A: Recycling is important for many reasons. Often we promote recycling as a way to keep waste out of landfills, which are often unpopular. It is also important to remember that recycling recovers valuable raw materials. If we make aluminum cans from recycled cans, then we don’t have to disturb the environment by mining and smelting the mineral bauxite which is used in the manufacture of aluminum. Finally, recycling reduces pollution and saves energy that would have been expended when making products from “virgin” or unrecycled raw materials. In many places, you may be required or encouraged by law to recycle. Recycling works best when we remember to buy and use products made from recycled materials, such as newspaper or glass.

Q: When did recycling start?

A: Recycling has really been around for perhaps thousands of years! For example, ancient cultures that began making metal products, could melt down old broken items like pots or swords and make new ones. More recently, during World War I and II, people would have paper drives and metal drives to collect materials for the war effort. Nothing was wasted! When landfill became a cheap way of disposal in the 1940’s and 1950’s, recycling was less popular. But modern recycling of glass, paper, cans, etc. became more popular again in the 1970’s with drop-off recycling centres.

Q: When recycling came about, did many people contribute to it?

A: Recycling has been very popular in most communities, but often there is resistance if people think it will cost more money, or take more time. Often there is difficulty over who will pay for recycling (i.e. the Local Authority, or the residents) but when you analyze the savings of not throwing things in the landfill (which costs an average of £40 per ton in landfill tax (2009)) it make sense to recycle. Plus, many recyclable products can be sold to help cover the cost of processing. Newspapers, for example, have to be cleaned of contaminants after collection, baled or compacted, and then transported to a big paper recycling company that turns the paper into pulp and then into new products. All this costs money.

Q: How does recycling help the environment?

A: Recycling helps the environment by slowing down the rate at which we have to burn rubbish or put it in landfills. With fewer landfills we can have more space for people to farm, live, and work. Recycling also helps by reducing our need to consume fresh natural resources to make new products. As a result we can save these resources for use by future generations. Most importantly, recycling saves energy and reduces pollution. This could help slow down global climate change, another environmental problem caused by burning fossil fuels like oil and gas.

Q: What can be recycled?

A: Technically, almost anything could be recycled. If we had complex collection, sorting and processing facilities, we could separate almost any household or industrial product and find a new use for these materials. Unfortunately, it can be expensive to do this. Most recycling programs recycle the most valuable items or the items that make up the majority of the waste stream. These include: cardboard, newspaper, office paper, PET and HDPE plastic, aluminum, steel, and glass.

Q: What can be made with recycled items?

A: There are more recycled content products on the market than we can list here. Cardboard, office paper, newspaper, plastic, aluminum, steel, and glass are often made back into their original product, or made into new products. For example, some types of plastic (such as HDPE milk jugs) are used to make plastic lumber. Recycled glass can also be used instead of sand to fill asphalt. Agricultural waste is composted and then sold as topsoil. There are new and inventive uses coming up all the time.

Q: Has recycling changed throughout the years it has been around? If so, how?

A: Recycling technology always has to keep up with new packaging and materials. For example, 20 or 30 years ago you could still buy milk in returnable, refillable glass bottles. Now you buy it in a plastic bottle. Planners have to create new systems to collect, process and recycle the plastic “HDPE” (high density polyethylene), and then make the plastic into a new product (such as plastic lumber).

Changes in how landfills are managed have affected recycling. It is getting more expensive to throw things in landfills, because more engineering and environmental protection goes into designing landfills.

Many recycling programs now are run by private waste companies such as WSR recycling Limited.

Q: Do you think recycling will be the way of the future or do you think it is already?

A: Yes, recycling is the way of the future. People do not want to build new landfills, and are also starting to recognize that it is just plain wasteful to throw so many reusable things away. There are a lot of energy savings and resource savings associated with recycling.

Q: Do many companies or schools recycle?

