A greener way to buy your milk
July 2, 2007 at 2:49 am
Supermarket chain Waitrose is hoping to appeal to environmentally conscious shoppers with a new reusable milk jug and “eco pak” refill pouches. Both are made of recyclable material and use 75% less plastic than typical ‘polybottle’ milk packaging.
Whitland-based Calon Wen supply the pouches and the organic milk inside them. The company comprises 20 organic family farms across Wales and was the first dairy in the UK to achieve the Soil Association Ethical Trade Symbol.
This method of buying and storing milk is not entirely new. In Canada, around 40% of milk is sold in lightweight pouches. The concept has also been launched in Australia and New Zealand, but without widespread success. Waitrose say that if the eco paks were to entirely replace polybottles in the UK, nearly 100,000 tonnes of plastic would be saved every year.
The recyclable milk jug, costing £1.99, and eco packs, at 91p, will be available in 17 London branches of Waitrose, 3 branches in Wales and in their Bath store, with plans to roll the product out across the UK.
Quality not quantity is key to sustainable
June 14, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Recycling is on the increase in the UK. The Government target – to recycle or compost at least 33% of household waste by 2015 – seems achievable, and more of us are participating in domestic recycling than ever before. Yet, although the volume of household rubbish which we separate from mainstream waste for recycling is up, there is growing concern that quality is down.
What does this mean? Well, many local authorities have encouraged residents to recycle by making it easy – supplying one box or bag, into which a mixture of recyclables can be placed. This method, known as co-mingled or single-stream collection, can lead to contamination of the supply chain. Concern is such that the campaign group PaperChain has withdrawn support from the imminent 2007 Recycle Now Week. PaperChain fears that Recycle Now has lost sight of the evolving issues facing UK recycling, and claims that “the message on maintaining quality throughout the collection process has never been actively or effectively promoted to the public.”
Single stream collections are easier for householders, but segregating recyclables reduces the risk of contamination, especially for paper and cardboard. PaperChain says that “although material recovery facilities (MRFs) are able to segregate the material streams to a reasonable quality when they are running well, such facilities invariably end up generating recovered materials that are not up to the standards required for reprocessing without further sorting and cleaning.”
Up to 25% of material collected by householders for recycling ends up in landfill sites because of high levels of contamination. This is the claim made by Cylch, the Wales Community recycling Network. There is no blueprint for recycling in the UK, it is up to individual local authorities to determine collection methods, and a lack of investment in modern recycling facilities hampers progress. Mal Williams, CEO of Cylch, believes hundreds of millions of pounds of resources are being lost each year.
PaperChain additionally argues that campaign groups should now be encouraging the public sector to focus on quality and sustainability, not simply on generating greater volumes of recyclables. The organisation is greatly concerned about the long term sustainability of recycling in the UK if nothing is done to address these quality control issues. Recycle Now, meanwhile, has responded by saying: “It is not practical for Recycle Now Week to deliver detailed material quality messages to householders, as collection systems vary between local authorities.” So, who is at fault?
According to Williams, sending recyclables to landfill because of contamination is not a new problem. He blames a lack of investment in better facilities, and Whitehall, for the situation. “The Government can be blamed for not taking a strong leadership role,” he said. DEFRA’s Waste Strategy for England 2007 emphasises that “every local authority will have a role to play in increasing diversion of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) from landfill in order to meet the requirements of the EC Landfill Directive.” It seems local authorities are under pressure to recycle and to divert waste from landfill. Clearly, as PaperChain are keen to stress, workable and sustainable recycling schemes need to be at the heart of their policy if these two targets are to be met.
Composting with worms
June 5, 2007 at 10:23 am
Worm composting or ‘vermicomposting’, to give it its proper name, is the ideal solution to smelly bins which are increasingly being emptied by councils only once a fortnight. It is a process whereby red earthworms consume organic waste and produce good quality compost for use in the garden. It can be done indoors or outdoors, year round, is odour-free and does not take up a lot of room.
Sites such as Wiggly Wigglers sell everything you need to set up your system, including the worms and also provide useful information on the process. The easiest to use is the Can-O-Worms and the Worm Factory as they are “tray systems” which allow for easy access to the compost and are small enough to house easily. If you have the room, the larger Waste Juggler has a handle and wheels and holds up to 90 litres of compost.
