Recycling robot for your home

We all want to recycle more but doing it can be an annoying chore sometimes. Now, there’s this Lasso robot that can help save you time, while helping to save the planet as well! Lasso, a new start-up, introduced a nifty robot capable of accepting, identifying and preparing recycling materials. Just drop something in the […]

Defra publishes Waste Management Plan for England

Defra is currently consulting on measures to increase consistency in the materials collected for recycling. It expects expect the reforms, including the separate weekly collection of food waste, to impact upon necessary collection infrastructure. The call was issued as part of Defra’s revised Waste Management Plan for England, published today (27 January). Local authorities who […]

Premier Inn to install EV chargers at 300 hotels

The company has partnered with energy major ENGIE UK & Ireland and its charging point provider GeniePoint to install and power the chargers. It is targeting 600 charging points within the next three years, with the option to add up to 400 more in the longer-term. ENGIE UK & Ireland, which is installing the chargers […]

Regulator approves UK’s first recycling plant for household batteries

The £2 million state-of-the-art facility in Elland, West Yorkshire has processing capacity for 25,000 tonnes of household batteries annually. This means it can recycle all UK’s spent alkaline and zinc carbon batteries thereby avoiding the need for them to be shipped to mainland Europe for treatment. Alkaline and zinc carbon batteries account for around 80% […]

Three-quarters of adults get ‘green glow’ from environmental action, poll claims

Three-quarters of adults get a “green glow” from doing something positive for the environment, a new poll claims. A feeling of joy comes from sorting recycling into the correct boxes, batch cooking to minimise food waste, and buying second-hand clothes. Other satisfying tasks include buying eco-friendly tech, cycling or walking instead of driving, and upcycling, […]

BPF says plastic recycling could triple by 2030

The report by the BPF, published yesterday (12 January), highlights what the UK needs to achieve if it is to reduce the reliance on exporting plastic waste for recycling and to reduce the amount of plastic going to landfill by 1% by 2030. It suggests that the UK could eliminate reliance on low quality exports […]

The role of packaging in reducing avoidable food waste

Philip Simpson, commercial director at ReFood, discusses why packaging innovation is key to reducing household food waste volumes. According to insight from WRAP, almost half of the UK’s food waste (some 4.5 million tonnes) originates in the home, costing the average family more than £700 every year. The vast majority of this ‘waste’ is considered […]

2020 saw highest ever level of aluminium packaging collected for recycling

While reprocessors and exporters have until the end of the month to report their final annual tonnage, data from the National Packaging Waste Database (NPWD) highlights that 145,035 tonnes of aluminium packaging was collected for recycling in the UK last year* – a 24% increase compared to 2019 and exceeding the 2020 target by more […]

10 green business trends to watch out for in 2021

If the past five years have taught us anything it is that predictions are a mug’s game. The global economy has endured a particularly volatile period since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, with President Trump’s victory, Brexit, and the flexing of authoritarian muscles all sparking geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty, even before the […]

Recycling Association calls for separate paper collections

The trade association for independent waste paper processors and their equipment suppliers also wants recovered fibre to meet end-of-waste status by 2025, with other materials to follow by 2030 at the latest. The trade association has laid out its demands as part of its Quality First Roadmap, a programme launched to raise the quality of […]

China trials AI-enabled sorting machines to keep plastic in circular economy

The joint initiative – called Waste-Free World – is part of Unilever’s drive to tackle the root cause of plastic waste and think differently about packaging. Unilever has set a goal to halve its use of virgin plastic, cut plastic packaging by more than 100,000 tonnes and accelerate its use of recycled plastic by 2025. […]

Survey finds shift towards environmentally focused resolutions in 2021

When asked to pinpoint their priorities for the new year, respondents ranked ‘helping the planet and taking action towards living a more sustainable lifestyle’ second (40%) behind exercising more (48%). More than half of Brazilian respondents (51%) intend to prioritise eco-conscious activity. Additionally, 81% of overall respondents want to be more sustainable in 2021, ranging […]