A: Many businesses recycle to save money. The most commonly recycled material at businesses is cardboard and paper. Depending on the type of business, they also recycle things like metal shavings from machining operations, or leftover product from manufacturing, because these waste items actually have a lot of value in reuse or recycling. A lot of schools recycle office paper and cardboard.

Q: Are there any consequences for recycling?

A: There have been some environmental problems associated with recycling. There are always contaminants in the recycling process. For example, re-pulping paper sometimes involves removing the ink and other contaminants from the printing process. This can create a whole new kind of waste. Technicians working on the problem are trying to clean up the recycling process. But perhaps the BIGGEST consequence of recycling is that while it is great to collect all these things for recycling, the products have to be made into something new! We all must support the cause by buying products made from recycled materials, like recycled paper. Look for the “recycled” logo.

Q: Is paper worth any money when you recycle it?

A: There are many different kinds of paper, and the value of recycled paper changes all the time. Sometimes it is very lucrative to recycle old corrugated containers (cardboard boxes) and there is almost always a good market for it.

There are many other external costs of waste that people don’t always think about. These include long-term environmental harm from landfills, cost of building new landfills (and lots of public opposition) wasted resources being buried in landfills, wasted energy in the extraction of raw materials that could have been avoided through recycling, and so on.

Q: Where can I hire a skip from?

A: Please contact WSR Recycling Limited. We are based in Widnes. You can order online or please phone us on 0151 423 5928.

Q: Who do I need to talk to about my waste and recycling?

A: WSR Recycling is able to talk to you about all of your waste and recycling needs and issues. Please contact us on 0151 423 5928 to discuss your needs today.

Q: Where can I learn more about waste and recycling?

Here are a list of resources that you might find useful:

http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/

www.recycleuk.com

http://www.wrap.org.uk/

http://www.woodrecyclers.org/

http://www.carbonfootprint.com/

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/

http://www.recycling.co.uk/

www.letsrecycle.co.uk

www.defra.gov.uk

The company manages a variety of contracts with Local Authorities and commercial businesses collecting waste which is delivered to its Widnes site for sorting and recycling. The business currently has a capacity to handle 115,000 tonnes of waste every year with more room to expand on its intake.

Nick Prescott, Managing Director said “A lot of customers have been surprised at how big our operation is when they visit our site. Many people saw us more as a skip hire company and we do so much more than just that.

“As landfill sites are no longer a viable option for the country, we strive to make sure that every scrap of waste that comes in goes for recycling. We actually now recycle at least 85% of all waste delivered to us and in June we had our best ever month with just 9% of waste being non-recyclable. With landfill tax at £40 per tonne delivered and rising by £8 per year until 2013, recycling with us is now a cheaper option for our customers”

Despite the recession the company is planning to grow its operations by adding new recycling lines for plastics and other mixed recyclables. It is also on the look-out to buy a similar business to further grow its operations.

The company relaunched its website and hopes to use it to help educate people about the environment and recycling, as well as letting customers order skips and recycling / tipping plant online.

Mr Prescott says “We have devised a plan to extend our business lines and ultimately we want to be the largest independent waste and recycling business in the North West. We have built a great base operation with highly skilled staff. The next step for us is to strengthen our key customer contracts and we are open to buying a business to help us achieve that.”

A public inquiry into the Mersey Gateway scheme at Runcorn has heard calls for a complete re-think with a warning that tolls will blight lives and the local economy.

The National Alliance Against Tolls (NAAT) says it backs the idea of a new crossing over the River Mersey to ease congestion but insists journeys should remain free of charge.

The original plan for the Mersey Gateway envisaged a new toll-free crossing at Runcorn.

But when the Government refused to approve funding for the scheme planners came-up with an alternative for a tolled bridge built under a Private Finance Initiative.

That scheme calls for tolls to be imposed not only on a new bridge but also on the existing Silver Jubilee Bridge, which was built with taxpayers’ money.

NAAT spokesman John McGoldrick said there was no record of a similar phenomenon anywhere in Britain.

