Recycling

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Handy tips for improving the quality of your recycling

China has recently announced that it will be taking less recycling from the UK. One of the main reasons for this change in policy is that much of the recycled material China receives is contaminated, meaning it is of poor quality or includes items that cannot be recycled, or that are difficult and expensive to sort for recycling.

A recent article on the Recycle Now website shows what we in the UK can do to improve the quality of what we put in our recycling bins. It also offers tips on what you can recycle and where to find your nearest recycling centre. To read the article, click here.

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Join Friends of the Earth in reducing single-use plastic products

Friends of the Earth (FoE) has launched #PlasticFreeFriday, a campaign to encourage people to stop using single-use plastic products.

FoE says that if we encourage enough people to make small changes to their lives, we can cut down the amount of plastic pollution in our environment – and send a message to companies and governments that they need to act too. Continue reading →

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Featured organisation:  Work and Play Scrapstore

Work and Play Scrapstore is a voluntary organisation in Tooting, south London, that collects clean, reusable surplus materials from local industries and private individuals and make them available to members, which include community/voluntary groups, youth clubs, primary and secondary schools, fee-paying activity schemes, adult courses providers and students. Continue reading →

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BBC to ban single-use plastics

The BBC has announced that it plans to ban single-use plastics by 2020, after the television series Blue Planet II highlighted the devastation wrought by plastic pollution in the seas.

Throwaway plastic cups and cutlery will be scrapped at BBC sites by the end of this year, followed by plastic containers in canteens by 2019.

The Scottish Parliament has also announced that it plans to ban plastic straws, following similar announcements by restaurants including Pizza Express, Wagamama and JD Wetherspoon.

For further information, click here.

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UK government launches public consultation on bottle deposit scheme

Environment Minister Michael Gove has just launched a public consultation about introducing a bottle deposit scheme in England. The news follows the delivery of a bottle deposit petition, an initiative of Surfers Against Sewage, to 10 Downing Street. The petition attracted 250,000 signatures, calling on the minister to help protect our oceans and beaches from plastic pollution. Continue reading →

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‘A Plastic Ocean’ to be screened this Sunday at TideFest

The groundbreaking documentary A Plastic Ocean will be shown at the One Over the Ait pub at Kew Bridge this Sunday, 10 September, from 3pm to 4.45pm. Places are limited; to secure your place, register for the screening here.

The screening is part of the Plastic Ocean Festival, which has been showcasing a series of events from April to September 2017 in London incorporating film screenings of A Plastic Ocean, marine and riverine clean-ups, stand up paddleboarding, and educational talks by scientists and the team. Continue reading →