With news on: Aldi cuts plastic; Olympia joins WRAP on food waste; Grundon supports for green project, and; Aberdeenshire HWRC permits.
Aldi to remove plastic from tinned tuna packs
Supermarket chain Aldi is to scrap plastic film packaging on its multipacks of tinned tuna as part of a trial project.
Aldi will be trialling tuna multipacks presented in cardboard rather than a plastic film wrapping
From mid-September, the supermarket will sell four-packs of Tuna Chunks in Brine with a cardboard sleeve, instead of plastic, in over 270 stores across the Midlands, North West and South East.
If the tuna trial – which is due to last for around four months – is successful, the new recyclable sleeve is expected to be rolled out nationally to more than 830 UK stores, which will save over 11 tonnes of plastic each year.
Fritz Walleczek, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility at Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “We’re constantly reviewing our product range to remove and replace single-use and hard-to-recycle plastic packaging. We’ve introduced a number of initiatives to reduce unnecessary plastic already this year, and we’re particularly excited to be trialling the cardboard tuna sleeve, given it’s a first for the UK supermarket sector.
“Cutting waste is such an important part of everything we do at Aldi, and these packaging innovations are another example of us doing just this.”
Olympia London joins WRAP food waste campaign
Exhibition venue Olympia London is joining forces with the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to tackle food waste.
Olympia London is participating in a food waste campaign with WRAP
From September the venue is encouraging all staff and catering partners to monitor personal and corporate wastage with the goal to completely drop food waste from the menu.
Taking part in the WRAP-led campaign “Guardians of Grub”, Olympia London joins the Hospitality & Food service industry’s awareness drive.
In the corporate environment, the Hospitality & Food service industry wastes 1 million tonnes each year, WRAP data suggests.
Olympia London is spearheading the message ‘your business is food; don’t throw it away’ and signing its onsite catering partners up to WRAP’s campaign. The venue is tracking waste by measuring deteriorated food, preparation waste, inedible waste and plate waste.
In addition to catering partners, the venue is inviting all staff to get involved and measure their own food waste during September; plus offering tips on portion control (reducing plate waste) and planning meals / shopping smarter to avoid food going out of date.
In the past year, Olympia London has further optimised waste segregation across onsite catering.
Grundon supports anti fly-tipping work
A project to transform a picturesque beauty spot plagued with illegally dumped waste has been boosted after a donation from Grundon Waste Management.
Hedgelaying at Priory Meadow
Last year Priory Meadow, in the Colne Valley Regional Park, was targeted by fly-tippers, and local environmental charity Groundwork South decided to install strong metal barriers to deter future dumping.
Grundon provided a £4,900 donation via the Landfill Communities Fund for the work and, recognising that the site would also benefit from a more natural look, the money was also used to enable hedgelaying to take place.
Specialist company Micksticks spent two days teaching traditional hedgelaying skills to Bucks Country Park Rangers, Groundwork’s own Green Team members and volunteers.
Bucks Country Parks and Colne Valley added their support by providing time, resources and tools for the work to be completed. As well as improving the area, the hedgelaying has provided a fantastic habitat for local wildlife.
Debbie Valman, programme manager (Thames Valley) Groundwork South, said: “This is a beautiful area which had been blighted with fly-tipping and we decided something needed to be done.
“The installation of the new barriers has given us confidence the dumping of waste won’t happen again and at the same time, we took the opportunity for our teams to learn the ancient art of hedgelaying. They all thoroughly enjoyed trying out their new skills and, as we go into summer, we can already see the results of their handiwork as nature excels itself once again.”
Aberdeenshire to introduce HWRC business permits
New measures are being put in place to increase recycling at Household Recycling Centres (HRCs), as part of the new waste strategy for Aberdeenshire.
The aim of the permit scheme is to move business waste away from recycling centres to create more space for new recyclable materials to improve services to householders.
Ellon HWRC in the east of the county
Businesses will be asked to use the council’s waste transfer stations where they can pay by weight for their recycling and non-recyclable waste.
While most businesses pay the necessary fees to dispose of their waste and recycling responsibly, the current open access to recycling centres means some business waste is being presented as household waste so that it can be processed free of charge, the council claims.
The new permit scheme is one of the measures being introduced next year to prevent this. Currently, as much as 20% of the waste taken to recycling centres is thought to be business waste, the council claims, costing around £500,000 to handle.
Under the new scheme householders using commercial type vehicles (i.e. vans, pick-ups, minibuses or trailers) to take materials to recycling centres will require a permit to do so.
Aberdeenshire Council’s waste manager, Ros Baxter, said: “The approval of the new permit system is very good news as it will allow us to make space for more recyclable materials at recycling centres and improve services for householders.
“Most households will not be affected by the permit system at all as cars, estate cars, people carriers, MPVs and 4x4s will continue to have unlimited access to recycling centres.
The post News in brief (28/08/2019) appeared first on letsrecycle.com.
Source: letsrecycle.com Packaging
