The six councils and the West London Waste Authority serving Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond-upon-Thames have agreed a joint action plan to reduce waste generated by over 21,000 tonnes per year by 2015.

West London residents already recycle and compost over 38% of everything thrown away but this new programme of activities will be focused on encouraging the area’s community of over 1.4 million residents and 80,000 businesses to:

• Avoid waste – for example by smarter food shopping and using leftovers 
• Reduce waste – including by increasing composting at home
• Reuse things – for instance by passing them on to others or donating to charities
• Repair things – rather than replacing them

Attention will be focussed on five key types of things often thrown away – food, textiles and shoes, disposable nappies, electrical items, and furniture. Together, these represent nearly half of the total waste in west London that isn’t recycled.

Chair of West London Waste Authority, Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, said; “We recognise that reducing the waste we generate in west London is not just desirable, it’s essential. The cost of burying waste at landfill sites is escalating and there’s a real drive to reduce carbon emissions. “Over the next few years we want to help make reducing and re-using socially responsible habits in the same way that recycling has become.”

Two major campaigns, one building on the national “Love Food, Hate Waste” scheme, and another encouraging home composting, will be the cornerstones of activity over the next year to help establish waste prevention as a socially responsible habit in the same way that recycling has become.

The six boroughs will also be working with the London Reuse Network and London Waste And Recycling Board to establish a network of reuse facilities in west London.

Other activities will include:

Food Waste

• A range of community events to raise awareness
• Recruiting one school in each borough to become an example of best practice in reducing food waste
• Encouraging an additional 6,600 homes to compost across the six boroughs
• Launching an online guide for businesses on how to reduce food waste

Textiles and Shoes

• Trialling clothes swapping events in each borough

Nappies

• Promoting the advantages of washable nappies

Electrical Items

• Asking residents to place working electrical items in separate containers at Household Reuse and Recycling Centres so they can be re-used

Furniture

• Encouraging residents to make donations to reuse projects
• Encouraging residents to consider buying good quality second hand goods rather than new items
• Council call centres mentioning offering re-use opportunities to people requesting bulky item waste collections
• Working with housing associations to encourage furniture re-use

The Municipal Waste Prevention Strategy for West London from 2011 – 2015 and the action plan to put the ideas in the strategy into place can be found on the strategy page of this website. For more information about waste prevention plase contact us.

The West London Waste Authority (WLWA) has announced the procurement of a long term contract for residual waste treatment covering the boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames, the contract will involve treating up to 300,000 tonnes of waste per year generated by a population of 1.4 million people.

The procurement covers all aspects of residual waste treatment including any necessary transport, the operation of transfer stations, and contracts for outputs such as compost and refuse-derived fuel.

Bids are being invited from “single entity” companies, consortiums, or joint ventures. The WLWA is offering the three waste transfer stations within its direct control as part of the procurement but is also welcoming proposals that involve sites within bidders’ control or which they intend to acquire.

Bidders can present whatever proposals they feel are the most economically advantageous technology to meet WLWA’s output specification but the Authority is stipulating that the technology must be proven in operation on a municipal scale.

A competitive dialogue process will be used to handle the procurement. Up to eight bidders will be invited to develop outline solutions from August 2011. Detailed solutions from three or four bidders will be sought in the first part of 2012. Two final bidders will submit final tenders in late 2012, and the preferred bidder will be selected in early 2013. The contract will run from 2014 to 2038.

Any companies interested in obtaining the procurement documentation should email wlwaprocurement@e-box.net.

This new recipe from Uxbridge Love your Leftovers competition winner Lucy Cole helps you create another meal from your leftover mashed potato.

“Bangers and mash are a favourite in my household but there are always a few sausages left over at the end of the meal. There are plenty of ways to use up sausages but it’s always nice to try out something new and these were a big hit when I made them.”

As well as using up mashed potato and sausages it also uses up the crusts of bread that don’t normally get eaten.

You could also adapt the recipe if you wanted to. Add onions or garlic to give another flavour or use leftover sweet potato mash.

