According to environmental organisation, the Green Alliance cheap energy from waste could help the UK meet nearly half its renewable energy targets by 2020.

A spokeswoman for the group said that creating alternative energy from the UK’s waste could be a great way to produce more renewable energy. She added that using Nritain’s waste for energy would only come after the right levels of waste reuse, recycling and prevention have been done.

However residual waste should not be seen as a given and lots more effort should still be made to reduce landfill levels in the UK.

This latest news follows last months announcement by the government about the introduction of the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC EES). This scheme will see organisations play an important role in helping to cut the UK’s carbon emissions. The aim of the CRC EES is to see businesses improve their energy efficiency and achieve a reduction of 34% on the amount generated in 1990 by 2020.

A new nine bin recycling system has been introduced by Newcastle-under-Lyme Council in order to help meet tough recycling targets. Householders in the area have been told to use the nine bins top separate plastic bottles from glass, tins and aerosols and cardboard from paper.

The new system includes a slop bucket for food waste which is later emptied into green outdoor bin to be collected, a blue box for glass, foils and aerosols, a pink bag for plastic bottles, a blue bag for paper and magazines, a green bag for cardboard, a white bag for clothing, a wheelie bin with a brown lid for garden waste and a grey wheelie bin for non recyclable materials.

The system has come under fire from local residents who say that the new system is too confusing and many have complained that there is no room in their houses to store all the extra bins and bags. Lots of residents have said that trying to deal with 9 recycling bins is just way too much.

The new 9 bin system replaces the old 5 bin system which is used around much of the UK, the aim is to boost the recycling rate from 26% in 2008 to 50% by 2015.

If the new system is found to be successful in the Newcastle-under-Lyme area then it will be rolled out across the rest of the country in the near future.

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%.

British Airways has recently announced that they will be making a new deal with American Biofuel to create a plant in the UK that will recycle 500,000 tonnes of waste material into 16,000,000 gallons of fuel for them to use in their planes.

The new plant is the first time British Airways has made a move into the recycling market and will probably mean they will get big tax breaks from the government. The government has not comment on the deal yet but this will be seen as a major breakthrough for the green movement in Britain.

The new recycling plant will be built within the next two years after planning permission has been given and is expected to create up to 1200 jobs.

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.

Recent research has found that to get rid of the three million tonnes of waste produced in England and Wales over Christmas could cost councils as much as £78 million.

Up to as much as two thirds of this waste will end up at landfill costing local councils £40 per tonne in tax to the government.

In order to help deal with all this extra Christmas waste people are urged to recycle as much as possible and compost fruit and vegetable waste. It’s also important that people don’t buy more food than they actually need so less is thrown in the bin.

Across England and Wales, local councils are expected to deal with 230,000 tonnes of food, 10,000 tonnes of wrapping paper, 20,000 tonnes of Christmas cards and 25,000 tonnes of plastic packaging.

Many people are already keen on recycling their rubbish and these figures remind us why its so important to do so.

Batteries that are thrown in the bin amount to a large amount of the waste that ends up at Britain’s landfills. Once at landfill batteries leak dangerous chemicals into the soil which will cause damage to the environment. To try and avoid these problems strict guidelines and regulations have been set for companies that produce and manufacture batteries in the UK.

The new Waste Batteries and Accumulators regulations state that any company that either imports or manufacturers at least 1 tonne of batteries in the UK will be responsible for sorting out the waste and recycling and cleaning up the mess. The amount they will have to recycle will depend on how much of the market they share. Each company that produces over a tonne of batteries will have to register with Environmental Agencies in the UK.

Companies that manufacture less than 1 tonne of batteries will not be held accountable by the new regulations although they must still register with the National Producer Responsibility Database.

Although building fires is illegal and dangerous in the UK many people are expected to have one on Bonfire night on the 5th November. As bonfires create waste a leading waste and recycling company, SITA has launched a campaign to educate people about the dangers of building fires but if they do have a fire where to recycle the waste.

This is the 4th year that SITA has launched a campaign to increase public safety and also allow UK residents to recycle their bonfire waste. The campaign warns that if illegal fires are spotted they will be put out immediately by the local fire and rescue services. Waste from bonfires can be taken to one of SITA’s sites where it will be sorted along their green materials.

The campaign also warned residents that illegal fires are a big risk to nearby houses and cars and should not be started, accidents can be avoided by attending an organized event.

Under new government plans to increase the amount of recycling that is done in the UK householders could be forced to have six bins and check through every piece of rubbish.

Under the new ‘zero waste’ plans there will be separate bins for plastic bottles, glass, cardboard, paper, tin and garden waste. There will also be a slop bucket in every kitchen for food waste. If people put the wrong items in the wrong bins then fines will be imposed by local councils of up to £500.

These new recycling measures are expected to become available by 2020. A new consumer campaign will also be launched which will explain exactly which materials should go in which bins.

The local government association said it would cost £1.1 billion to set up the new ‘zero waste’ scheme which would mean an extra £50 per year on the average council tax bill.

Currently in the UK over half of all rubbish is ending up at landfill which equates to a massive 62 million tonnes. With the new recycling measures in place the amount of waste going to landfill would be cut in half.

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