Hertfordshire County Council approved the scheme after a study released the figures that only three percent of all batteries across the UK were being re-used. Executive member for waste, as well as the chairman of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, Derrick Ashley stated that batteries are comprised of important chemicals and materials such as zinc, lithium, and lead which are easily recycled for reuse in other products.

Currently over 600 million batteries are sent to UK landfills every year. It is a huge waste of material resources to be ending up in landfills when they could be recycled to generate new products, adds Mr Ashley. Residents of Hertfordshire will now be encouraged and urged to recycle their used batteries a consistent basis to help cut down on this misuse of resources.

Part of the new programme will see that any large shops which sell batteries will now have specified bins for recycling of them properly. Additionally, the scheme will require community volunteers to oversee battery collection boxes placed around town.

By saving the packaging from Ella’s Kitchen baby food containers, customers of the popular baby-food suppliers can receive up to 2p per pouch to be donated to either charity or a local school of the customer’s choice. Participants can simply download a Royal Mail label for free and send the pouches into Ella’s Kitchen.

The collected waste packaging will be used as recyclable material for items such as bibs, diaper bags, pencil cases, and lunch sacks. Ella’s Kitchen will then sell the recycled products which will be available sometime in late 2010.

Founder of Ella’s Kitchen, and mother to Ella, Alison Lindley, said that Ella’s Kitchen loves to give back and that the company was thrilled to be working on the recycling project with new partner Terracycle. She added that the project is great on two levels because it will contribute to being eco-friendly as well as raise money for charities, schools, and nursery groups.

The company expects to save thousands of pouches from continuing onto rubbish bins and landfills. Plus they feel that kids can partake in the recycling as well while at school or play group, which will help educate them on the importance of recycling waste.

In light of this new information industry insiders are warning computer owners to make sure that any redundant ICT equipment is properly wiped clean of all data prior to disposing of it. Deleting old records is particularly important when hard drives contain financial or personal information.

UK and other European nations have begun incorporating Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) policies into their legislative thinking as improper disposal of electronics begins to have a negative impact on the environment.

Now, under European Union directives business are being ordered to dispose of IT equipment through an external agency and along with disposal request a ‘end of life’ receipt proving proper disposal of the redundant electrical equipment.

Secure IT Recycling Ltd. are a UK-based electronics recycling firm which specialize in the proper disposal of computers, printers, and destruction of data. The Business and Industry Magazine chose the up and coming company as their Company of the Month recently for their efforts in WEEE recycling awareness.

Now, the youngsters are leading a crusade of their own making to get irresponsible pet owners to keep their dogs’ messes off the school lawn. The posters are designed to educate the inconsiderate dog owner’s on what happens when they allow their dogs to poop just anywhere.

Posters include messages such as “We like to walk to school but not with dog poo on our shoe”, and other such catchy phrases designed to thwart potential offenders and encourage pet owners to clean up after their animals.

The project has been a school-wide effort and the posters will be part of a environmental clean up day which will take place on March 10 for the entire Arnot Street in Walton.

Last month, literally hundreds of posters were issued across the city in an attempt to crack down on dog fouling. Fines will increase to £1,000 for owners who fail to comply with local, Liverpool clean-up laws. The Arnot Street event is part of the overall scheme to rid the city of fouling completely.

Gary Shaw, the head teacher at St Mary’s, stated that the issue of dog fouling outside of the school has been persistent for years and that the kids have had to accept it as a stain on their school grounds. He adds that thanks to new campaigns such as this one, the kids don’t have to put up with a filthy campus any longer.

Supporters of the move to implant chips into wheelie bins are saying that the move will promote better recycling habits across the UK, however opponents of the tactic claim that its too Big Brother-esque, and they fear the government will use the microchips to punish those who do not recycle enough.

A pro-privacy advocacy group called Big Brother Watch made an enquiry using the Freedom of Information Act to discover that many of the councils have already installed the microchips into current wheelie bins but have yet to active them because they predicted they would meet with community backlash.

Dylan Sharpe, the campaign director for Big Brother said that the government is waiting to use them when the political climate begins to shift towards a more friendly attitude. Sharpe added that the chips represent another piece of surveillance being used to impose upon citizens daily lives.

He also pointed out that by charging with a “pay as you throw”, it will punish larger families who naturally generate more waste causing some households to turn to illegal dumping or burning to avoid paying extra.

Bristol City Council has just proposed a different kind of scheme which would reward households who recycle more with incentives rather than punish households which are generating too much waste. The programme in Bristol is voluntary not compulsory.

Southeastern will partner with Bromley South station for the scheme set to began March 2. For the first time, commuters at this station will be capable of separating out their paper, plastic, and metal can garbage avoiding sending such waste to a landfill.

The Bromley Council has said that it will be responsible for emptying the three recycling units and hopes to recycle at least 10 tonnes of waste per year.

James Cleverly, Chairman at London Waste and Recycling Board as well as an assembly member for Bromley and Bexley, was on hand to announce the new scheme which began last week.

He said that Bromley is at the top of the London spectrum in terms of household and business recycling. He added that the community is happy to provide commuters with the means to recycle and maintain good habits which have begun in the household.

The scheme will operate between partners Recycle Zone, Metro Newspapers, and the council at Bromley South station.

