Page 4 - LONDON EDIT 2008-2009 pj

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Reverse vending turns trash into cash

Aberdeen residents can look forward to discounted bus journeys following the launch of Scotland’s first reverse vending recycling project by Stagecoach and Aberdeenshire Council.

An automatic reverse vending machine at the Ellon Park and Ride facility allows commuters to exchange used drinks cans and plastic bottles for Stagecoach Green points.

Green points can be redeemed for discounted bus travel at a rate of 50 green points for a 20p travel voucher and 100 points for a 50p voucher. Users receive one Green point for every item recycled.

The reVend FR 600 supplied by the Reverse Vending Corporation automatically sorts cans and bottles and prints a ticket for every item recycled. It has a capacity of 2,000 items. Earlier in 2008, Stagecoach launched a partnership with Perth and Kinross Real Nappy Network (PKRNN) to offer a week’s free bus travel to anyone who signed up for PKRNN’s real nappy service.

www.stagecoachgroup.com www.reversevending.co.uk

Stagecoach Group Chief Executive Brian Souter launches Scotland’s first reverse vending recycling scheme at the Ellon Park and Ride facility in Aberdeenshire

Avery has joined forces with the Green Belt Movement to plant 100,000 new trees in Kenya.

Every time a customer redeems the voucher code on promotional packs of Avery Eco-Friendly Laser Addressing Labels, Recycled Labels and Laser ID Labels, Avery will plant a tree. Customers can enter code details on Avery’s dedicated microsite at

www.nature.avery.eu

The Green Belt Movement was founded in 1977 byWangari Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobelw Peace Prize. Since then, it has planted more than 40 million trees, increasing forest coverage, conserving

f ple.

HP is to offer Boston-Power’s long-lasting Sonata Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery cell as an upgrade option on select HP consumer notebooks. HP Enviro Series program notebook batteries with Sonata technology are claimed to deliver ‘like-new performance’ for three years, unlike other batteries that start to deteriorate after three to six months.

The use of longer-lasting batteries has environmental benefits as it reduces the need to replace batteries so often – according to a recent Harris Interactive poll, 40% of consumers who have owned a notebook for thre replaced the battery as many as five times.

In the same poll, more than one third of notebook us would be willing to pay more for batteries that are bett 54% said they would pay more for one that recharged m (Sonata has 50% faster recharge times); and 51% said they would pay extra for a battery that came with a two-year warranty (HP Enviro Series program notebook batteries with Sonata technology have three-year warranties). www.hp.com

AVERY TO PLANT TREES IN KENYA

HP to offer long-lasting Sonata laptop batteries

London Remade award winners announced

In 2008, the combined purchases of London-based organisations that have signed up to the Mayor of London’s Green Procurement Code diverted 72,490 tonnes of waste from landfill. According to London Remade, this is enough waste to fill 187 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The 126 signatories to the Mayor of London’s Green Procurement Code spent £306 million on sustainable and recycled products and services from more than 500 suppliers. Purchases included 5,074 remanufactured printer cartridges; 23,840 bags of fairtrade tea; 21 energy-efficient streetlamps; and 892,366 reams of recycled paper. The purchase of recycled paper alone resulted in the equivalent savings of 36,958 trees, 5,000m 3 of landfill space and 65,214,107m 3 of water. The winners of the 2008 Awards for outstanding achievement were Mapeley

Estates Ltd, London Fire Brigade, the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and Transport for London.

The Mayor of London’s Green Procurement Code is a free support service set up to help London-based organisations reduce their environmental impact through responsible purchasing.

www.greenprocurementcode.co.uk

The Award trophy is made from recycled glass encapsulating a length of reclaimed copper.