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The European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC) has responded to doubts about the efﬁcacy of recycling by re-stating the environmental beneﬁts of recycling compared to alternatives such as landﬁll and incineration.

ERPC chairman Phil Mogel said: “Every piece of paper in your recycling bin counts for a better environment and society…Consumers can be assured that their efforts in sorting continue to serve a real purpose.”

The ERPC has calculated that if every EU citizen achieved best practice in recycling, another 10 million tonnes

of paper would be recycled, taking the total to more than 70 million tonnes per annum. This would save an additional 14 million tonnes of CO

2 emissions. WRAP studies in the UK conclude that recycling 1 tonne of paper and cardboard produces 1.4 tonnes less of carbon dioxide equivalent than landﬁll, and 0.62 tonnes of CO

2 equivalent less than incineration.

In 2007, paper was recycled at a rate of 64.5% in Europe, with less than 15% being exported to other countries for recycling. The industry has a voluntary target of a 66% recycling rate by the end of 2010.

Philips is calling on businesses, landlords and local authorities to switch to energy-efﬁcient lighting and reduce electricity consumption from lighting by 40%.

The call coincides with the publication of Transforming the Market: Energy Efﬁciency in Buildings , the ﬁnal report from the four-year Energy Efﬁciency in Buildings research project, which argues that energy consumption in buildings could be cut by 60% by 2050. Philips executive Kaj den Daas said that a signiﬁcant proportion of that reduction could be achieved sooner by adopting energy-saving lighting. “If all the lighting in the world were switched to energy efﬁcient solutions, € 120 billion could be saved on electricity, as well as 630 million tonnes of CO

A twenty-ﬁrst century version of the rag and bone cart, Midex’s distinctive WEEECollect.IT van has started visiting the UK’s town and cities as part of the UK’s ﬁrst householdWEEE and battery collection service.

The house-to-house service will collect old TVs, computers, printers and other everyday electrical and electronic goods from people’s front doorsteps and driveways at no charge (with the exception of fridges and freezers).

In addition, householders will be encouraged to hand over spent batteries for recycling in accordance with the European Battery Directive, helping to boost non-lead battery recycling in the UK from its current rate of 4%. The national roll-out by Midex follows successful trials in Aldershot, Farnborough and Guildford late last year. Householders will receive advance notiﬁcation of when the distinctiveWEEECollect.IT van is in their neighbourhood.

Philips Fortimo LED downlighters like those used in the Heineken store in Amsterdam consume 50% less energy than CFL lighters; provide instant light; are dimmable; have a long lifetime (50,000 hours); and are maintenance free.

Last year Green Products accounted for 25% of all Philips’ sales revenue, up from 20% in 2007, putting the electronics company well on the way to meeting its target of 30% green sales by 2012.

Philips categorises Green Products as those that are at least 10% better than previous or competitor models in at least one of the following areas: energy efﬁciency; packaging; hazardous substances; weight; recycling and disposal; and lifetime reliability.

of 600 power plants or 1,800 million oil barrels in a year,” he said.

Lighting currently accounts for 19% of the world’s electricity use. Three-quarters of all lighting is based on old, energy inefﬁcient solutions. Last month Philips Color Kinetics received an award from the US Department of Energy for its progress in developing an LED replacement for halogen or HID-based PAR 38 bulbs used in recessed can lights and track lighting systems.

Tests show that the bulbs due to be launched towards the end of this year are signiﬁcantly more energy efﬁcient than existing LED PAR 38 lamps and almost ﬁve times more efﬁcient than incandescent lamps.