Keep Britain Tidy calls for ‘Bin it for Good’ partners

Anti-litter campaigning body Keep Britain Tidy is looking for up to six partners to undertake an ‘innovative and successful project’ over the summer to reduce littering while helping to support local charities and the community.

The three-month ‘Bin it for Good’ project involves transforming all litter and recycling bins in a town centre or high street area into ‘charity pots’, representing a new local charity or cause each month. The more litter that goes into the bins and the less on the ground, the greater the share of the charity pot prize amount the featured charity receives.

Keep Britain Tidy is now seeking expressions of interest for the partnership from local authorities, local business groups (such as town centre associations and business improvement districts), and other local land managers by 5 p.m. on Friday, 22 May 2015.

Find out more about the ‘Bin it for Good’ partner programme.

New AD plant opens in Hertfordshire

A new £12-million food waste recycling plant near Baldock, Hertfordshire, has been officially opened by Kier Group Chief Executive, Haydn Mursell. Property and construction group Kier invested £24.4 million in Biogen in 2012.

The Bygrave Lodge anaerobic digestion (AD) plant has been designed, built and operated by AD specialists Biogen and will annually process 45,000 tonnes of food waste from household and commercial sources, generating 2.1 megawatt hours of green electricity. Biogen states that this is enough electricity to power the town of Baldock continually for a year.

Agricultural fertiliser for use on farmland will also be produced at the plant.

Opening the plant, Mursell said: “I am delighted to officially open Bygrave Lodge, the fifth AD plant in Biogen’s programme of development.

“With the energy crisis ever-present, and the need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels intensifying all the time, there is an exciting future for Biogen. AD technology is recognised more and more as an alternative way of producing green energy, and the vital contribution that AD facilities like Bygrave Lodge make to supplying the national grid is only going to increase.”

Julian O’Neill, Chief Executive at Biogen, added: “The project has been a huge success, delivered on time and to budget and, most importantly, safely.”

Find out more about Biogen.

ReFood reveals ‘Sustainable Visionaries’ final three

Food waste recycling company ReFood has officially announced the finalists of its ‘Sustainable Visionaries’ student scholarship competition.

Ronan Keane from Huddersfield University, Blyth Mkonya from Sheffield Hallam, and Florence Cornish from Leith’s School of Food & Wine have each gained a place on the competition’s shortlist and will now go head to head in order to win a £5,000 bursary to progress their studies.

Over the next few weeks, the three students will visit ReFood’s anaerobic digestion facility in Doncaster (pictured) and present their ideas on prioritising sustainability to a panel of waste management experts. Whoever shows ‘the most passion and innovation’ will win the Sustainable Visionary competition.

Philip Simpson, Commercial Director at ReFood, commented: “Undergraduates submitted a 500-word entry, detailing why they believed reducing food waste could help the UK achieve 2020 waste targets. After carefully judging each of the entries, we narrowed the selection down to three students, who really stood out in their respective fields.

“We’re really looking forward to meeting Ronan, Blyth and Florence and discussing their thoughts and ideas surrounding sustainability in the food chain. Each student is already a sustainable champion in their own right, but the next stage in the competition will push their creativity and expertise even further.”

Find out more about the ‘Sustainable Visionaries’ student scholarship competition.

Resource Efficient Scotland SME loan scheme 2015/16 opens

Loans of up to £100,000 are now available to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Scotland increase their resource efficiency and save on costs.

The Resource Efficient Scotland SME loans, funded by the Scottish Government, aim to help smaller businesses in Scotland (i.e. those with fewer than 250 employees and a turnover not exceeding £50 million) to invest in resource, energy or water-efficiency technologies.

Ranging from £1,000 to £100,000, the loans are interest free (unless being used for renewable energy that qualified for Feed-in Tariff or Renewable Heat Incentives, in which case the interest rate is five per cent) and come with no set-up charges.

The loan scheme was first launched in 2013 and was brought in after Zero Waste Scotland, the organisation that delivers the Scottish Government’s zero waste plan, found that Scottish organisations could save £2.9 billion by using resources more efficiently.

Applications for a loan must be supported by a Green Deal assessment, or a Resource Efficient Scotland report if the projects to be funded are not eligible under Green Deal. The cost of a non-domestic Green Deal assessment can be added to the loan application.

Find out more about the Resource Efficient Scotland SME Loan scheme 2015/16.

Winner of European Best Recycled Plastic Product 2015 announced

The HÅG Capisco office chair by Scandinavian Business Seating has been named as the winner of the European Best Recycled Plastic Product 2015.

Backed by the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations (EPRO), the award was handed out at the Identiplast Congress in Rome on 29 April.

The chair is made of 50 per cent recycled materials, and the plastic parts are manufactured from 100 per cent recycled plastic packaging.

It has also been designed to be easily dismantled, allowing for simple separation of different parts and materials for repair or recycling.

Speaking of the award, EPRO’s Co-Chairman, Francis Huysman, said: “EPRO believe that one of the most important ways of achieving increased recycling is to raise the awareness of the products made from recycled plastics packaging, and by doing so, promoting the use of recyclates and the cycle of plastics.

“The HÅG Capisco chair is – besides the fact that it is made out of recycled materials – a good example of a product in a circular economy model.”

The UK Best Recycled Plastic Product Award is to be presented at the Plastics Industry Awards 2015 on 9 October.

Find out more about the EPRO Best Recycled Plastic Product award.