Download this recipe and view other recipes on our love food recipes page.

Sausage and mash cakes

By Lucy Cole, Uxbridge

Ingredients

• 300g mashed potato
• 5 cooked sausages or however many are left over
• Salt and pepper
• 1 egg beaten
• 2 slices of bread made into breadcrumbs – to make the breadcrumbs put the bread into a food processor and chop it up. The bread can be a few days old and it’s good for using up the crusts if no one eats them.
• 3 tablespoons of peas or sweet corn (tinned, fresh or frozen) or baked beans

Method

1. Slice the sausages into bite size pieces and place in a bowl with mashed potato and the beans, sweet corn or peas.
2. Mix well with a spoon and add a little drop of milk if a bit dry. Add salt and pepper.
3. Take a tablespoon of the mixture and using your hands, roll into a ball and then flatten down so they resemble a patty (burger).
4. In a bowl beat the egg. Put the bread crumbs on a medium size plate.
5. Dip the patty’s into the beaten egg making sure they are completely covered with the mixture and then quickly coat them in the bread crumbs. The egg will make sure the crumbs stick to the patty.
6. Heat a frying pan adding a tablespoon of sunflower oil and cook each side of the sausage and mash cake until golden brown. This could take 5 minutes for each side. Depending on how many cakes you manage to make out of your leftovers, cook them in batches but make sure there is enough room for them to cook evenly.
7. Serve with a salad as a main meal or individually as a snack.

During Compost Awareness Week (Sunday 1 May to Saturday 7 May) all the councils in West London are giving residents the opportunity to collect free compost to use on your garden. The compost is supplied by Harefield-based West London Composting where garden and food waste from homes across west London is taken to be composted.

The compost will be loose, so residents are asked to come to the events with a shovel and their own bags to take the compost home. As well as free compost you could also pick up a compost bin or get details of your local compost bin scheme and get information about composting in your garden at home. The amount of compost is limited so residents will be restricted to approximately 100 litres, arrive early before the compost runs out.

Home composting is a good way of getting value from your food waste and garden waste. Once the organic material has composted, you will get compost you can use on the garden.

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, Chair of the WLWA: “Good compost is the crucial ingredient for any garden so it’s fantastic that we’re able to offer compost that has been made thanks to the keen recycling gardeners of West London back for free. Cheap compost bins are also on offer to help gardeners across West London reap the rewards of their work in the garden. I’d encourage all keen gardeners to come along to the compost giveaway in their borough and pick up their free compost.”

To find out more about composting visit our composting webpage and follow the useful links to lots of other information.

Find your local event

Brent

Tuesday 3 May 8am to 4pm
Wednesday 4 May 8am to 4pm

Go to Brent Household Reuse and Recycling Centre for a compost giveaway and compost bin sale.
One bag of compost will be given to each resident bringing a voucher from the Brent Magazine.  Home composting bins will be available to buy on site for £5.

Ealing

Friday 6 May 1.30pm to 5.30pm

Go to Walpole Park for a compost giveaway and advice about composting at home.Visit the walled garden to get information and advice about composting at home then take a stroll to the Mattock Lane entrance of the park to collect up to 100 litres of free compost.

Harrow

Wednesday 4 May from 9am

Go to Roxeth Recreation Ground to collect free compost and get information about composting at home. Compost will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Thursday 5 May from 9am

Go to Kenton Recreation Ground to collect free compost and get information about composting at home. Compost will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Hillingdon

Sunday 1 May 9am – midday

West London Composting
Highview Farm
Newyears Green Lane
Harefield
Middlesex
UB9 6LX

Go along to the compost giveaway – collect 10mm compost to use at home. Bring your own bags and you can take up part of 24 tonnes of compost. Compost will be given on a first come first served basis. Once the compost is gone the gates will be closed. Cars with trailers will be turned away at the gate.

Hounslow

Tuesday 3 May 7 – 8pm

Go to Hounslow Civic Centre, Lampton Road to hear a brief talk from an expert in composting and ask him any questions about getting composting at home working for you.

