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greenAgenda Antalis McNaughton’s closed loop
paper recycling service has been highly
commended in the third annual European
Paper Recycling Awards organised by the
European Recovered Paper Council.
Full Cycle collects waste paper from customers’
premises and returns it to ArjoWiggins mills in France
and Denmark where it is made into recycled brands,
such as Coccoon, Cyclus and Conqueror, that are then
sold back to customers.
Businesses pay to have the waste collected but earn
money back in the form of account credits for every tonne
of waste paper recycled.
This year’s European Paper
Recycling Award winners were:
n Palwaste Recycling, a company
set up by Stora Enso Barcelona
and engineering frm Alucha to
develop a recycling solution for
‘plastic-aluminium laminates’ used
in drinks cartons;
n PTS for an online NIR
measurement system that
improves consistency and economy in de-inking plants
for recycled paper; and
n Birmingham City Council and Smurft Kappa Recycling for
increasing the amount of paper recovered from the waste
stream from 750 tonnes when they started working
together in 1993 to 40,000 tonnes per annum today.
www.paperforrecycling.eu www.fullcyclepaper.com
So says environmental planning consultancy Atmos
Consulting, following its analysis of recent statistics
relating to roofs that are partially or completely covered
in vegetation planted in substrate over a waterproof
membrane.
It found that in addition to their environmental
contribution (e.g. providing habitat for wildlife, absorbing
pollution and reducing the risk of fooding), green roofs can
be expected to last 2.5 to 3.5 times longer than standard
roofs and insulate buildings to prevent heat loss in winter and
heat gain in the summer. According to one study, green roofs
can annually save 2 litres of fuel oil per square metre.
Roofs covered in rolls of sedum are the easiest to install
and maintain, says Atmos. Biodiversity/brown roofs with
fowers, ponds, wildlife towers and even trees have higher
development and maintenance costs and can be very heavy,
placing load-bearing requirements on building structures.
Green roofs save energy
and cash
Offce workers break habits of a lifetime as
print volumes plummet
The number of pages printed by UK offce workers has dropped by a massive 40%
in the last 12 months, from an average of 10,000 sheets per year to just 6,000
according to the latest annual environmental survey by Kyocera Mita. This is the
frst time print volumes have fallen since the survey started in 2007.
Tracey Rawling Church, director of Brand and Reputation at Kyocera Mita, said:
“We’ve been hearing about the paperless offce for decades, but this is the frst
concrete evidence we’ve seen that shows offce-based workers’ love affair with the
printed page is beginning to wane. There is far greater confdence in mobile technology
and electronic information, meaning that there is less demand for the comfort of a
piece of paper.”
Another factor might be a growing trend for automated systems such as mandatory
duplex (up 5% from 2010) and card-controlled access (up 8% from 2010).
www.kyoceramita.co.uk/survey2011
BIC is taking over as sponsor of
TerraCycle’s schools-based pen
recycling scheme and extending it
to offces and schools nationwide,
creating the UK’s frst national
scheme for recycling writing
instruments.
The BICWriting Instruments Brigade
programme enables offces and schools
to collect any make or type of used
pen, marker or highlighter in designated
collection boxes that, when full, can be
returned to TerraCycle at no cost.
TerraCycle will recycle the pens into
watering cans, pen pots, waste bins, park
benches and other plastic items.
For each pen collected, BIC will
donate two points that can either be
turned into a 2p contribution to a school
or charity or be spent on a range of
charitable gifts.
TerraCycle runs separate collection
schemes for yoghurt pots, coffee refll
packs, baby wipes packaging, baby
food pouches, toothpaste tubes and
toothbrushes.
To take part in the BICWriting
Instruments Brigade, please register at
www.terracycle.co.uk
Loans matched
to savings
The Carbon Trust and Siemens have
launched a scheme to provide UK
businesses with fnance for green
equipment, such as low energy lighting,
energy-effcient motors, low carbon air
conditioning or biomass heating.
Open to any business, the Carbon
Trust/Siemens Energy Effcient Finance
Scheme aims to match monthly
payments to savings from lower energy
consumption.
The Carbon Trust will assess the likely
carbon, energy and cost savings of any
application for fnance and Siemens
Financial Services will manage the
provision of funding. It expects to provide
£550 million between 2011 and 2014.
www.energyeffciencyfnancing.co.uk
A separate survey by Lexmark has
found that almost three out of four
UK workers (73%) are printing fewer
emails than one year ago and half
(53%) are outputting less general
business and marketing material.
Four out of 10 businesses expect
to reduce expenditure on print by
between 5% and 20% in 2011.
www.fullcyclepaper.com
National pen
recycling scheme
launched
Sustainable
Editor’s Choice Award
TerraCycle