No Comments Written by Sam on December 18, 2018. Posted in waste management

How can I reduce my waste this Christmas?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, time to put on your Christmas jumpers, fill your face with mince pies and watch the Home Alone movies for only the 50th time. Christmas however is not as wonderful for landfill sites as we include tinsel, wrapping paper, toy packaging and Christmas cards to the long list of items we throw away. Landfill sites across the UK receive the following for Christmas every year:

• 230,000 tonnes of food waste

Whilst the amount of Christmas waste itself is shocking there are simple things every household can do to minimise this waste.

Wrapping Paper

One of the most common mistakes recyclers find in the General Waste Bins during this time of year is gift wrap. However, most Christmas wrapping papers are not recyclable, especially if they are made of foil or metallic materials.

Why not try some recycled brown wrapping paper to make your gifts environmentally friendly? Other ‘green’ wrapping paper substitutes include the Sunday comics or the sports section of your newspaper.

Don’t forget about the box

Online shopping is growing every year and so is the number of boxes we use for these items. Most cardboard boxes are high-value recyclables, but the sheer volume of them means they often overflow the recycling bins and end up in the trash.

If you receive gifts by mail this year, break down the cardboard boxes to save space and make sure they end up in the recycling pile.

Home composting

Instead of throwing all your potato peelings, and leftover vegetables in the bin, put them to good use and turn them into compost. It’s great for your garden and even better for the environment. Egg boxes, newspapers, tea bags, fruit scraps and veggie peelings can all be composted. Composting can remove 20-50% from your household waste stream, reducing the burden on landfills while replenishing your lawn, trees, houseplants, or garden for free.

Make your own

Get creative and give someone a one of a kind gift. Are you a keen cook? Cakes, jams and chutneys can make useful and thoughtful presents, and cut down on food waste.

Homemade Christmas gifts like goodies, bread or Christmas ornaments and decorations made of materials from around your home make meaningful and resourceful gifts.

For all your Christmas waste needs please get in touch with North West Waste Consultants via our Christmas collection page or call us now on 01744 758 349 for more details about how we can help with your overflowing bins this Christmas.

No Comments Written by Sam on July 5, 2018. Posted in recycling, waste management

Waste Management at FIFA 2018 World Cup

With the FIFA World Cup now reaching the business end of the tournament, fans in attendance are in almost unanimous agreement that it has been a complete success – at least from a hosting point of view. Supporters of current cup holders Germany might be disappointed with their team’s performance, but no one can deny that Russia have put on a magnificent welcome for the visitors.

With an aim of reducing the impact of FIFA World Cup Russia and raising the awareness of climate change, FIFA has launched a campaign that encourages the ticket applicants to offset the carbon emissions resulting from their travel to the tournament for free! When a FIFA World Cup Russia ticket holder signs up to participate in the campaign, FIFA will offset 2.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (tCO2e), which is the average emission per ticket holder travelling from abroad.

Waste Management Concept

Fifa have ensured efficient and sustainable World Cup-related waste management, with waste-reduction measures including banning non-recyclable tableware, cutlery, packaging and plastic bags from stadiums, and offering hand dryers instead of paper towels in event toilets and using digital rather than paper-based communications “wherever possible”. FIFA have also committed to drive behaviour change among fans and stadium staff by offering a waste training programme to all employees and providing spectators with information on what type of waste can be recycled, bans on single-use items or the use of recycled materials is noticeably absent from the strategy. In Brazil, the tournament saw 39% more waste recycled than FIFA’s target of 320 tonnes after separate bins for recycling and general waste were used for the first time– but the event nonetheless created 776 tonnes of recyclable and 1,595 tonnes non-recyclable of waste, with no less expected to be produced in Russia this summer.

Already at this year’s tournament, Japanese fans have shown a shining example to their counterparts from other countries by tidying up in the stadium after their games – and their good deeds have encouraged similar behaviour from Senegalese and Polish fans as well. It will be particularly interesting to see if the biggest single-sport event in the world lives up to its tall claims regarding environmental sustainability.