Thursday 5 May 7 – 8pm

Go to Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, W4 4JN to hear a brief talk from an composting expert and find out what you want to know about composting. Places are limited at this venue, please email recycling@hounslow.gov.uk to reserve your free place.

Saturday 7 May 10am to 2pm

Go to Hounslow Heath Nature Reserve, Staines Road, TW4 5RB for a compost giveaway and expert advice about compost from a master composter.Visit the nature reserve to collect up to 100 litres of free compost and ask a master composter about composting in your garden at home.  You can also see different ways to compost at home including using a wormery.

Richmond

Saturday 30 April 8am to 6pm
Sunday 1 May 9am – 4pm

Go to Townmead Road Household Reuse and Recycling Centre for a compost giveaway and compost bin sale.Collect up to 100 litres of compost, buy a discounted compost bin, find out how to buy a compost bin and have it delivered to your home and get more information about how to compost at home to make the most of your garden cuttings.

Naked or with packaging?

Bright, colourful and tasty Easter Eggs are back on the shelves ready for us to buy. Whether you’re buying one egg or ten, why not challenge yourself to take home as little packaging as you can this year?

Over the last two years, the companies producing Easter Eggs have faced a lot of pressure to reduce the amount of packaging around their delicious chocolate eggs. Many companies including Nestle UK, Mars, Cadbury, Kinnerton and Thornton’s have reduced the amount of plastic and cardboard around their products.

In 2009 59% of adults felt Easter Eggs were over-packaged. In response the manufacturers reduced the amount of cardboard and plastic used. Sainsbury’s reduced the packaging on its Taste the Difference eggs by 55% and Mars reduced the weight of cardboard by 43%.

Our package-less league

We took a trip to a supermarket to see what we could find with little or no packaging. Here are our favourites in the package-less league.

Reusable eggs

Cardboard eggs can be refilled with chocolate year after year. Brightly decorated and distinctive, you can use them to give other Easter gifts and because they’re sturdy you can hide them around your home and garden in places the larger square boxes wouldn’t fit. If you don’t want them anymore give them to someone else or recycle them with your other cardboard if they’re damaged.

Eggs wrapped only in foil

There are lots of eggs that are only wrapped in brightly coloured foil without plastic or cardboard. These can be small eggs with a tasty filling or those with a toy surprise inside. You could also buy large eggs such as the Eggheads (pictured in the reusable eggs) or larger ones from Cadburys. When the eggs have been eaten, recycle the foil with your tins and cans.

We found that a lot of the large eggs wrapped only in foil had been broken in the shop – which was disappointing and shows that sometimes packaging can be helpful. We were able to get our eggs home from the shop in one piece though!

No plastic

There are lots of eggs which come in cardboard boxed with no plastic insert. Some of the packaging proudly says how much less packaging there is around this Easter Egg. There are lots of Easter Egg companies that no longer put plastic around the eggs inside the cardboard boxes, including Cadbury and Nestle.

Alternative Easter gifts

If you want to give a different Easter gift, you could give chocolate bars wrapped in foil and paper which can be recycled after eating, or maybe give a book or gift voucher. For more gift ideas with no packaging check out our alternative gifts page.

What do you think about Easter Egg packaging? Tell us your thoughts and send us pictures of any eggs you think are overpackaged.

(L-R) Cllr Burrows (Hillingdon Council), Lucy Cole and Karen Wretham (Charlotte's)

The winner of our competition to love your Christmas leftovers has been announced.

Making the most of your leftovers can save you money and reduce the amount of rubbish thrown away – an amazing 31% of the rubbish in West London is food, much of which could have been reused in leftover recipes.

Lucy Cole from Uxbridge won the competition with her gammon, sprout and cheeseboard risotto recipe. Lucy’s recipe creatively used brussels sprouts a vegetable we all love to hate. It’s also easy to make and very versatile allowing you to transform lots of other leftover items into lovely meals too.

