Brief News: Swap Gadgets For Recycling Bags In Mersyside; Tower Hamlets Renews Recycling Contract With Viridor; And More

6 February 2012　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Throughout the whole of February, waste officers are giving away the heavy-duty waste recycling bags at all 14 of Merseyside's Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in return for bringing along any unwanted small electrical items.

Items can include hairdryers, hair straighteners, children's electronic toys, radios, DVD players, mobile phones, kettles, toasters, power tools - almost anything with a plug or that uses batteries.

All 14 of Merseyside's Recycling Centres will accept small electrical items, whereas currently they aren't collected via doorstep recycling bin collections. Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA) - which is managing the scheme - wants to raise awareness of its electrical appliance recycling service in a bid to avoid precious metals going to landfill.

Leading recycling company Viridor has been awarded a three-year contract by London Borough of Tower Hamlets to sort and market mixed recyclable materials arising from households in the borough.　

Viridor, part of the FTSE-250 Pennon Group plc, has already been working with Tower Hamlets over the last four years sorting and marketing the council's 13,000 tonnes of recyclates at Europe's largest and one of the most technologically-advanced Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in Crayford, Kent.

Recovering glass, mixed plastics, cartons, aluminium and steel cans, mixed paper and cardboard, the renewed contract will continue helping the council improve its recycling rates and recovering more materials for reprocessing in a cost-effective way - since working with Viridor, recycling levels have increased from 13 per cent in 2008 to the current level of 29 per cent.

June Barlow, Viridor's tender manager, welcomed the contract award. She said: "Over the years we have worked very closely with Tower Hamlets to identify ways to improve the quality and volumes of materials it collects and as such we're delighted to be able to continue our partnership work with the authority."

Waste collection days are set to change for 7000 households and 200 trade waste customers in the South and South West neighbourhoods of Edinburgh as part of the Council's Environment Service Improvement Plan.

The areas which previously had a four-day week collection schedule will move to a five-day week meaning some areas will now have a different collection day.

The changes, which will come into effect from Monday 06 February, will affect green domestic waste bins only; there will be no change to the collection days for any other waste collection or recycling services.

A small number of trade waste customers will also be affected by the change.

Letters will be sent to all households highlighting their new collection day or residents can visit the website to find out if their street is affected. Trade waste customers will be informed by telephone and letter.

Darrel Moore