The Green Village News Tagged ‘recycling’
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
Monday, July 13th, 2009
City of York Council has submitted proposals for sustainable development of the former British Sugar site, currently owned by Associated British Foods. The bid for £60 million of government funding would secure the use of part of the site of the former factory to build 60 eco homes, and would put York on the map as home of one of the most environmentally friendly developments to be built in the next two to three years.
If the proposal is accepted, the complex of eco homes would showcase a number of environmentally friendly features and technologies designed to minimise their carbon footprints and limit the amount of carbon emissions they produce. As well as being built to incorporate high energy and water efficiency standards, the homes would be built from locally sourced and recycled materials, therefore cutting down on transportation costs for building materials and also supporting the local economy, as well as reducing the demand for virgin materials and cutting the amount going to landfill.
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Tags: allotment, carbon neutral housing, eco development, low impact living, recycling, sustainable housing
Posted in Eco Home, Environmental Impact, Environmental Politics, Green Living, Green Planet, Sustainable Development | 1 Comment
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
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
Monday, April 13th, 2009
A new children’s book, ‘Colonel Trash Truck’ has been launched ahead of Earth Day and aims to inspire children to care for the environment and get involved with recycling and leading greener lives by asking them to help him and the Green Team on their quest against the litterbugs.
The author, Kathleen Crawley, explains the inspiration behind her rubbish collecting character,
“There’s no better way to teach kids to respect and save the environment than to introduce them to Colonel Trash Truck. Colonel Trash Truck believes cleaning up trash and recycling is something we all must do and he wants nothing more than to have kids join him in his quest to ‘Keep the Planet Clean and Green’.”
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Tags: colonel trash truck, earth day, kids book, recycling
Posted in Environmental Politics, Green Family, Green Living, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste, Science and Technology | No Comments
Thursday, March 5th, 2009
Internet auction site eBay is famous around the world for being a marketplace where you can buy anything from a used car to a new pair of shoes. The company has been working on its green credentials, stating on their Green Team website that they have been carbon neutral since 2007. This status, they claim, has been achieved through carbon offsetting, green and energy efficient buildings and purchasing power from alternative energy suppliers as well as generating 18% of the power required to run their San Jose North campus in California from 3248 solar panels mounted on the roof.
Not everybody is convinced that eBay can live up to their green claims however. Although eBay are in control of decisions regarding the day to day running of their business, everybody knows that the products sold on eBay have got to travel to their new homes by some means, and unless the buyer lives within walking distance, this is going to involve the burning of fossil fuels to get the items to their destination. OK, so there’s the offset that the buyer doesn’t have to get in their car to go and buy the item from the shops, and eBay is an excellent way of selling on those items you no longer need or want releasing much needed cash and recycling at the same time. But there are also a lot of businesses selling new goods so is that aspect any better than buying from any other online shop?
Tags: carbon neutral, carbon offset, corporate responsibility, ebay, recycling
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Ethical shopping, Green Living, Green Planet | No Comments
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
Findings from Local Government Association research into the amount of packaging supermarkets insist on wrapping goods in has prompted comments from Mike Warhurst, Friends of the Earth’s Senior Waste Campaigner.
Current Government targets allow more than two thirds of plastic waste to be added to the tonnes of rubbish finding its way to landfill every week. Mike Warhurst argues that these targets should be tightened up to make supermarkets use more recyclable materials in the packaging of their goods as well as promoting more responsible food waste disposal.
Many homeowners are already in the habit of separating their waste for kerbside collection, and would no doubt welcome waste plastic recycling. The current system means greater expense being passed on to tax payers, and a greater strain being placed upon existing landfill sites and incinerators.
Although supermarkets have done their best to defend their actions by telling the media about the reductions that have been made, the figures show that even the supermarket with the highest proportion of recyclable material still has another 33% of non-recyclable plastic to account for.
Chairperson for the LGA, Margaret Eaton has proposed, “If retailers create unnecessary rubbish, they should help taxpayers by paying for it to be recycled.” To read more, visit the BBC website.
Tags: landfill, packaging, recycling, supermarkets
Posted in Companies and Organisations, Green Planet, Recycling and Waste | No Comments