Councillor Keith Burrows, Cabinet Member for Planning, Transportation and Recycling for Hillingdon presented Lucy with her certificate and a £100 voucher to spend at a Charlotte’s Place, a restaurant on Ealing Broadway which is a member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association.

Lucy Cole, commented: “Using leftovers has always been important to me and being able to combine new ingredients together helps to prevent waste, save money and bring out my inner Delia.”

Councillor Burrows added: “Lucy’s recipe shows that leftovers can be re-used to create a delicious meal. As well as preventing waste, re-using leftovers is also economical with the recent increase in food prices.”

Lucy is going to be supplying us with more recipes over the next year. Check out her winning recipe on our love your leftovers page.

You can find out more about getting the most from your food on our love food page.

The competition was launched at the beginning of December. All the entries received were of great quality and are featured on our love your leftovers recipe page.  West London Waste would like to thank all the residents entering the competition for taking the time to share their recipes with us.

Brent resident, Kate Elliott won a Love Food Hate Waste hamper worth £65 after completing a food waste reducer questionnaire during European Week for Waste Reduction.

Kate enjoys cooking and tries to use all the food she buys but said “I am looking forward to having the items in the hamper to help me do more”.

Kate Elliott was presented her prize by Councillor Harbhajan Singh, Mayor of Brent

Throwing away food costs the average householder about £50 a month. In the UK over £12 billion of food is thrown in the bin every year. In West London around 30% of the rubbish in bags and bins is food that hasn’t been eaten. There are simple steps that we can all take to make the most ofthe food we buy and reduce how much weend up throwing away.

To find out what simple things you can do visit our Love Food Hate Waste page.

You can buy all the items in the hamper easily and cheaply in your local area. Here are our top items and how they can save money and waste.

• A fridge thermometer – keep your fridge between 1 and 5^oc, if it’s too cold food will slowly freeze but if it’s too warm it may go off before the use-by date. You can buy one for under £2.
• Assorted plastic storage containers – keeping leftovers, home cooked meals and fresh foods in airtight containers can help them stay fresh for longer. Use containers with tight fitting lids and work out the size of portions you can store in them. Check the containers can be used in the fridge, freezer, microwave and dishwasher safely. Prices can start from 50p or wash plastic takeaway containers and reuse those.
• Bag clips – Use these to keep your open bags of rice, pasta and frozen vegetables tightly closed to stop them spilling in your cupboard and freezer. You can buy a bag of clips for under £2 or use clothes pegs instead.

You can win £100 to spend in a local sustainable restaurant or a hamper full of eco goodies by entering our competition to tell the rest of us a lovely recipe using our Christmas dinner leftovers.

All you need to do is send in a recipe for either a starter, main meal or desert using at least two items of leftovers from your Christmas dinner. A panel of judges will then pick the tastiest recipe that uses leftovers most creatively.

You have a choice between two prizes.  Win a £100 voucher to spend in one of three local restaurants – Sam’s Brasseries and Bar; Charlotte’s Bistro; and Charlotte’s Place; or a hamper packed with foodie goodies including; weighing scales, storage containers, Good Food and Good Housekeeping cookbooks, bag clips, a fridge thermometer, measuring jug and spoons.

The closing date for entries is 23 January 2011. Send your recipe (with full instructions) to info@westlondonwaste.gov.uk or by post to Waste Minimisation Coordinator, WLWA, Mogden Works, Modgen Lane, Isleworth, Middlesex, TW7 7LP. Make sure you also include:

• your name,
• your address and contact details,
• what you had for Christmas dinner, and
• a photo of you with your leftovers meal (optional).

You must live in West London to be eligible to win the prize.  See the Terms and conditions for leftovers competition for more detail.  Even if you don’t live in West London you can still share your good ideas.  You will find the recipes from the winner and other great recipes and tips on this website in the new year.

Where could I eat if I win?

