The Green Village News for the ‘Recycling and Waste’ Category
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
Ecotricity, the UK’s first green electricity supplier, has been researching the feasibility of supplying green biogas to the UK domestic market. From their results, plus their market research, they have announced that they hope to become Britain’s first green gas supplier too.
Green gas or ‘biogas’ is captured from rotting food waste which would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. It is estimated that about 18 million tonnes of food waste is generated each year in the UK; a figure which Ecotricity would expect to supply up to 700,000 homes.
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Tags: biogas, ecotricity, food waste, gas, gas mills, green gas
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Energy and Resources, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
Sunday, September 6th, 2009
An increase in commercial recycling scheme costs has forced Richmond Council’s largest client to find a cheaper alternative. After annual costs for recycling collections rocketed by twenty thousand pounds from £54k to £74k Richmond Riverside Estates felt they had little alternative considering the current economic climate other than to seek an alternative service from another provider.
Despite argument from a council cabinet minister that the costs for their recycling service are still cheaper than sending waste to landfill, one member of management at Richmond Riverside Estates, Malcolm Kealy, believes this could be the first of many companies switching to more cost effective recycling companies.
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Tags: council recycling scheme, recycling, richmond, richmond council, richmond riverside estates
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Environmental Politics, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
Monday, August 31st, 2009
A new study conducted by WRAP, Waste & Resources Action Programme, published on 28th August 2009, has identified that demand for waste wood will outstrip supply in the next few years. The report, ‘Wood Waste Market in the UK’, provides both a detailed analysis of how the situation with waste wood product availability is likely to develop over the coming years, and also looks at the origins of waste wood products.
WRAP’s research anticipates a 14% decrease in the amount of waste wood compared to before the recession, a figure which could take up to 5 years to return to pre-recession levels. Director of Market Development, Marcus Gover, advises that WRAP are keen to offer support to recycling and reprocessing businesses across the UK in light of the problems that this shortfall could cause.
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Tags: CHP plant, fossil fuels, landfill, recycling, waste wood, wood fired power station, WRAP
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Energy and Resources, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
Master Brewers, Stella Artois have teamed up with the Tree Council to fund traditional hedgelaying throughout the UK. Over the next two years, Stella Artois will market promotional multi-packs of lager and for each pack, will donate funds to grow and plant hedge saplings.
It is hoped that the scheme will replenish hedgerows up and down the country with the company pledging to provide up to 365,000 hedgerow saplings and more than 8,500 hedgerow trees. Both the Tree Council and the National Hedgelaying Society will be responsible for organising and laying the hedges and environmentalist and television star Ben Fogle will be the face of the campaign.
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Tags: alcohol, carbon footprint, hedgelaying, hedges, national hedgelaying society, stella artois, tree council, WRAP
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Crafts and Skills, Ethical shopping, Green Living, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
Back in February Gordon Brown threatened supermarkets that unless they took action to reduce the amount of carrier bags given away, currently 1 billion bags every year of which many are shipped off to landfill after a single use, the government would pass legislation forcing supermarkets to act.
The threat paid off, as carrier bag usage has been reduced by 48% across the UK in May 2009 compared to the amount of bags used in May 2006, meaning a reduction of 420 million fewer carrier bags in total. However with a target of 50% set by British Retail Consortium members, the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Department of the Environment and Defra in 2008, this is still 2% short of their original aim.
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Tags: bag for life, brc, carrier bags, plastic bags, pollution, supermarkets
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Environmental Impact, Ethical shopping, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Today marks the start of the 5th annual ‘Recycle Week’, a nationwide initiative looking to promote waste reduction and recycling across the UK. More than 330 events will take place over the course of the week from 22nd-28th June, with the theme of ‘Let’s Waste Less’.
As part of the campaign, Recycle Now is challenging people to pledge to kick start new environmentally friendly habits and recycle more of the waste we produce including textiles, glass and electrical goods, to making greener consumer choices such as choosing to buy peat free compost, to using leftover food for tomorrow’s lunch. The site also includes details of the many events taking place, including roadshows providing advice on recycling and composting.
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Tags: landfill, love food hate waste, recycle now, recycle week, recycling, waste reduction
Posted in Environmental Impact, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | 1 Comment
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
Coca-Cola contribute significantly to the millions of plastic bottles being discarded every year, but new plans announced by the drinks firm could see them taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of their bottles.
Every year the equivalent oil to power 1 million cars is used in the production of plastic bottles for bottled water alone; never mind other soft drinks, with only 10% of this figure currently being recycled. The remainder is left to be shipped off to landfill, where, as plastic is not biodegradable, it takes thousands of years to break down. The move by Coca-Cola therefore is a welcome one that will be rolled out later this year across their Dasani bottled water in the US.
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Tags: bottled water, coca-cola, corporate responsibility, plastic bottles
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Ethical shopping, Green Living, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | 3 Comments
Monday, May 18th, 2009
Reducing the amount of plastic bags given away each year has become a target for many companies and businesses of late, from supermarkets to high street retailers. Ayres Road in Old Trafford has become the latest addition to those doing their bit to combat carrier bag use.
Plastic bags are given away every day in their tens of thousands, and most of them get to our houses then get thrown away; at the cost of the environment and the pockets of the traders handing them out. The ‘Ayres Road Cares’ bag could go some way towards reducing the impact on both. The reusable bag, produced by community action group War on Waste in Old Trafford, (WOW-OT), will be available from June for £1.50 per bag at no cost to the retailer, and aims to both reduce plastic bag waste and promote local businesses.
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Tags: bag for life, carrier bags, plastic bags, recycling, WOW-OT
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Ethical shopping, Green Living, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Pre-school children at a day school in Lake Forest, California, have been going green recently with a number of initiatives to involve the children and make them more aware of the environment.
Activities the youngsters are getting involved with include recycling, growing their own vegetables, such as lettuces grown in empty milk cartons in the school greenhouse which have now been transplanted to the playground, and making their own vermicompost by feeding worms their leftover food waste.
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Tags: california, composting, green schools, Grow Your Own, lake forest day school
Posted in Environmental Impact, Green Living, Green Planet, Grow Your Own, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
Monday, April 27th, 2009
The company behind the innovative USBCELL battery have today launched a new campaign, Save Battery Waste. The campaign aims to increase public awareness of the importance of recycling batteries, and with over 15 billion of them being manufactured and thrown away each year, it’s not difficult to see why.
Moixa Energy Ltd began their campaign at the UK Aware conference held on 17th and 18th April at London Olympia by holding a collection at their hybrid solar PV and battery run stall. Their collection of spent batteries totalled 90kg by the end of the event, which shockingly is only about 1/100th of the amount of batteries currently disposed of in the UK every week.
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Tags: battery recycling, UK AWARE, USBCELL
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Ethical shopping, Green Living, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste, Science and Technology | 1 Comment
