According to the latest statistics the number of carrier bags handed out in UK supermarkets has fallen for the 4th year in a row.

Since plastic bag monitoring began in 2006, 4.6 billion plastic bags have been cut according to the British Retail Consortium. (BRC) 43% fewer carrier bags were used in 2009-10 compared to in 2006, that’s a total of 6.1 billion against 10.7 billion 4 years ago.

BRC Director General, Stephen Robertson said “This is a great achievement by UK supermarkets, customers and staff especially as the amount of goods sold between 2006 to 2009 has risen by 6%.”

The figures have been achieved by supermarkets encouraging customers to re-use carrier bags, use bags for life or charging for each one.

The 7 supermarkets included in the statistics are Asda, M&S, Co-op group, Somerfield, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Tesco.

A UK designer is developing a plan to collect used chewing gum and recycle it to make plastic that can be moulded into products.

The designer, Anna Bullus left her job in 2008 to start up Gumdrop Ltd which promises to tackle the global problem of chewing gum litter.

She claims that every year in the UK there is 7000 metric tons of used chewing gum disposed of. Also that the UK government spends £150 million every year cleaning gum off the streets.

Anna says that the solution to the used gum problem is by recycling it to make gum derived plastic. This is currently being tested to be moulded into bright pink bins where people can throw their used gum in the future. When the bins are full the gum will be collected and recycled to make more bins.

In the future, Gumdrop Ltd also plan to produce other applications out of used chewing gum.

New research that has been carried out by the Travel Foundation and ABTA has found that although many British people recycle at home they are completely forgetting to recycle when they are on holiday.

Of the people in the survey 90% of them said that although they recycled paper, cans and bottles at home only half of them would consider recycling on holiday. 1 in 5 people even said that they wouldn’t consider the environment at all whilst they are abroad.

A new national campaign ‘make holidays greener’ is being run by The Travel Foundation to try and make people aware of the environment whilst they are away like they are at home. Ideas that will be promoted to tourists include shopping in local markets, not having towels washed everyday and taking short showers.

A third of respondents in the poll said accommodation abroad did not provide information about how to protect the environment whilst there. People also said that they were confused about what is meant by green or sustainable travel.

The European Recycling Platform (ERP) has created an educational video for teachers around the UK to use when informing pupils about the importance of battery recycling.

The video follows a 12 year old as he uses batteries in his toy car, when they have run out he takes them to school so they can be recycled correctly. Once he has handed them in they are taken to recycling centre in France for the materials to be harvested and recycled. Its estimated that half of all toys in the UK require batteries so by providing battery recycling drop off points in schools is a great way to teach kids to protect the environment.

Battery collection points are already being used at schools in Glasgow, Ayrshire, Cornwall, London, Kent, Richmond and Berkshire.

Scott Butler, General Manager of ERP said that children are some of the biggest users of batteries in the UK.

The video can be found here along with teaching material and a free collection box.

A new man-made island will be built in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and San Francisco constructed completely out of recycled materials.

The island will help clean up the area, create a new home for local climate refugees and help re-use toxic ocean dumped plastics. It will be developed by innovative architectural company WHIM and will become a floating eco tourist destination complete with buildings, beaches and farms.

Once completed the new island will be the ultimate in eco-tourism with 4 thousand square miles of plastic land for communities to live on.

The developers say that the main aspect to making the project possible is that seaweed must be cultivated as a means of food and medicine. Seaweed will also provide a habitat for local wildlife and help to absorb CO2 that is produced on the new island.

According to new government plans wheelie bins will be fitted with microchips in order to boost recycling rates.

The government has backed new plans to fit Household bins with microchips which will then be weighed when they are collected. Householders that put waste to be recycled will be rewarded with points that can be redeemed for vouchers up to £130 per year.

For each kilo of recyclable waste that is put out households will be rewarded with 5.5 points.

Chairman of the Environmental Board for the Local Government Association, Gary Porter said that the new scheme had already been rolled out in the borough’s of Windsor and Maidenhead but warned against a nationwide programme. He said that local councils should be able to choose if they implement an incentive programme as it could be hard to implement in places like blocks of flats where they only have a single bin.

Recycling rates in the UK have significantly improved in the last six years. Last year alone over 11 million tonnes of waste was recycled in comparison to just 5.2 million tonnes in 2003/4.