Sam’s Brasserie and Bar

Sam’s Brasserie & Bar is an informal, all-day neighbourhood restaurant serving award winning, modern European cuisine. With the use of fresh, seasonal ingredients coupled with a warm all-day feel, Sam’s is a destination not only for locals but for diners throughout London.  Sam’s Brasserie and Bar joined the Sustainable Restaurant Association because we strongly believe in our responsibility to sustainability and know that we may well be judged on our social and environmental performance. Both our restaurants are true independent local establishments and therefore we have a sustainable role to play in the local community. There are many issues for us to look at and slowly with the help of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, we are trying to tackle as many as we can.

11 Barley Mow Passage
Chiswick, London W4 4PH
020 8987 0555
www.samsbrasserie.co.uk

Charlotte’s Bistro

Charlotte’s Bistro is an informal neighbourhood bar and restaurant which opened in February 2010, and is the sister to Charlotte’s Place in Ealing which was originally founded in 1984. We are proud to be independent and local family owned to this day. As part of our commitment to sustainability and local produce we source only high quality English and Welsh meat, our fish is delivered daily direct from Cornwall and most of our fruit and veg comes from Andreas over the road.

6 Turnham Green Terrace,
Chiswick, W4 1QP
020 8742 3590
www.charlottes.co.uk/bistro/index.html

Charlotte’s Place

Charlotte’s Place celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2009 and continues to draw locals in their droves week in week out. This hidden gem is tucked away on a quiet corner of Ealing Common so relies heavily on word of mouth and recommendation from those ‘in the know’. There is real sense of welcome here coupled with care and attention to detail in the food. It is easy to see why so many of the patrons faithfully return week after week, year after year.

Chef Greg Martin sources his ingredients with great care and is always committed to using seasonal and local British produce. Drawing on mainly British, French and Italian influences you will find modern & traditional cooking in equal measure on the monthly changing menu.

16 St Matthew’s Rd,
Ealing, London, W5 3JT
020 8567 7541
www.charlottes.co.uk/place/index.html

When will I find out if I’ve won?

The winner will be notified by 11^th February after the judges have made their choice.

A new sales initiative for real nappies is giving residents of West London the chance to return to work or change careers.

The London based company, Nappy Ever After needs people with experience of using real nappies who want to spread the word about the benefits of real nappy use to parents. You will be promoting and selling real nappy products and accessories at events in London and earning commission on your sales. 

As a Real Nappy Advisor you are offered flexibility of working as well as a chance to develop new skills and meet new people. For more details about the job role check out the Real Nappy Advisor job description.

Applications must be received by 5 January 2011.

Apply by email to Jemima Hoadley at Nappy Ever After.  If you have any questions about the role contact Jemima on 07989 558663.

We all know how much food we can end up wasting at Christmas – all those soggy sprouts and turkey trimmings we never get round to eating. In fact, it’s estimated that residents in West London will throw out a whopping 16,500 tonnes of perfectly edible food over the festive period costing each household around £50.

Make the most of your festive foods with our ten top tips:

1. Use the Christmas dinner portion planner to prepare just the right amount of food for your guests.
2. There aren’t many festive foods that can’t be frozen for later – keep freezer bags and pens to hand, label foods with the contents and the date before freezing.   
3. Freeze any cold meats leftover after Boxing Day; they’ll be ideal for sandwiches when we’re back to work in the New Year.
4. Use up the last of the Christmas pudding by mixing with vanilla ice cream for a delicious dessert second time around – try the Christmas Pudding Ice Cream.
5. The cheeses that didn’t get eaten over Christmas, such as stilton and cheddar, are perfect for freezing. Even the smallest portions can be frozen – they’re perfect for dropping straight into soups and sauces for extra flavour.
6. Leftover turkey just doesn’t just have to mean sandwiches, spice things up this year with Turkey, Chickpea and Coconut Curry from lovefoodhatewaste.com or use up those leftover veggies with the Mixed Vegetable Curry.
7. If there’s an abundance of Christmas cake over the festivities, freeze in slices and defrost in the New Year as a treat at the end of a busy week.
8. Use up the smoked salmon from Christmas Day in a hearty Boxing Day breakfast – mix with scrambled eggs and pile on top of toast or a bagel.
9. Keep an eye on the dates on your festive foods – you can eat or freeze foods right up the end of the use by date. Best before dates are for quality you can eat foods after this date but they may no longer be at their best.
10. Party foods that didn’t get eaten, such as quiches and sausage rolls are perfect for freezing and use in packed lunches when we’re back to work or school.

