In 2015, 31 per cent of carpet waste (125,000 tonnes) was diverted from landfill, with the majority going for energy according to industry recycling group Carpet Recycling UK.

A round-up of news from the waste and resources sector, including needle contamination, illegal waste vehicle seizure and recycling bags for life.

Bath and North East Somerset Council is calling on members of the public to join its collection crews on a temporary basis as it seeks to resolve a recycling backlog caused by strike action among its staff.

Falkirk Council, one of the local authorities carrying out three-weekly residual waste collections, is to take the processing of recyclable material from kerbside collections in-house in an attempt to cut down on ‘unsustainable’ gate fees.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has exceeded its targets for reducing waste and improved its levels of recycling according to its annual sustainability report for 2014-15 [http://www.sepa.org.uk/media/163498/sustainability_report_2014_2015.pdf].

Recycling in flats will be targeted in a new waste strategy in Barnet after a draft strategy was agreed at a meeting of Barnet Council’s Environment Committee on Monday.

A new Danish denim label is aiming to ‘save’ 70 million litres of fresh water over the next two months as part of a plan to drive change in the ‘resource intensive’ industry.

A recycling plant turning carpet waste into a horse-friendly carpet fibre for the equestrian sector has been opened by Potters Recycling in Wales.

A round-up of news from the waste and resources sector, including a plastics recycling educational programme, treecycling and thousands of plastic bottles washing up on the Cornish coast.

Industry bodies have given their views on altered business packaging targets for plastic and glass after a Defra consultation closed last month.