With the UK still not hitting EU recycling targets many people are starting to ask why we are nearly ten years behind the rest of Europe when it comes to recycling.

In the 1990’s the UK was only recycling less than 5% of all waste that was created whilst other countries in Europe like Germany were already recycling up to as much as 50% of their citizen’s waste.

The government is now being blamed for holding back the recycling rates in the UK because it took them so long to raise landfill fees. Back in 1996 businesses only had to pay £7 per tonne to dump rubbish in landfills compared to today’s rate which is almost £50 per tonne. With today’s charge being applied to every council in the UK it has made people recycle more even if it comes 10 years late.

People are also blaming the government for not creating more national recycling regulations as instead most of the responsibility has been put on the shoulder of local councils.

From today all shops selling over 32kg of batteries in a year have to provide recycling points under new laws for people to drop off their old batteries.

The new recycling schemes have been put into place to help the UK hit recycling targets put in place by the EU. At the moment only 3% of batteries are being recycled it is hoped that the new laws will bring this figure up to 10% by the end of the year.

If recycling targets are not hit then the UK government could face fines of millions of pounds, these fines will be passed to battery manufacturers which in time will raise the price of batteries to consumers.

It’s hoped that consumers will take all their old batteries to points to drop them off for recycling however if people are not aware of the new laws then the recycling effort could fail straight away.

The new recycling schemes are also expected to cost battery manufacturers around £3 million per year.

In collaboration with recycling company Recolight, Sainsbury’s in Exeter is one of the fist stores to offer shoppers the chance to recycle their old energy saving light bulbs.

Shoppers at the supermarket can drop off their unwanted light bulbs in a specially designed collection container which are later sent off to be recycled correctly.

From February shoppers at the store will also be able to drop off unwanted batteries to be disposed of correctly.

Around 200 Sainsbury’s stores nationwide will be also participating in this recycling scheme.

From 1st February 2010 the law requires that all retailers selling over 32kg of batteries in a year provide recycling facilities. Sainsbury’s is the only retailer in the UK providing recycling for energy saving light bulbs.

Music Magpie, the UK’s only website that offers cash to people looking to sell CDs, DVDs and Games online, is now offering an extra 25% on all DVDs that you sell to them.

Music Magpie gets around 3000 visitors per day to their website, users must enter the bar code from their CDs and DVDs to get an instant price online, if they accept the price they can return their items for cash payments.

With many people receiving new DVDs or Blu-rays for Christmas, a lot of households will have a pile of unused DVDs lying around. By visiting Music Magpie people can earn as much as £3.75 per DVD or even higher for box sets.

The site is now able to get more when they resell DVDs so has decided to offer this benefit to their users by offering an additional 25%.

Music Magpie has paid out over £3 million to their users since launching and as their popularity is growing they expect this figure to double over the next 6 months.

Recycle CDs, DVDs and Games at Music Magpie here

From the start of February there will be collection and drop off points for used batteries in shops and other locations, so it will be much easier to recycle batteries.

The 1^st of February will see the introduction of drop off points in most supermarkets, libraries, schools, high street shops and some town halls. Not only will it be much easier for batteries to be recycled but it will also help the UK hit its recycling targets set by the EU.

It’s hoped the new recycling facilities will help Britain recycle up to 25% of its batteries by 2012, rising to 45% in 2016, at the moment only 3% of batteries are recycled.

All retailers that sell more than 32kg of batteries a year must offer recycling facilities from the 1^st of February.

You can recycle you unwanted batteries at any retailers where you see the ‘Be Positive Sign.’

Flats in London are to have rubbish chutes updated and rubbish collection points moved closer to doorways to encourage more people to correctly recycle waste, under new proposals by London Mayor, Boris Johnson.

The new plans are designed to reduce the amount of the capital’s waste going to landfill and help save money for councils and taxpayers.

In order to carry out these plans, Mr Johnson will urge the London Waste and Recycling Board to allocate funds to help adapt London’s flats.

The mayor of London has also published his waste strategy which includes writing to borough councils to help boost recycling rates. Apart from being good for the environment it’s hoped the new strategy will help avoid massive landfill taxes and more expensive council tax bills in the future.

London Mayor, Boris Johnson will outline plans today for a new scheme called Recycle Bank that will give householders shopping vouchers for recycling their waste.

The new scheme has already been successful in America and aims to cut down on the amount of waste that ends up at landfill. The London based trial of the scheme will reward householders with an estimated £14 of shopping vouchers a month although the actual amount will be based on how much waste each family recycles.

Recent figures found that only 25% of the 4 million tonnes of household waste generated in London every year is being recycled, this puts London’s recycling rates behind the average for the rest of the UK and other international capital cities.

This month one of the original mobile recycling sites, Mopay has announced the start of their new iPod Recycling service.

The cash for iPods service has been launched in order to offer users more value and also to try and help cut the UK’s growing electrical waste problem.

The new service will allow users to recycle any unwanted iPods ranging from the iPod classic right up to the newest iPod Touch and be paid from £2.50 up to £60 each.

The iPod trade in service launches as Mopay celebrates their 5th year in operation as one of the UK’s first mobile recycling websites.

Sell your old iPod or Mobile for cash at Mopay

Dorset council have recently submitted a planning application to open a new £2 million recycling centre in Swanage for both household and trade waste.

If the application is successful the new recycling centre will be the first of its kind to allow not only householders to recycle their waste but also small and medium sized businesses.

The new recycling centre will replace a smaller one in the same area although this one will stay open whilst the new one is being built.

People out shopping in Glasgow’s St. Enoch Shopping Centre will now be able to recycle their rubbish on the go due to the introduction of a Recycle Zone in the area.

The Recycle Zone will allow people to dispose of any unwanted cans, plastic bottles, paper and other general rubbish that they have collected whilst out shopping. This is great for people who would usually throw unwanted items into their car or straight into the bin for it to end up landfill.

People already recycle at home and at work and can now recycle when they are out and about.

St. Enoch Centre was chosen to be the first place in Glasgow to have this new recycling facility as it is one of the most popular shopping centres outside of London.

There are now over 40 Recycle Zones nationwide, the partnership between Coca Cola, Recoup and the Waste and Resources Action Programme aim to have 80 around the country by 2011.