Farm and General Services Weblog

Earlier this week DEFRA published new packaging waste recovery and recycling targets for 2008 - 2010, increasing the overall target to 72%.

In 2008 alone, these amended targets will prevent an estimated 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere, helping in the fight against climate change.

The new overall targets of 72% in 2008, 73% in 2009 and 74% in 2010 will ensure that we meet the 2008 EU Directive target of recycling 60% of our packaging waste.

The first study conducted by the European Environment Agency, into investigating the impact of Europe’s waste on climate change has unearthed promising figures, and their findings also show that better management of municipal waste could greatly reduce the release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

The EEA has predicted that household waste volumes will increase by 25% between 2005 - 2020 and that this in itself provides a real challenge for the industry. However, they hold a strong belief that as recycling and incineration with energy recovery are increasingly used, net greenhouse gases from European municipal waste will decrease dramatically by more than 80% in 2020.

The Health & Safety Executive has published a new research report entitled: Collecting, Transfer, Treatment and Processing household waste recyclables.

Based on the increase of people working within the waste management and recycling industry, it is reasonable to assume that there will be greater exposure to Health & Safety related hazards. The HSE has identified that the provision of appropriate guidance, tools or Personal Protective Equipment could greatly reduce the associated risks and could overall enable local authorities to select the most appropriate systems to ensure environmental targets are met with the least possible threats.

Further details are available from the HSE Website.

Following a meeting of the European Commission in Brussels earlier today, the UK has been told it must radically increase the proportion of its energy coming from renewables in order to meet the new targets on carbon emissions.

Only 2% of the UK’s energy is renewable and in order to comply with this latest requirement Britain must get 15% or more of its energy for heat, electricity and transport from sources such as wind, wave, solar and biomass

In addition to this, it is imperative that Great Britain cuts its greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 16% and obtains 10% of road transport fuel from biofuels.

Despite local and national campaigns aimed at promoting recycling and the reuse of recyclable materials, the CPI has released figures that illustrate a decline in the use of recovered paper across the UK.

The federation reported that last year, the UK only produced just over 5.2 million tonnes of paper and board, a 6.4% reduction on the total recorded for 2006. With regards to raw material input, UK paper and board mills used just under 4.1 million tonnes of recovered paper, a decline of 3.0% against 2006 usage.

They were also keen to point out that the sudden decrease could be due to the closure of two paper mills in 2007, who between them represented around 250,000 tonnes of capacity.

WRAP is backing Nampak and Dairy Crest’s new project to develop a handle-free plastic milk bottle in a bid to conform with current UK Packaging Regulations and help reduce packaging waste from the Dairy Industry.

Dairy Crest, the UK’s premier chilled dairy foods company based in Surrey currently processes approximately one billion litres of fresh milk each year.

If the new handle free bottle is successful, 1250 tonnes of HDPE plastic per year will be diverted from the household waste stream, and in turn away from landfill.

Richard Pryor, Innovations controller at Dairy Crest said: ‘The HDPE bottle will be recyclable, retaining one of the key benefits of the existing Best in Class bottle. This feature combined with the lighter weight of the handle-free design means the milk industry will be well  placed to make a significant contribution to the UK’s success in diverting waste from landfill and reducing carbon emissions.’

Following the success of the recent study tours to Germany and Holland the Composting Association announced last week that they are now planning a further visit to Italy in April 2008. The tour will provide delegates with an opportunity to observe a vast range of biowaste treatment technologies and although the tour is still at a planning stage, the Association are confident that this broadcast will generate a huge response from its members.

If you would like more information on the tour please visit www.compost.org.uk or email leah@compost.org.uk

Members of the public are being urged to recycle this years 100million Christmas cards and support a scheme that raises funds for tree planting around the UK, one of the least wooded countries in Europe.

The Woodland Trust and Recycle Now are running a joint campaign aiming to receive enough cards to raise the money needed to plant 24,000 trees in 2008. The funds raised by the scheme derive from recycling credits paid by local authorities to the trust for waste that is diverted away from landfill, as well as donations from groups and retail partners, such as Tesco’s.

Countrystyle Recycling works in close unity with the local councils and CA Sites and we are keen to promote this national scheme. Our spokesperson said ‘ We, as consumers have no idea of the impact our waste has on the environment and it is imperative that we encourage the recycling of waste to reduce the amount being transported to landfill.’

For further information, please visit

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This month sees the arrival of 2 new vehicle combinations for the group. These comprise of brand new Scania tractor units coupled to Legras Walking floor trailers. These will enable Countrystyle to transport bulk materials in larger volumes and have been specified to access height restricted areas. The units will be able to carry a whole range of material from green waste to wood chip and can even handle palletized material.

For further information or a haulage quotation please contact Richard Lloyd on 07711 987731 or Drew Crouch, the Transport Manager on 07894 930992.

Last month was a strange one for Richard Lloyd as he was involved in talks with the metropolitan police, some might say this was no surprise, he argued it was voluntary - as they always do!!! On behalf of Countrystyle, Richard actually supplied them with one of the new hooklift lorries to act as an exhibit for their ‘Bike Safe’ campaign. This saw Countrystyle’s vehicle (along with two from Birds Group and one from Cemex) arranged in a display at the Horseguards Parade in Central London. The trucks were used to give cyclists an idea of what drivers can’t see due to blind spots on their vehicles. The event proved to be a huge success for the boys in blue and Countrystyle’s efforts were gratefully appreciated.