If you do not want the financial outlay of around £60 for a commercial system, you can make your own from an old wooden drawer, a plastic basin or metal container, so long as it is not more than 12 to 18 inches deep. You will need a series of small holes in the bottom for air and drainage and a lid to keep it dark for the worms and to keep unwanted visitors away if it is outdoors. For the best possible ventilation, put it up on bricks and put a tray underneath to catch any liquid. Worms thrive best in temperatures between 55 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit, so avoid extremes. The worms need a six inch layer of bedding and the best material is shredded newspaper, computer paper or cardboard. It should be moistened but not soaking wet.
The worms will process fruit and vegetable peelings, tea leaves, coffee grounds, stale bread, pet hair and vacuum cleaner dust, crushed egg shells and general food scraps. It is best to avoid meat and bones, fish, dairy products, rice, pasta and onions. The food should be added in two inch layers leaving a section clear for the worms to move to if they want. It is also possible to bury the food under the bedding and this has the advantage of keeping it out of the way of flies. Wait until the worms have finished processing one lot of food before adding more.
After three to six months the compost will be ready to be harvested. You can move all the contents of the worm box over to one side, and place fresh bedding and food in the empty space. After all the worms have moved to their new home the compost can be harvested from the other side. Another option is to put all the contents of the worm box on to a plastic sheet in the sun and arrange it into several piles. The worms will automatically crawl away from the light into the centre of the piles and you can harvest the compost from the outside of each pile. The compost from the wormery is more concentrated than normal compost, so a little go a long way.
The argument for real nappies
June 4, 2007 at 3:22 am
For many years, no-one has thought twice about using disposable nappies for their babies. Struggling to fold a terry square into some weird and wonderful shape and coping with outsized safety pins was just too much like hard work. Sadly no-one gave a thought to where all these disposable nappies ended up and the damage they were causing to the environment. Now of course, we are more enlightened and with landfill space fast running out we are having to change the way we think about nappies. Eight million disposables a day are thrown away and by the time your child is two and a half you will have used around 6,500 nappies. It is not known how long it will take for the plastic to decompose but it could be hundreds of years.
The alternative is to use real nappies, made from soft breathable fabric (often cotton and sometimes organic) which come in different styles, sizes and even colours and are fastened with poppers or Velcro. Not only do real nappies mean savings in landfill but they also reduce the amount of energy used to produce disposables and all their packaging in the first place. If you don’t want the hassle of washing and drying nappies, there are plenty of special laundry services which will take your dirty nappies away and deliver a fresh supply.
It is certainly in the interests of local authorities to encourage parents to use real nappies; Nottinghamshire Council estimates the cost of sending disposables to landfill sites to be over a million pounds a year. For this reason many councils provide a free sample pack of real nappies or a free trial of a laundry service and some even offer cash incentives. According to the Women’s Environmental Network parents could save up to five hundred pounds by using real nappies and even more if the nappies are reused for subsequent children.
To reduce the environmental impact even more, it is suggested that rather than soaking the nappies in chemicals they should be stored dry in a bucket with a lid until they are washed, you should use a 60 degree wash for the nappies (and 40 degrees for the waterproof wraps) rather than using a maximum temperature wash, eco-friendly washing powder should be used and they should be dried outdoors or on an airer rather than in the tumble drier.
The Big Recycle transforms into Recycle Now Week
June 2, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Recycle Now Week, a major annual campaign encouraging recycling across the UK, runs from 2nd – 8th June 2007. Formally “The Big Recycle”, the initiative is organised and funded by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) in partnership with materials recycling organisations British Glass, Corus, Novelis and Recoup.
This year’s theme is transformation, with householders being urged to transform behaviour by making a long-term commitment to recycling and transform households, schools, offices and streets into recycling hot-spots. The public is also being encouraged to discover how waste can be transformed into a range of useful and beautiful objects, from fashion to furniture.
TV star Denise Van Outen is backing the 2007 campaign, putting the glamour into green-living by spreading the message that recycling has never been more in vogue. She teamed up with ethical fashion designer Gary Harvey to launch the week by modelling a series of recycled outfits. The collection includes a “technicolour dream dress” made from recycled packaging and a ball gown made from second-hand jeans.
