RECYCLE & REUSE THIS NEW YEAR

In amidst, the Boxing day sales, the Environmental Minister for Wales, Jane Davidson is calling all people to make recycling and re-using their bags a New Year's resolution while they go about their shopping.

Ms. Davidson says:

“I am asking people to remember to take their bags with them whenever they go out shopping in 2010. We want everyone to get used to the idea ahead of our plans to introduce a charge by early 2011. Single use carrier bags are not usually bio-degradable and are a waste of resources. Customers have come to expect free plastic bags at checkouts, but we all need to look at more environmentally-friendly options.”

An estimated 324 million bags a year are handed out in Wales and plastic bags alone account for 2.7 per cent of litter by weight (Keep Wales Tidy survey figures).

The estimated cost of removing this specific litter is £1m annually. All litter removal costs Wales annually £37 million.

To learn more about how you can help future generations by reducing, reusing and recycling your waste please visit the website www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk

For more information on our carrier bags campaign, ‘Get Carried Away’, please visit: www.walescarbonfootprint.gov.uk

CITY COUNCIL FAILS IN LEGAL CHALLENGE OVER RECYCLING

Newport City Council has failed in its legal challenge over a Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) decision to revise landfill allowances downwards.

Newport claims this could cost it thousands of pounds in fines. According to letsrecycle.com the legal ruling means that, from 2010/11, Newport will have to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste it sends to landfill by around 1,600 tonnes a year more than it has in previous years.

Newport claimed that it is being "penalised" for being one of three councils in Wales to have "genuinely" reduced its waste arisings, and stressed that it had focused its recycling and reduction efforts on reaching the initially calculated figures.

PROCUREMENT FOR RECYCLING CONTRACT BEGINS

A group of five South Wales councils has formally begun the procurement process for one of Wales' largest ever waste treatment deals, with a projected value of £1.1 billion over 25 years.

The 'Prosiect Gwyrdd' partnership issued a notice on the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) last week (November 24), inviting anyone interested in bidding for the public private partnership (PPP) deal to contact them and complete a pre-qualification questionnaire.

The partnership - which is being led by Cardiff Council but also involves Caerphilly County Borough Council, Monmouthshire County Council, Newport City Council and Vale of Glamorgan council - is looking to procure facilities to treat the 30% to 35% of its waste that it believes will be left after recycling and composting in the future.