Thursday 23 January 2014

Report Claims UK Recycles More Plastics Than Official Figures Suggest

A report that was commissioned by the British Plastics Federation's (BPF) Recycling Group has suggested that the amount of plastics packaging that government figures claim enters the market every year are majorly overstated by 300,000 to 400,000 tonnes.

Compiled in response to a request for corroboration of recycling rates that came from the Advisory Committee on Packaging, the report analysed the National packaging Waste Database and came up with a total figure of 2.5 million for the amount of plastics packaging placed on the market at present. Although the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) estimates a growth rate of 2.5% for this kind of packaging, the BPF Recycling Group says this is an overstatement, with NPWD data showing almost no growth in the period 2006 to 2012, after which a decline followed.


What this means is that reports about plastics recycling in the UK that have been sent to the European Union have been understated and have led to setting business targets based on mistaken information, which could have increased costs. What's more, with the European Union planning to increase the recycling targets for member states in the next couple of years, UK businesses could be put in a disadvantaged position compared to other member states. The chairman of BPF's Recycling Group commented that giving businesses an accurate baseline, according to which recycling targets are calculated, is essential in order to avoid distorted compliance costs for enterprises.

Fonehub can help you do your part for the environment through mobile phone recycling.

Thursday 16 January 2014

UK Company Builds First Plant For Mechanical Recycling Of LCD Displays

In December, Electrical Waste Recycling Group Ltd. (EWRG) said that it had obtained the approval of the Environment Agency to build the first recycling plant in the world that will process flat screen displays mechanically. The 100,000 square foot facility will be located in Huddersfield, Recycling Today reported.

Mechanical processing will significantly reduce the time needed for the reassembling of a flat screen; currently, manual disassembling takes around 15 minutes per display, while the mechanical process will bring this down to six seconds. This, according to Electrical Waste Recycling Group, is quicker and safer than other processes.

Commenting on the news, the company's managing director, Keith Patterson, said that extensive trials were conducted to ascertain the advantages of the new processing technology, and expressed hopes that the amount of screens to be processed at the plant will justify the investment. This is very likely, taken that the number of LCD screens thrown away every month stands at around one million. EWRG is currently awaiting a patent, and there are plans to replicate the recycling process at other locations in the country as well.

Flat TV screens and computer monitors contain mercury, a hazardous material, in the fluorescent lights. If the monitors are disposed of in landfills, it could leak into the soil and underground water. Industry experts advise that electronic equipment companies should start making more durable products with fewer toxic components. Unfortunately, for the time being, things are going in the opposite direction, which calls for the design of new recycling technologies.

For more information on the mobile phone recycling services that FoneHub provide, please visit our website.

Thursday 9 January 2014

Britain Approves PV Recycling EU Regulation

Late last year, the UK approved the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, and it came into force ahead of schedule on 1 January this year, a move that was praised by European recycling organisation PV Cycle.

Under the new directive, all photovoltaic modules that have reached the end of their lifespan, whether due to damage or because of warranty expiration must be disposed of appropriately. PV Cycle helps with the process, since standard regulation about the disposal of electric and electronic waste generally concerns household appliances and other consumer products, while PV modules are mostly used by businesses. These modules have a longer lifespan than consumer products, says David Burton, country manager of producer compliance scheme for PV Cycle UK.

The UK Department of Business, Skills and Innovation has been very helpful in the matter, consulting the photo-voltaic panel production sector in order to make sure that waste disposal is conducted appropriately and without harming the industry's long-term sustainability plans.

Under the new directive, all PV panel importers to the UK will need to register under a product compliance scheme, which requires them to take full financial responsibility for disposing of the expired panels they have sold on the market, as well as to report all relevant information, including locations of the panels sold and their numbers.

The WEEE Directive was amended to include PV modules in August 2012, and the industry had an 18-month period to become compliant with it before the national governments of the EU's 27 members incorporated the directive into their legislation.

For more information on the mobile phone recycling services that FoneHub offer then visit our website.

Thursday 2 January 2014

37,000 Brits Take Part In Tesco/Coca-Cola Recycling Campaign

An online campaign carried out by Tesco and Coca-Cola has drawn pledges from 37,000 people to recycle and be rewarded either with a 50p discount voucher for a number of Coca-Cola products or 25 bonus Tesco Clubcard points.

The campaign, called Together We're Making Recycling Count, was launched with its own website in June 2013. The site featured information about how to recycle along with a video from Coca-Cola demonstrating the company's recycling procedure. The campaign reached a large audience, with more than seven million consumers viewing the recycling messages on Tesco's main website, Tesco.com.

Among the people taking part in the campaign, around two-thirds of those who previously admitted they never recycle revealed in follow-up e-mails that they now always or almost always recycle. Interviews were made with those pledging to recycle, revealing an improved understanding of the wider environmental implications of recycling and the positive effect of the campaign.

Both Coca-Cola and Tesco said they were very happy with the results of their initiative and the chance it gave them to share recycling tips and other information with their customers. According to Nick Canney, sales and marketing vice-president of Coca-Cola, such initiatives have proved to be a powerful tool in addressing at-home recycling issues and encouraging people to do it. It has also shown to be invaluable in raising awareness among customers about the necessity of recycling, he added.

According to information from the British Plastics Federation, packaging accounts for the largest part of Britons' plastic consumption, with a 38% share of the total.

For more information on Mobile Phone Recycling please visit the FoneHub Website.