Road-shows, workshops and competitions will take place up and down the country to mark the event. Go to the Recycle Now website to find out what’s on near you.
Government proposes cash rewards for recycling
May 31, 2007 at 10:07 am
Green householders are to be offered financial rewards for recycling under government plans to reduce waste across England. Emphasising the economic benefits of recycling, the 2007 Waste Strategy proposes a removal of the ban on financial incentives for waste prevention and recycling.
The government has decided not to introduce a local variable waste charge, as seen elsewhere in Europe. Instead, it wants legislative change to allow local authorities to design their own reward schemes. These would be revenue neutral in that high recycling, low waste households would get money back while poor performers would pay more (without any overall increase in charges). The government claims that such measures could reduce annual residual waste landfill by up to 1.5 million tonnes.
In Treviso, Italy, waste has fallen by 12% since the introduction of incentive schemes while in Maastrict, Netherlands, recycling has increased from 45%-50% to 60%. A pilot schemes in Ovenden, West Yorkshire saw a 26% rise in recycling over six months when residents were able to earn £25 for local charities for every tonne of waste sent for recycling.
The Local Government Association (LGA) reacted positively to the proposed measures, saying that only local authorities working on the ground had the ability to decide how to encourage residents to take more responsibility for their rubbish. In ‘Can we win the war on waste?’ an online BBC discussion on the issue, householders expressed reservations. Some felt that variable charges could lead to an increase in fly-tipping while others suggested the producers of excess packaging and junk-mail should be targeted before tax-payers.
Pay as you throw tax
May 25, 2007 at 12:00 pm
The government is about to reveal its new waste strategy which will attempt to reduce the amount of waste being buried in landfill sites throughout England, as required by EU rules. Britain is one of the worst countries at recycling with only Greece and Portugal having a worse record. The government’s aim is to increase recycling and composting from 27% to 40% by 2010 and to 50% by 2020.
The new plan is expected to include proposals for a “pay as you throw” tax on rubbish which means that an average household would be charged around £120 a year to have its waste collected. Electronic sensors would be fitted to wheelie bins to enable the rubbish to be quantified. Last autumn the Mail on Sunday reported that 25,000 chips had been removed by angry home owners in Bournemouth. Critics of the scheme fear that unscrupulous householders will dump their rubbish in their neighbour’s bin or fly-tip.
With only nine years of landfill space estimated to be left, something obviously needs to be done to encourage recycling. In Germany the recycling rate is 58% and a major contributor has been the Green Dot system, whereby manufacturers and retailers have to pay a fee based on the amount of packaging used. This has led to less paper, less metal and thinner glass resulting in a decrease of 100 million tons of rubbish a year – definitely food for thought for us in the UK.
Mole Valley subsidises purchase of Green Cones and Home Composters
May 24, 2007 at 1:41 am
Mole Valley District Council is helping its residents to finance the costs of a greener lifestyle. They are offering two thousand Green Cones for only £10 as opposed to the normal RRP of £64.95. This price includes everything you need: the kitchen caddy, shaker and 60g of accelerator powder. The Green Cone is an easy-to-use, smell-free food waste digestion system which can be used for all food waste, whether raw or cooked.
Also on offer are home compost bins for as little as £6 for the 220 litre size which represents a saving of at least £20 on those bought in the shops. Others are also available at £10 for the 330 litre size and £20 for the thermo KOMP 250 litre bin. All can be delivered by the council at no extra cost. Home composting is not only an excellent way of reducing what goes into our landfill sites but will also improve the quality of your soil with no financial outlay. For more information on home composting and the Green Cone system you might like to read our article
For more information on all Mole Valley recycling initiatives see the relevant section of their website
Mayor plans to boost recycling by London’s businesses
May 21, 2007 at 9:13 am
London produces over 18 million tonnes of waste every year, three quarters of which comes from business. Recognising climate change as ‘the single biggest threat to the future development of human civilisation’, Mayor Ken Livingston has published a Draft Waste Management Strategy in a bid to reduce London’s carbon footprint through partnership with businesses and the waste sector.
