Casepak wins Charnborough Council recycling contract

Recycling company Casepak has been awarded a two-year contract to process dry recyclables from 70,000 homes in Charnwood Borough Council.

The contract will see Casepak processing roughly 18,000 tonnes of plastic, newspaper, magazines, cardboard, glass and cans per annum at its £21-million materials recovery facility (MRF) at Braunstone Frith Industrial Estate in Leicester.

The MRF, which is capable of processing up to 150,000 tonnes of material each year, can recover 95 per cent of processed material.

The council will use targeted information campaigns to raise awareness of recycling and increase resident participation during the contract, which has an option for a two-year extension upon completion.

Councillor Hilary Fryer, Cabinet Member for Open Spaces and Leisure at Charnwood Borough Council, said: “[Casepak] is a local company and it means these materials can be processed within Leicestershire, minimising the amount of transportation involved. We are committed to protecting our environment for future generations and supporting the local economy so this contract delivers on both fronts.”

Georgina Cullen, Business Development Director at Casepak, added: “We operate one of the UK’s leading MRFs and our team is committed to quality. We look forward to working with Charnwood to boost recycling rates across the borough.”

Huhtamaki invest £5m in new machinery to boost output by 25 per cent

Moulded-fibre packaging specialist Huhtamaki Lurgan has unveiled a new £5-million state-of-the-art plant that it says will increase capacity by as much as 25 per cent.

The new machinery, part of an investment in excess of £5 million by the Huhtamaki Group, will allow the company to expand its moulded fibre range whilst also boosting energy efficiency, according to the organisation.

The Dollingstown plant in Northern Ireland, processes more than 25,000 tonnes of recycled paper ever year, and provides employment to over 100 contractors.

The ‘sole producer of egg cartons and coffee cup carriers in the UK and Ireland’, Huhtamaki estimated that ‘12.2 billion eggs were eaten in the UK in 2015’ and ‘7.2 million cases of eggs were packed in UK egg packaging stations during the first quarter of 2016’.

Petr Domin, Executive Vice-President (Interim) at Huhtamaki said: “This new machinery will be significantly more energy efficient than previous technology in the factory, and will save almost 200 tonnes of CO2 annually, which is equivalent to 80 family-sized cars travelling 12,000 miles per year.”

Bristol kicks off its ‘annual festival of sustainability’, the Big Green Week

Bristol has this week experienced seven days of green events at its ‘annual festival of sustainability’, the Big Green Week, which started last Saturday (11 June).

The Big Green Week comprises a series of events and workshops, from art and music to aquaponics. From sustainable eating to sustainable development, the events aim to cater to people from all age groups and levels of ‘green’ understanding.

Green Week’s waste-prevention events included: the Bristol Textile Recyclers’ Fashion Salvage Kilo Sale, an exhibition called ‘The Green Island’ with green initiative talks and art and music made from reclaimed objects, and a talk on ‘How to Green Your Period’.

The week opened with a two-day Festival of Nature, run by the Bristol Natural History Consortium, at the Bristol Harbourside. Thousands of people were in attendance to interact and learn at a variety of stalls and marquees from green energy (Bristol Energy Co-op), to marine plastic pollution (at the Marine Conservation Society stall), to innovative green designs and the BBC Natural History Unit.

The festival will now continue until 25 June, migrating along the Avon to finish with a festival in Bath. Although technically a separate event from the Bristol Green Week, the Festival of Nature holds its own green activities including a ‘bioblitz’, nature and wildlife walks and other events.

More information about Big Green Week is available on the festival website, while information about Festival of Nature is available on the Bristol Natural History Consortium website.

Keep Britain Tidy wins Environment and Conservation Charity award

Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) has won the Environment and Conservation category at the 2016 Charity Awards for its behaviour change campaign ‘We’re Watching You’.

The low-cost campaign uses glow-in-the-dark signs depicting human eyes to target dog owners who don’t pick up after their pets and has resulted in up to 50 per cent reduction in dog fouling in target areas and 90 per cent reductions in hotspots.

The campaign has been used by more than 130 local authorities and land managers across England and is the first campaign from KBT’s Centre for Social Innovation, which develops creative solutions to change littering behaviour.

The ‘We’re Watching You’ campaign has already been awarded the Nudge Award, the gold standard for behavioural change science, and was voted one of the best 15 adverts of 2015 by the Guardian newspaper.

Keep Britain Tidy Chief Executive Allison Ogden-Newton said: “Dog fouling is one of the most offensive forms of littering and affects communities up and down the country and this campaign is making a real difference, helping local authorities create a clean and safe environment for people.”

Tania Mason, Editorial Director at Civil Society Media, which organises the Charity Awards, added: “We had a record number of entries this year and the standard was particularly high, so Keep Britain Tidy should be very proud to have won their category. Their project delivers great results.”

More information about the campaign is available on KBT’s website.