Scottish waste

I was chairing MRW's Scotland conference this week up in Glasgow and was really interested in the ambitious plans that Scotland has for "zero waste". Well 70% recycling, 25% energy from waste (undecided what this means but probably a mix of technologies) and 5% landfill (there will always be something) by 2020.

I'm impressed that the Scottish Government has such ambitious plans, but they really have got a long way to go to meet their targets. In fact, England is still ahead of them in terms of percentage recycled (England is on about 36% and Scotland 32%). But Scotland is way ahead in its thinking - as is Wales - and it is certainly something that us English could learn from.

Paul Sanderson, editor, MRW

Glass recycling's own singing sensation

Move over Susan Boyle, glass recycling has its own singing sensation - Hank the Singing Bottle. He's becoming quite the YouTube hit, with well over 17,000 views last time I checked.

Hank is fronting a new campaign, Friends of Glass, which the European Container Glass Federation is behind. In the YouTube clip, he takes us through his life as various different glass containers, all in song.

Cleverly he's also got a catch phrase 'I'll be back' - which he is stunned to hear a certain Hollywood actor say during his time as a glass make up container in LA.

What the campaign hopes to do is put out the message that glass and glass recycling are good and good for the environment.

The video is a humourous way of engaging the public and it is cleverly one of those links that people are likely to forward on to friends and colleagues. Perhaps there's something that other recyclable materials can learn from this...

See the clip here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9a0gzx_HIE

Andrea Height, MRW, deputy editor

Let's have more recycling bins!

Thinking back to previous posts made on this blog about the need to make recycling facilities convenient - combined with the sunshine I can currently see looking out my office window - has made me think about recycling facilities in public parks.

A few weekends ago, myself and a few friends thought we would have a picnic in Hyde Park. When we were heading off home, we wanted to be able to dispose of our empty plastic bottles and cans. All we could find around the area where we had been sitting was a normal waste bin - so the empties went in there.

I knew the 'Recycle on the Go' scheme had launched in the park - so there were dedicated recycling bins in the park somewhere - but they were nowhere to be seen when we needed them.

What the public need - in parks, on streets, wherever there is a general waste bin - is to also have a bin for commingled recyclables right next to it. Then you will always have somewhere to get rid of your recyclables when you are out and about.

Andrea Height, Deputy Editor, MRW

New Potato head campaign by WRAP

I think the new potato head campaign by WRAP is cool. It is really creative and I think it will have the potential to get people to think about how much food they waste.
I do think that their last campaign with the 'crying pear' was not that effective. If I wasn't working in the industry I would fail to see the significance of a 'crying pear'.

My mind starts to think about other recycling campaigns. If you live in London you would have seen the 'Don't feed me bin' campaign launched by Boris Johnson on TV. In the ad, a rubbish bin screams for more waste. I don't think this was very effective but I think if I was a kid watching it it would scare me!

Liz Gyekye, senior reporter, MRW

New WRAP campaign

I really like the new WRAP Love Food Hate Waste campaign that uses people that look like the food they eat. I'm sure it will have a really good impact on the public and get them to reduce the amount of food they waste.

We have an example of Mr Potato Head on our story here http://www.mrw.co.uk/page.cfm/action=Archive/ArchiveID=10/EntryID=5390

Paul Sanderson, Editor, MRW

Event recycling

I was at an event over the weekend at a major exhibition centre. Outside there were loads of recycling bins, which was good to see.

However, inside near the food areas, there were traditional waste bins. Clearly, the public wanted to recycle as recyclables had been left separated next to the bin. But they had nowhere to do it without going out of the hall.

The lesson is obviously that recycling always needs to be convenient.

Paul Sanderson, editor, MRW

Current climate makes for more creative solutions

I had an interesting conversation with the MD of an equipment manufacturer this week. While he acknowledged that the current economic situation had inevitably had an effect on business, he did note that businesses were still willing to spend money if you were able to offer them a solution to their particular problem rather than simply an 'off the shelf' type answer.

While this is not a 'quick win' approach it is one that has paid dividends for the company in question. It has led to businesses coming back and placing more orders and has helped to demonstrate the market expertise and professionalism of the manufacturer in question.

It just goes to show that if you can demonstrate the value gained, businesses are still willing to part with their hard earned cash.

Andrea Height, deputy editor, MRW