Everyone is always talking about the things that should be sent for recycling in order to help the environment and raise the recycling rate, but nobody ever tells you what items should not be recycled. The following are the items that should not be sent to be recycled:

Juice Boxes / Sticky Pads / Stickers

Any paper or cardboard that has a covering, film or glue on it such as juice boxes, sticky pads or stickers should also be thrown in the non recycling bin as they are also not suitable to be recycled.

Glass Windows / Tableware / Vases

Glass windows, tableware and vases have a much higher melting point than a household jar or bottle so should not be put in your recycling box. Items like these can be disposed of at your local council recycling site.

Broken Glass

Broken glass should be put in the bin rather than put in for recycling simply due to the dangers involved in sorting through it. As light bulbs can be smashed so easily they should also not be put in your household recycling box.

Batteries

Batteries should not be put in your household recycling boxes but instead taken to the shop where you bought them from or any shop that sells batteries who will dispose of them for you.

Any products that have mould growing on them

Any products that would normally be put in for recycling such as jars and bottles should be washed out first. The reason for this is to stop any mould from transferring over to the new products that are made from the recycled waste.

Cardboard Pizza Boxes

Most paper and cardboard should go in your recycling box however pizza boxes contain lots of oil from the pizza that makes them almost impossible to clean and then reuse, the oil can also get onto other paper and cardboard products which also makes them impossible to recycle.

Paper Towels / Wet Tissues

Used paper towels also cannot be recycled like pizza boxes as they will have been used to wipe up other materials. This also applies to wet tissues of any kind as wet fibres can cause problems when it comes to recycling.

Toxic Products

Containers that have had toxic products in should not be recycled, this also includes Aerosol cans. Oil and tyres should also not be put in your household recycling bins but taken to a council recycling centre to be disposed or correctly.

Although the list of items above cannot be recycled in the traditional way they can still be re-purposed, learn how to reuse household items here.

As part of an initiative marking Earth Day pupils in primary schools in England and Wales will be taught about the importance of recycling.

On the 22nd April, Healthy Planet will be giving free interactive and fun lesson plans to all primary school teachers in England and Wales. According to the charity each lesson plan contains all the resources required and contains the national curriculum goals set6 for each age group.

Pupils will learn about Earth Day in an age appropriate way including the importance of trees, finding out what a carbon footprint is and evaluating the importance of recycling.

Recent figures from the Waste and Recycling Action Programme (WRAP) have found that on average British householder will throw away 0.45 tons of food waste and packaging every year, this amounts to 11.9 million tons of food annually being thrown in the bin.

The report by WRAP found that around 6.6 million tons of food waste that is put in the bin every year is ‘avoidable’ and could be either reused of recycled. WRAP calculated that if ‘avoidable’ waste was disposed of correctly it could save each household up to £1000 per year.

These figures are expected to increase pressure on the Government to step up plans to reduce the amount of food waste that the UK produces.

Although household recycling rates have increased in the last couple of years to just over 37% the amount of food waste that is composted remains a lot lower at only one sixth. At this time only one fifth of local councils have schemes in place to dispose of food waste correctly so most is still ending up at landfill where it is breaking down to release methane.

A few new Government proposals are currently being looked at in order to address the problem of food waste including a ‘pay as you throw’ charge to fine people that throw the most recyclable rubbish in the bin, alternate weekly collections for food refuse and recyclable waste or banning supermarkets from promoting buy one get one free deals because they encourage the most food waste.

According to the latest figures released by the Environment Agency, the household waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) collection rate has increased to 36.6% in 2009. Although the collection rate for WEEE has significantly increased from 2008′s figures its still well below the 65% collection goal that the European Commission has proposed by 2016.

In weight terms the figures show that 7.31 Kg of WEEE was collected per head in 2009 in comparison to 6.79 Kg in 2008 which comfortably exceeds the EU target.

The figures also showed that the collection rate of smaller household appliances has also increased but still only remains half of the overall collection rate. The UK still has quite a way to go in order to meet the 60% to 70% collection rates for small WEEE.

In terms of business to business WEEE the figures showed very little improvement from 2008 – 2009 with the amount of business equipment being collected for recycling only increased by 0.84%.