He told the Mersey Gateway Public Inquiry that the proposal for stiff tolls on cars and trucks should be scrapped.

Mr McGoldrick told the inquiry: “The opposition and hatred of tolls goes back to the Magna Carta in 1215 which described tolls as ‘evil’.

“Tolls are a regressive tax which takes no account of the ability to pay or the size of a car. The driver of an old Mini is forced to pay the same toll as the driver of a new Mercedes.

“The proposals being considered at this Inquiry are particularly iniquitous as they involve the first ever imposition of a toll on a free bridge.

“Halton will be the first local authority in Britain where you will not be able to move from one side to the other without paying a toll tax.

“A new bridge was originally intended to improve communications and remove any constraint on cross river travel but the council have completely lost the plot.

“Instead, the plan now is that, when the bridge opens, in there will actually be less traffic crossing the river – on both bridges.

“A combination of the reduced cross-river traffic and the tolls will be an economic and social disaster for the region and particularly for the people of Halton.

“Businesses will find that employees, suppliers and customers are reluctant to pay a toll to reach them.

“People on low incomes will think twice before paying a toll to visit family and friends.”

Mr McGoldrick said the plan for roads leading to the new bridge means most cross-river and heavy traffic will be routed through residential areas.

He said: “The traffic will be routed along the Central Expressway which will be changed beyond its intended purpose to try to cope with the weight of traffic.

“The hard shoulder will be consumed and increased noise and emissions will be brought right into the centre of residential areas.

“In order to sweeten this poisoned chalice, the Council at one stage were saying that their aim was that local people would not have to pay a toll.

“This was later changed to promises of a ‘discount’.

“But the Council cannot say what this discount will be. Apparently this is because they have to agree this discount with the private operator who will control both the new bridge and the existing bridge, which the Council will hand over to them.

“Apart from not knowing what this discount might be there is a bigger problem in that no one knows what the tolls will be anyway.

“The Council are asking the Government to agree that the tolls for a car to make a return journey across the river could be anywhere between two pounds and five pounds.

“This would make the bridges the third most expensive tolled crossing in Britain.

“How strange that people should be given the sop of a discount when they are currently able to cross the river without paying anything other than the normal road taxes.”

“The authorities and Government seem to be hell bent on imposing more perverse tolls wherever it can, without regard to the economic, social and environmental damage that they inflict and do not seem to care that they are committing political suicide.

“Cosmetic changes to this plan will achieve nothing. The inspector should should recommend to the Minister that this scheme be rejected.”

The project would be joint-funded by central Government and the private sector, through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI), with about 77% coming from private backers.

It could open as soon as 2014 with the one way tolls for cars costing around £2-50p and HGVs paying as much as £10 each way.

The public inquiry, chaired by Mr Alan Gray at the Stobart Stadium, is expected to last for four weeks.

It will hear evidence from the scheme promoters, Halton Borough Council, experts and opponents including NAAT, local residents and environmentalists.

Halton Council leader Cllr Tony McDermott has described the project as vital for the social and economic future of the region.

In his submission cllr McDermott said: “The proposals before the inquiry are supported by extensive investigation and assessment of alternatives, exploring different routes for the new crossing and also looking into public transport and travel demand as solutions to the acute failure of the Silver Jubilee Bridge.

“I feel confident that we have developed the best solution, which is economic, it fits the environment and it is deliverable within the funding terms we have agreed with Government.

“The project has the potential to kick-start regeneration in the borough. Research, carried out by the project team, shows the proposed new bridge and associated regeneration activity will help to bring a number of major benefits to the region.”

The Mersey Gateway scheme proposes a new tolled bridge over the Mersey, between the Central Expressway in Runcorn and Eastern Bypass in Widnes.

The existing Silver Jubilee Bridge, which will also be tolled, will be “de-linked” from trunk roads, intended for use only by local traffic, pedestrians and cyclists.