The Mayor expressed frustration over his limited influence on waste management in London. He suggested that a single waste disposal authority for the capital would enable him to ensure more business waste is recycled or used a source of renewable energy. Advocating a partnership approach, he stressed the need to end dependence on landfill and incineration.
The draft strategy envisages 70% of commercial and industrial waste being recycled or composted by 2020, with recycling and reuse levels in construction, demolition and excavation waste expected to reach 95% by 2020. The Mayor aims to raise awareness of sustainable business practices and the financial savings they can bring.
Consultation on the draft strategy will now take place with the London Assembly and functional bodies of the Greater London Authority.
Plastic Fantastic – The benefits of polymer recycling
May 14, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Disposal of waste electrical equipment is currently a hot topic, with the recent introduction of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive. There were fears that WEEE would cause the price of electrical goods to rocket, as manufactures reclaimed the cost burden of recycling from the consumer. But now a UK company, Axion Recycling, has developed a recycling process to handle the polymer waste stream produced by the primary treatment of WEEE. Saving energy as well as money, this new technology is good news for manufacturers, consumers and the environment.
The process
Thanks to a £3 million investment, Axion’s Salford plant is at the cutting edge of plastic recycling. Since it opened for full-scale production in February 2007, the plant has processed hundreds of tonnes of “co-mingled” plastic waste. The plastics are mechanically sorted, contaminants (including metal, wood and chemicals) are removed and the polymers sorted using separation techniques such as gravity separation, electrostatic separation and dry or wet separation. The sorted waste is converted into high quality polymer compounds, and the resin is then ready to be used to make new components.
Axion has been refining the process for many years, working together with DEFRA and the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to find a complete solution for the recovery and recycling of WEEE polymers. A stumbling block was the safe removal of additives, such as Bromine Fire Retardant (BFR). BFR is known to produce harmful dioxins during reprocessing, but Axion is developing techniques to remove the contaminant. Paul Davidson, Plastics Technology Manager at WRAP, believes there is “…an increasing need to respond to the issue of removing BFRs” and to “create a workable, commercially viable solution for industry before the problem becomes acute. The development of a feasible treatment process will help to encourage increased recycling of WEEE polymers and divert waste from landfill.“
WRAP expects BFR polymers to be recyclable in under four years, facilitating closed-loop recycling for virtually the whole WEEE waste stream. The industry is excited about the potential of polymer recycling and recyclate, and Axion is continuing to invest in research and development to refine its processes.
The benefits
– Cheaper
Compared to virgin polymers, recyclate is less costly. New products can therefore be produced for less as manufacturers needn’t shell out for raw materials.
– Greener
Virgin polymer production uses five times as much energy as the production of high grade recycled polymer. The amount of carbon dioxide released is only one tenth when compared to virgin raw material. Separation and treatment of the polymer waste stream also means less plastic ends up in landfill or incineration units.
– More efficient
For the manufacturer, the revenue generated is motivation enough. As Keith Freegard, technical Director at Axion, says: “Given the impending WEEE Directive legislation and rising volumes of waste generated, what better way for OEMS to get some payback for footing the bill for end-of-life waste than by re-using recyclate in new products?“. Having recovered polymer from WEEE waste, state-of-the-art UK recycling plants can then sell the recyclate on for export to European markets.
– Socially responsible
Freegard is one of many who believe that shipping WEEE waste abroad, where safe disposal cannot be guaranteed, is simply “not a viable option“. Although the export of hazardous materials, including WEEE waste, is prohibited in the EU, there is evidence that e-waste ends up in Asian scrapyards. A 2005 Greenpeace report highlighted the ease with which toxic chemicals, including heavy metals, find their way into the workplace and surrounding environment in India and China. It is hoped that by developing cost-effective closed loop recycling solutions here in the West, electronics manufacturers will no longer have the incentive to ship waste abroad.
What is the recyclate made into?
Axion produces different grades of polymer, depending on the end-product for which the material is intended. The polymers are suitable for re-use in injection moulding and extrusion processes, and their versatility and low cost ensure they appeal to manufacturers of computer, electrical, electronic and automotive components. Recycled polymers might end up in a car dashboard, a fridge or a washing machine – the range of applications is huge and, thanks to Axion, likely to keep growing.