This Christmas you could save up to £50, simply by not throwing away food that could have been eaten.

As well as saving money by preventing waste, you also have the chance to win a Christmas hamper worth £70.  To enter, all you need to do is complete the Food lovers survey between 20th November and 5th December.

The hamper contains food lover goodies such as; weighing scales, Good Food and Good Housekeeping cookery books, storage containers, fridge thermometer and measuring cups.

By using these items and following some simple steps, such as making a shopping list and eating tasty leftovers for lunch, you could enjoy an extra bit of cash in the run up to Christmas and reduce the amount of food ending up in landfill.

Research by the Love Food Hate Waste campaign has shown that UK households throw away a staggering eight million tonnes of food every year – enough to fill Wembley Stadium around eight times over.

Before entering please read the terms and conditions for the prize draw.

For more tips to help save yourself money check our love food page.

New figures published by Defra show that the amount of waste produced in West London has decreased by 30kg per person in the last year.

The figures released on 4 November as part of the municipal waste data for 2009/2010 demonstrate that waste is continuing to fall in all 6 boroughs for the fourth year in a row.

With a population of 1.4 million this means that 42,000 tonnes less waste was sent for landfill in 2009/10 than 2008/09.  It also represents a saving of over £3 million in landfill tax, gate fees and transport.

Ealing has seen the greatest decrease with a saving of 31kg per person making it one of the top ten performers in the country for reducing waste.

Jim Brennan, Director of WLWA said “Residents should congratulate themselves for their efforts in reducing waste and for the increased recycling seen in all boroughs”.

The figures:

To see all the figures visit http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/wastats/bulletin10.htm

Residents are being encouraged to shrink their bins during European Week for Waste Reduction (20 – 28 November 2010).

According to figures released by Defra, households in the six West London boroughs created over 586,000 tonnes of rubbish in 2009/10 – enough to fill 276 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

And although residents managed to reduce their household waste by an average of about 4.5 percent last year, each of us generated about 411 kg of rubbish – that’s about 20.5 times heavier than the luggage allowance for a flight!

What’s happening during the Week?

The waste-saving week will highlight the many things local residents can do to further shrink their bins, such as: reusing, swapping, repairing, sharing, and only buying what you need.

Citizens across Europe will take action to reduce waste and prevent precious resources from ending up in landfill. Across West London the following events are taking place.

List of events

Households across Hounslow have helped save more than £1.2 million by recycling more waste than ever before.

By recycling and reusing, residents have prevented 14,000 tonnes of waste being sent to landfill since April, and saved £1.258 million in landfill taxes.

Cllr Corinna Smart, lead member for environment at the council, said: “If people don’t reuse and recycle more, it is not only a waste of resources; it’s a waste of money.

“We all know the importance of recycling for the environment, but it’s also really important to recycle as much as possible as the cost of landfill is rising every year.

“By recycling more, people are helping to keep this cost down, which helps keep council tax bills down.”

In Hounslow, local residents can recycle all their paper, glass bottles and jars, food tins and cans, aerosols and foil, cardboard, textiles and shoes, beverage cartons, motor oil and printer cartridges. Residents can also recycle all their food waste, like plate scrapings, bread, meat and fish bones, and fruit and vegetable peelings in their large food waste bin.

The council also collect mixed plastic packaging including plastic bottles, trays, tubs and pots in the white sack, and garden waste using the green sack.

For more information visit www.hounslow.gov.uk/recycling or call 020 8583 5555.

Ealing Council’s Recycling Rewards scheme is set to start with £80,000 up for grabs.

Recycling Rewards is a pilot scheme, and the first of its kind in the capital. It sees people living in each of the borough’s 23 electoral wards competing against each other to win cash for their local area.