If the volunteer-based rewards scheme is approved, Bristol will be the first district to approve such a measure. The scheme calls for black wheelie bins to be outfitted with microchips which will weight the amount of waste being recycled per household. Incentives will then be given to households producing less landfill waste and recycling more often.

Gary Hopkins, a Liberal Democrat, visited London along with a team to showcase the plans before Defra and submit them for a funding decision. Mr Hopkins, who is responsible for the council’s waste department, announced that the meeting had gone well.

If approved for funding, the Bristol City Council would begin running a trial involving 2,362 homes located between Bishopston, Redland, and Cotham. The microchips will keep record of weights of recycled waste and identify which household which bins belong to. The trial will last six months, and if successful could lead to a city wide implementation of the scheme.

Chief executive for the new project, Martin Winterkorn, said that the automaker was hoping the car would expand from zero to three percent in the cars’ share portfolio by the year 2018. Along with the electric vehicle announcement, VW also used the show to exhibit several new models including the Seat brand’s sporty, all-electric model, the IBE.

Other carmakers which showcased electric or hybrid vehicles, included Porsche’s new 918 Spyder which is a petrol-electric hybrid concept vehicle. The new Porsche model can achieve up to 78 miles per gallon switching from petrol on the highway to electric in the city.

By far the highlights of this year’s car show in Geneva were the electric or hybrid vehicles. The competitive market is clearly moving towards these types of vehicle as petrol prices soar and the trends move closer towards eco-friendly products.

However, most industry analysts are still estimating that these types of vehicles, including plug-in vehicles, will still only garner small sales in the auto industry. While many say there will be a long term shift to electric vehicles the shift will be slower in coming than the market is gearing up. Namely due to steep initial costs and lack of recharging infrastructures.

In the statement the British Plastics Federation claims that the target, which would constitute a 32% increase over the course of under ten years, is unachievable and sets an impossible standard. They continued stating that even if the amount of funding needed was given to build adequate facilities to up the recycling infrastructure, the goal could still not be reached in time.

The statement continues to criticise the target, stating that by aiming for such a high target, it could actually jeopardize UK recycling by pushing the recycling industry into uneconomical and non eco-safe measures through the heavy consumption of water and energy needed to meet such a goal.

The Federation sited Germany as an example, commenting that Germany has been operating an active plastics recycling programme for almost 15 years but has only managed to increase recycling rates by 42%. Achieving 32% in under ten years, the Federation states, is not possible.

The BPF was quick to point out that they support any responsible measures that the Government would like to enact to prevent waste from ending up in landfills, but that the infrastructure to impact such change so rapidly is not in existence yet.

The BPF goes on to say that a substantial new investment is required first in order for mixed plastics and other forms of plastics to have the proper facilities to be sorted before any targets can be put into place. They continued to propose that the Government aim for 50 percent of plastics recycled by 2020, which although is a lot, they admit is achievable.

RecycleBank runs programmes across the US designed at helping jumpstart neighbourhood recycling in cities across the nation. The company rewards residents with points for every time they recycle. The more points a household earns is dependent upon how often that household recycles.

Points can be redeemed for items at retailers, grocery stores, chemists, and restaurants. Houston City Council agreed to partner with RecycleBank for the rewards programme in an effort to boost community efforts in recycling basic household products.

Part of the programme is allowing residents to mix recyclables by incorporating a single bin-system in which all recyclables are placed in one bin and the sorted by the city later. In January, the City council approved a budget to buy 54,000 new recycle carts which will be distributed to households around the Houston area.

Since the trial programme was run four months ago, the Houston area households have doubled their recycling efforts. In just four months time the area has collected 3.3 million pounds in recycling sending that much less waste to landfills. The success of the trial prompted the City council to expand the programme on a more permanent basis.

WRAP’s Recycle Now Partners announced the theme on their website just before a March 1st spring drive will launch to promote greater residential recycling in areas such as WEEE.

Recycle Week is held annually since its inception in 2004, but normally it focuses on general reuse, reduce and recycle issues. The change in focus is indicative of WRAP’s urgent need to get UK households to recycle WEEE waste more aggressively.

The organisation said on their website that Recycle Week will be held from June 21st to 27th and that they would like households across the UK to join them in recycling all WEEE.

The new programme began in January 2007 and will aim to improve WEEE recycling in all areas across the UK.

Chief executive for the company, Rupert Soames also announced that the Glasgow-based company saw an increase in capital expenditure guidance from £20 million to £200m for 2010. This new capital will be used to build a multi-million pound facility in Dumbarton.

The new plant will help bring 113 jobs to the region as well as be a major expansion for the Clydeside town branch of the company. This is the location where a majority of Aggreko’s generators are designed and assembled.

For the 2009 fiscal year, Aggreko has posted profits totaling £245m, a huge increase from 2008’s figures which came in at £191.6m. Earlier in the month, Aggreko announced they won the contract to provide electricity equipment to stadiums in South Africa set to host the 2010 World Cup. The contract is estimated to be worth £30m.

Last year, the Scottish company supplied 56 countries with auxiliary power and this year has sealed major contracts for 360 megawatts of power for both Oman and Panama.

At present, Aggreko supplies Uganda with half its electricity, and this year will begin supplying Kenya with up to 15% of its power. The company also provides in Sri Lanka, and has been supplying generators to the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.