CIWM Clean Britain Awards celebrates work of LAs and volunteers

The CIWM Clean Britain Awards, presented in London yesterday (5 November), recognised the achievement and performance in keeping public areas tidy in a range of areas, including innovation and partnership working.

At the awards, now in their 26th year, Local Authorities (LAs), volunteers and private companies across England were recognised for keeping public spaces clean.

• Clean Britain Local Authority Award: This was broken down in to three population size categories; gold award winner of the large category was London Borough of Enfield; the medium category was awarded to Braintree District Council; and the small category winner was City of London.
• Overall Winner for 2015: The City of London took the Overall Award with Wendy Mead OBE, Chairman of Port Health and Environment Services Committee, congratulating the hard work shown by the whole team.
• Clean Britain National Community Awards: This award acknowledges the work of community groups who are tackling litter and other environmental issues. The 2015 winner is Mitcham Community Orchard and Garden, with over 150 volunteers joining together to form the group, which has transformed the area from a fly-tipping hot spot.
• Guardians of Public Spaces Award: Recognising the excellence in managing public spaces, this award went to Helping Hand Environmental for their continuous campaign work with LAs, waste contractors, community groups, schools and charities in developing and enhancing sustainable litter management.

CIWM Chief Executive Steve Lee commented on the increasing financial constraints: “With budget pressures tighter than ever, local authority teams have to be ever more resourceful in their efforts to keep our public spaces and places clean and safe for everyone to enjoy, and other stakeholders such as community groups also have an important role to play.”

Learn more about the CIWM Clean Britain Awards.

Love Your Clothes launches 12 Jumpers of Christmas competition

Sustainable fashion programme Love Your Clothes is launching a ‘12 Jumpers of Christmas’ competition to inspire people to upcycle old jumpers instead of buying new ones.

The programme estimates that UK consumers are likely to spend over £300 million on Christmas jumpers this year and suggests that over ten million people are likely to buy a new one and 40 per cent of festive jumper wearers plan on using them just once or twice this year.

Entrants hoping to win the first prize of a Janome sewing machine must submit a colour photograph of an upcycled cardigan or jumper with a festive theme. All items of clothing must be washable or designed so that they can continue to be worn after Christmas.

According to the Waste & Resource Action Programme (WRAP), which runs Love Your Clothes’ parent campaign, the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP), the clothing industry is the fifth biggest environmental footprint of any UK industry. The campaign hopes that by upcycling old jumpers, the environmental impact of clothing can be reduced.

Head of Clothing at WRAP, Sarah Clayton said: “With most Christmas jumpers being worn only a handful of times over the festive season, transforming an existing jumper into a one-off Christmas master piece is a great way of adding some ‘green’ style to your wardrobe this Christmas, and saving some cash at the same time.”

Find out more about the 12 Jumpers of Christmas competition.

Staffordshire residents encouraged to ‘Adopt an Appliance’

Residents from across Staffordshire are being invited to recycle their old electrical goods to support local charity and help boost recycling.

Staffordshire County Council, along with FFC Environment, which operates the county’s 14 household waste recycling centres (HWRCs), has launched the ‘Adopt an Appliance’ scheme to encourage residents to donate unwanted electrical goods to their local HWRC.

Items will then be sent to the Katherine House Hospice Re-use Shop at Cannock HWRC, which will sell items back to the public. Any unusable items will be recycled. Sales will raise funds for the hospice, which provides free care services for people with life-limiting conditions.

Councillor Mark Winnington, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for the Economy, Environment and Transport, said: “Every year thousands of unused and unwanted household electrical appliances get thrown away.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to recycle used goods and the new arrangements with the Katharine House Hospice Re-use Shop are helping us do this.“

Find out more at the Adopt an Appliance website, or watch a video explaining the scheme.

British Metals Recycling Association launches photography competition

The British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has launched a photography competition for its members and industry insiders.

The trade association, which represents 300 members of the UK metal recycling sector, is asking for submissions to capture the best of the metals recycling industry, with entries from every aspect of the industry life being welcomed.

The winning photograph will be used to decorate and entire wall in the meeting space of the new BMRA office in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Runners up will have their photos displayed in other areas across the office.

To encourage entries, the BMRA are offering a case of champagne for the winning photograph and a bottle of champagne for every additional photograph used.

Photographs should be at least 5MB in size, and should be sent to the BMRA by Friday 13 November.

Learn more about the BMRA.

Quiet bin lift carries away ‘Noise Oscar’

Environmental equipment manufacturer Terberg Matec UK has been awarded the John Connell Silent Approach Award for its electric bin lifts.

The award, organised by the Noise Abatement Society, recognises significant initiatives to reduce noise nuisance for the benefit of the community and environment. The low-voltage lifts, incorporated into waste collection vehicles to help mitigate the noise of waste collection, won the award after being used in the Nottingham Consortium of Councils’s initiative to reduce noise pollution on rounds by purchasing Terbeg Matec’s equipment.

Gary Fisher, Terberg Contracts Manager for the Nottinghamshire Consortium said: ‘We are proud to receive this award, one that is testament to the innovative thinking and environmentally conscious approach employed by R&D department.

Find out more about the John Connell Awards.