Newsletter June 2011, Latest Recycling News And Information
London Mayor Launches New Recycling Campaign
Mayor of London Boris Johnson on the 12th May 2011 launched a new Recycle for London campaign aimed at highlighting the amount of money the city can save from increased recycling.
The initiative intends to build on the £30 million that Londoners saved in 2010 through increased recycling and sending less material to landfill. The Recycle for London campaign also aims to highlight that increased recycling efforts could help save as much as £320 million by 2015.
UK Turns In Average Performance For WEEE Recycling
The UK is falling behind five other countries in Europe when it comes to recycling waste electrical and electronic items, according to a survey.The UK ranks sixth out of 11 countries for WEEE recycling, at 7.5kg per head of population. Norway leads the way with an average of 19kg per head, followed by Denmark, Ireland, Austria and Germany. Lowest performer is Poland at 3.7kg.
MPs Highlight Potential In Scrap Metals
Britain is wasting a great opportunity to extract valuable metals from old electrical and electronic goods, by sending scrap overseas instead of recycling it at home, according to a committee of MP’s.
The Commons science committee calls on the government to take a lead in developing British resources of strategically important metals, which are vital to advanced manufacturing and low-carbon energy technologies. That could hopefully involve new mining operations in the UK and more recycling which will also mean more jobs.
Illegal WEEE Exports
One of the UK’s leading waste and recycling companies has been linked to the growing underground trade in e-waste after campaigner’s uncovered evidence that broken television sets deposited at the firm’s facilities were exported to Africa in contravention of regulations designed to stem the flow of electronic waste to developing countries.
Merseyside-based Environment Waste Controls (EWC), whose clients are reported to include ASDA, Tesco, Barclay’s, the NHS and Network Rail, has admitted that electronic equipment from its amenity sites in South London ended up in West Africa after being exported by a third party company and says it has taken steps to prevent this happening in the future.
