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Shop NowRecycling Roundup 17th April
Recycling Roundup 17th April
There have been plenty of complaints about changes to bin collections as cash-strapped councils introduced sometimes unpopular reductions and amendments to services, but there have been some positive results.
Changes to bin collections in East Devon have led to an increase in recycling. In February this year, East Devon District Council introduced a new weekly collection service for carboard, mixed plastics and cartons. This has enabled them to reduce general waste collections to once every 3 weeks, as people are throwing less away in their general waste now that the new service is available.
Council figures show that recycling rates in Exmouth have increased to 59%, up from 44% before the new service was introduced. 17,000 households are currently using the new service and there are plans to roll it out across East Devon in the summer.
The council have praised residents for using the new service correctly, and plan to inform the residents who aren’t currently using the new service about the proposed changes. They say that the changes to services are in response to residents asking the council to help them recycle more and reduce waste, and the need to preserve and protect the area in which they live.
Residents in Ashford have been praised for their efforts to increase the recycling rate in their area. Figures from DEFRA’s league tables show that Ashford is the most improved local authority in terms of recycling rates. Ashford Borough Council launched a recycling drive last year, to encourage residents to avoid contaminating recycling by making sure that they only put clean, recyclable materials in their bins. The borough’s recycling rate is 53.1% which is higher than the UK target of 50%.
A fire that broke out at a recycling facility in Dorset is being investigated. Fire crews had to deal with a blaze involving 300 tonnes of waste at the facility on an industrial estate. The fire service issued warnings to local residents to keep doors and windows closed until the fire was dealt with.
A new coffee cup recycling scheme in London is aiming to recycle 5 million coffee cups this year. More than 100 retailers and 30 other organisations are offering recycling facilities as part of the city’s Square Mile Challenge. This is set to be the country’s biggest recycling scheme. Only 1% of the paper cups used are recycled, and the fact that the lids often can’t be recycled just makes it more difficult.
The scheme will involve processing the cups to create a plastic or recovered fibre material which will be made into new products. The new products will be donated to an outdoor community space and cafe due to open next year.
Bins in the shape of yellow coffee cups are being installed on the streets and participating businesses will display yellow stickers in their windows.
Cups will also be collected at Liverpool Street and Cannon Street stations from April onwards. Network Rail, some of the biggest coffee retailers and other local employers have pledged to join the scheme, which has been set up by the environmental charity Hubbub and the recycling company Simply Cups.
