent.
3. Plan your journey. According to the RAC, British drivers waste the equivalent of 267 Olympic swimming pools of fuel going the wrong way. Read the rest »