The ward with the highest proportion of households recycling, as well as the three with the greatest improvement in recycling rates, will be awarded £20,000 each to spend on local environmental projects through their local ward forum.

A baseline survey of recycling participation in all the wards has now been completed, which means the competition can begin. The survey shows a variety of participation rates across the borough.  The highest three wards are Hobbayne (75%), Northfields (71.9%) and Elthorne (70.8%) while the lowest at the moment are Acton Central (47.1%), South Acton (46.5%) and Southall Green (38.3%).

The council used nationally recognised Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) methodology to carry out recycling participation surveys in each ward and will assess which wards have seen the biggest increase in the proportion of households recycling by next spring.  The weight of recycling will not be measured and the council will not be putting electronic chips in bins.

Cabinet member for Transport and Environment, Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, said:

“Congratulations to Hobbayne, Northfields and Elthorne for being the best recyclers in the borough. We all know recycling is so important and we want to show our support for those who take the effort by rewarding those communities with money for projects. There’ll be a prize for the three best improved alongside the best overall, so everyone has a chance of winning.

“Even if people currently use their green box, we’re encouraging them to use the

other means of recycling too such as plastics and food. We know you can do it– since we introduced the kitchen caddy I’ve been pleased to see participation rates for food recycling go up across the borough.

“Now the competition is in full swing and wide open, so let’s get recycling and spreading the word.

For full details visit the Ealing website  http://www.ealing.gov.uk/services/environment/recycling/recycling_rewards/index.html

Recycling household waste will become easier for more than 1,500 households, if trials into a new way of collecting recycling from flats and estates in Hampton and Richmond are successful.

Currently these 1,500 flat dwellers have to sort their recycling into up to seven individual bins – paper, card, green glass, clear glass, plastic bottles etc.

From 11 October, this will be simplified into two re-labelled categories: mixed fibre or mixed containers. ‘Mixed fibre’ will take paper, card, cartons like Tetra Pak and ‘mixed containers’ will take glass (any colour), tins and cans, aerosols, foil, mixed plastic bottles, food trays etc.. There will be several containers of each type at each site. This will mirror the system used by homes across Richmond upon Thames which have the blue and black box recycling scheme.

The intention is to try and drive up recycling rates by making it quicker and simpler for people through only having to split their waste into two containers.

Cllr Virginia Morris, Richmond Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “Richmond upon Thames’ residents are already among the most diligent recyclers in the capital, but we’re determined to bring about a step change in how much waste is steered away from expensive landfill sites. We want to be recognised as number one for recycling in London.

“This trial is the next step in our campaign: we announced a month ago that we’re adding juice boxes, Tetra Pak items, margarine tubs, yoghurt pots and more to the list of what can be recycled for houses on the blue and black box scheme from 8 November.

“We now want to see what effect this simplification will have for recycling from flats. Local people in this trial should find it much quicker, and if the test run increases the volume of waste collected, it will be another major step in the right direction.

“The Council is taxed on landfill waste so every tonne we steer away from such sites represents a financial saving – money which we do not have to pay to the Government and which can instead be used locally.”

The trial will last for six weeks and cover about 1,500 households in Hampton and Richmond. All residents in the trial flats will be written to explaining how they can recycle more.

Once the trial has been completed, information on the expected extra tonnages of recycling collected will be used to inform a bid to the London Waste and Recycling Board to extend the simplified scheme to all flats and estates in the borough.

Currently, the borough’s 15,000 individual flats across 700 estates, recycle a total of around 1,100 tonnes of waste per year. If the trial is extended to the whole borough, the Council expects a 16 per cent rise in recycling from these properties, or over 1,250 tonnes being recycled.

Residents taking part in the trial can comment on the changes by visiting the trial’s web page.

For more information:

• Details of the flats trial
• Original press release
• Contact Richmond press office by emailing Pete le Riche or calling on 020 8891 7160

WLWA extends contract with Powerday to recover materials from mixed residual waste.

Read article.