After hearing evidence the inspector will then make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport on whether the proposal should be approved.

The pilot is now underway in the Midlands and the North West, involving the National Trust, National Farmers Union, United Utilities, British Waterways, Countryside Alliance, Country Land Association, Network Rail and the Highways Agency. These organisations will record fly-tipping on their land until April 2010 using the Flycapture system.

If the pilot proves viable, the Agency said the information provided will help make a case for providing landowners with their own system for accurately reporting future incidents.

Half of local landowners questioned through the Defra-funded Landowner Partnership Project said that illegally dumped waste has become a significant concern – with some experiencing more than one hundred separate incidents in a year.

According to the EA, 83% of landowners do not formally record incidents, often because they see no direct incentive for doing so.

Gerald Lee, from the EA’s Landowner Partnership, said: “We need this level of understanding to be able to provide tools and guidance for tackling a problem that we know anecdotally is a big issue for Britain’s landowners.”

The Budget report said that the standard rate of landfill tax would rise by £8 per tonne on 1 April each year until 2013.

As a result, the tax will rise to £48 for each tonne of waste sent to landfill from 1 April next year, then climb to £56 in 2011, £64 in 2012 and £72 in 2013.

In addition to increases in the standard rate of landfill tax, the Treasury also moved to increase the number of waste types that will be covered by the levy. It said that from September it would reverse a Court of Appeal ruling that allowed certain engineering materials to be exempt from the tax, and would also reclassify certain inert wastes that currently qualify for a lower tax rate of just £2.50 a tonne so that they too will be charged the full £40 rate.

Michele Hood, from the environmental tax team at accountant Deloitte, said the changes would lead to “significant” increases in the cost of disposing of waste for businesses, particularly in the manufacturing and engineering sectors. She added that just the move to reclassify inert wastes would generate £160m in extra revenue for the Treasury.

The tax increases are intended to provide firms and councils with a financial incentive to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill as the government seeks to avoid imminent EU fines as a result of its failure to meet landfill reduction targets.

The move will also strengthen the economic case for recycling and waste-to-energy technologies, such as anaerobic digestion, which will become more attractive to investors as the cost of sending waste to landfill increases.

The pioneering facility in Huyton, Merseyside, is the first of its kind in the UK. It uses a process which converts household and commercial waste into refined renewable biomass fuel products and recovered mixed recyclable materials. This involves refining the waste materials, including household waste, using multi-stage separation and patented treatment processes. Orchid’s forward-looking approach includes finding long-term markets for waste products making the process sustainable in the longer term.

Given increasing legislative measures and environmental concerns, the demand for such expertise and technologies is likely to continue to grow rapidly.

MWDA Director, Carl Beer said: “Merseyside produces almost 700,000 tonnes of waste a year. We see this as a valuable resource and we want to recover some of that value from waste which hasn’t been recycled at the kerbside.

“This is a unique demonstration project and we’re confident it will prove to be an invaluable part of the overall solution – and not just for Merseyside. The entire waste management industry is eagerly awaiting results of the technology we’re using.”

The facility, on Huyton Business Park in Knowsley, uses a low temperature technology known as mechanical heat treatment to convert waste into a renewable biomass fuel. This fuel can then be used as a sustainable alternative to expensive and diminishing reserves of fossil fuels in order to generate power and heat in various types of combustion plants elsewhere.

Orchid Managing Director, Steve Whatmore, said: “Orchid is proud to be associated with this showcase of its technologies and celebrates the dawn of a new era in waste recycling and recovery.”

The facility includes a visitor centre designed to support MWDA’s Education and Awareness programme and was officially opened today by Councillor Kevin Cluskey, Chairperson of MWDA, and Hugh Hoather, President of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management.

Councillor Kevin Cluskey said: “We hope this facility will prove itself as a modern solution to waste management over the next few years. It is the unique thinking behind the technology which could help Merseyside to tackle its waste mountain.”

For more information go to www.orchid-environmental.co.uk