No Comments Written by Sam on November 7, 2018. Posted in waste management

Plastics packaging tax to fund waste management from 2022

The UK government this week announced that it would introduce a new tax in 2022 to discourage the use of non-recycled plastic packaging. The exact details are subject to consultation, but it is likely to apply to manufacturers or retailers, in a similar way to the soft drinks “sugar tax” introduced earlier this year. Hammond said in his Budget: “There will be a new tax on the manufacture and import of plastic packaging which has less than 30% recycled plastic content.” He said 2.26 million tonnes of plastic packaging were used in the UK each year, most made from new plastic because of the higher costs of recycled material. The Treasury document made it clear that, subject to consultation, the new tax would take effect from 1 April 2022, hitting any business that produces or imports plastic packaging that does not contain at least 30% recycled content. It said: “The tax will provide a clear economic incentive for businesses to use recycled material in the production of packaging which, in turn, will create greater demand for this material.”

Creating the new normal for plastic

The new tax, described by the Treasury as “world-leading”, will work alongside planned reforms to the packaging producer responsibility system that would encourage businesses to ensure that far more packaging can be recycled and to use more recycled plastic in their products. There will be a separate consultation on these. Hammond also allocated £10m more for plastics research and development work and £10m for recycling innovations such as smartbins. The Treasury said it shelved ideas for a tax on disposable plastic cups, despite the popularity of this in a public consultation last summer. “The Government recognises this is a problem, but has concluded that a levy on all cups would not at this time be effective in encouraging widespread reuse,” it said. “Businesses are already taking steps to reduce the impact of disposable cups. The Government expects industry to go further and will return to the issue if sufficient progress is not made.” Hammond also shunned an incineration tax, which some had expected might figure in the Budget. The Treasury said that, in the long term, the Government “wants to maximise the amount of waste sent to recycling instead of incineration and landfill”. If this did not happen as a result of other policies, it would “consider the introduction of a tax on the incineration of waste, operating in conjunction with landfill tax, taking account of the possible impacts on local authorities”.

Ambitious 2025 targets

The commitment’s targets include:

Eliminating problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and moving from single-use to reuse packaging models 100% of plastic packaging to be easily and safely reused, recycled, or composted by 2025 Significantly increasing the amounts of plastics reused or recycled and made into new packaging or products Signatories include Danone, L’Oréal, Mars Incorporated, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company and Unilever. Commenting on the announcement, Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said: “This Global Commitment is a step-change we urgently need in order to move from a linear to a circular economy. We want to act and lead by example. We will do our part to ensure that none of our packaging, including plastics, ends up in the natural environment.”

No Comments Written by Sam on June 27, 2018. Posted in waste management

Food businesses tackle plastic waste

Some of the UK’s largest supermarkets have signed up to the UK Plastics Pact, a new voluntary initiative to slash plastic waste. Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, Waitrose and Tesco have all signed up to the new industry-wide initiative that aims to make all plastic packaging recyclable, recycled or biodegradable by 2025.

What does the pact involve?

The UK Plastics Pact is voluntary and does not contain any enforcement mechanisms. Despite this, its signatories make a number of pledges to reducing plastic waste between now and 2025, including:

These targets have been welcomed by environmental campaigners, including organisations such as Friends of the Earth, but some have also warned that regulation and enforcement mechanisms must be developed alongside the pact to ensure that it proves effective. The UK Plastics Pact website states: “Our throwaway culture needs to change. We need to move away from a linear plastics economy, where we take, make and dispose of plastic, towards a circular system where we capture the value of plastics material – keeping plastic in the economy and out of the oceans.” The website cautions that around 5,000 pieces of marine plastic pollution have been found per mile of beach in the UK.

The future of plastic packaging

The pact’s launch comes as ministers in the UK are considering requiring supermarkets and retailers to contribute more towards waste collection and recycling services for the waste they produce. Currently, UK supermarkets pay less for plastic waste collection and recycling than any other country in Europe, with taxpayers left to cover 90% of the cost, according to The Guardian. The government is expected to announce changes to the system, known as the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) scheme, this summer as part of a wider EU effort to move towards a circular economy.

No Comments Written by Sam on August 29, 2018. Posted in waste management

Poland to send back 1,000 tonnes of illegal waste to UK

Waste Crime