Two tiny kittens had a lucky discovery when they were found after being dumped in a skip

The two adorable kittens were discovered by the employees of Basingstoke Skip Hire. If it wasn’t for their lucky discovery then the poor animals would have gone through the crusher or died of starvation.

We can’t understand why anyone would think this gorgeous pair would deserve to be thrown into the rubbish.

Luckily they have found a new loving home with Paige Chapman, one of the volunteers from animal charity STARescue who nursed them back to health.

Are These the Cutest Things Found in a Skip?

Under current legislation councils have the power to issue fixed penalty notices of up to £110, or push for criminal convictions and fine of up to £1,000.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said: “Honest, hard-working people have been punished for innocent mistakes with heavy-handed bin fines for far too long. We are now consigning these bin-fines to the scrap heap of history.

“We want to see people helping us to boost recycling rates by putting out their rubbish correctly, but bullying them with fines is not the way to do it. This consultation will mean that only those causing real problems for their community will get punished.”

The new changes will mean that only people only be causing a “harm to local amenity” by putting out their rubbish incorrectly and hopefully put an end to the ridiculous charges for innocent mistakes.

Council Bin Fines Get Scrapped

It’s amazing (and pretty worrying!) when you think about just how much rubbish we throw away. Take a look at them and let us know what you think.

General Rubbish

• The UK produces more than 434 million tonnes of waste every year. This rate of rubbish generation would fill the Albert Hall in London in less than 2 hours.
• Every year UK households throw away the equivalent of 3 ½ million double-decker buses (almost 30 million tonnes), a queue of which would stretch from London to Sydney(Australia) and back.
• On average, each person in the UK, throws away seven times their body weight (about 500kg) in rubbish every year.

Glass

• On average, every family in the UK consumes around 330 glass bottles and jars a year. (British Glass)
• It is not known how long glass takes to break down but it is so long that glass made in the Middle East over 3000 years ago can still be found today.
• Recycling two bottles saves enough energy to boil water for five cups of tea.

Fantastic plastic

• Every year, an estimated 17 ½ billion plastic bags are given away by supermarkets. This is equivalent to over 290 bags for every person in the UK. 17 ½ billion seconds ago it was the year 1449.
• We produce and use 20 times more plastic today than we did 50 years ago!

Oil

• 1 litre of oil can pollute 1 million litres of fresh drinking water (Scottish Oil Care Campaign).
• Waste oil from nearly 3 million car oil changes in Britain is not collected. If collected properly, this could meet the annual energy needs of 1.5 million people. (Scottish Oil Care Campaign)

Preposterous paper

• About one fifth of the contents of household dustbins consists of paper and card, of which half is newspapers and magazines.This is equivalent to over 4kg of waste paper per household in the UK each week.

Persistent packaging

• In 2001 UK households produced the equivalent weight of 245 jumbo jets per week in packaging waste.
• Every year each person produces 4 times as much packaging waste as their luggage allowance on a jumbo jet.

Revolting rubbish

• Babies’ nappies makes up about 2 % of the average household rubbish. This is equivalent to the weight of nearly 70,000 double decker buses every year. If lined up front to end, the buses would stretch from London to Edinburgh

Wacky Waste Facts

According to Government data released yesterday Wales recycled an amazing 49% of its municipal waste in the third quarter of 2011.

This is a record breaking figure and Environment Minister John Griffiths congratulated Wales saying “I am delighted that the people of Wales are continuing to manage their waste in a sustainable and environmentally

“Not only are we recycling more than ever, we are also reducing the amount of waste produced in the first place.  This is good progress and very much in line with the key principle of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. friendly manner and I congratulate local authorities in Wales for their pivotal part in this success.

“One of the reasons for our good progress is the fact that every local authority in Wales offers weekly food collection services. Separating out food waste not only diverts significant waste away from landfill, it also makes us far more aware of the food we are wasting, which can often results in reduced waste and lower food bills.”

There is still a lot more work that needs to be done if Wales are to achieve their targets of 70% recycling by 2025 and zero waste by 2050 but this is a great start.

Nearly 50% of Waste Recycled in Wales

Waste can account for a massive 2-3% of construction cost, impacting significantly on profit margins. Therefore making it hugely important that you keep waste to a minimum. Take a look at the following facts to find out a little more about construction waste in the UK.

Construction Waste Statistics

• The UK construction industry is responsible for 32% of landfill waste. A further 29% of waste to landfill is generated by mining and quarrying.
• Since April 2008, it has been a legal requirement that a construction project in England worth more than £300,000 must have a Site Waste Management Plan.
• Around 420 million tonnes of materials are used by the UK construction industry each year, and approximately 120 tonnes becomes waste.
• The production and transportation of construction materials are estimated to use 6% of UK energy
• Between 1999 and 2008 the proportion of construction and demolition waste recycled by crushers and screeners has increased from 35 per cent to 61 per cent.

Construction Waste Statistics

A recent review, by manufacturers’ body EEP , criticises the governments currents waste policy and asks for them to update ”unnecessarily complex” laws based on “out-dated presumptions”. The EEP warn that the shortage of materials provides the biggest threat to manufactures and that they need to work together to develop a resource strategy that will enable materials to be reused and to speed up their movement across the economy.

Take a look at the Waste Policy Review – 6 Months on or read more on the EEP Waste Review

Government’s Current Waste Management Policy Puts Manufactures at Risk

Their stylish house is definitely not what you would expect from one furnished using waste. Everything from the beds to the bottle opener are all creative uses of rubbish and it looks fantastic.

Take a look at the pictures and let us know if you are inspired to recycle unwanted waste to make unique furnishings

Home Furnishings Perfect For The Recession – And the environment

It’s been nearly a month since our Christmas party but we had such a great time we thought we would share a few of the pictures.

We went to the Dukes Head Hotel in Kings Lynn for a lovely 3 course meal and a disco afterwards.

The management provided all the food and drinks and everyone took full advantage meaning a lot of sore heads the Friday after!

Network Waste Christmas Party

Christmas is a time of plenty and with so much exciting stuff going on its easy to forget how much waste you are producing.

All the cards, wrapping paper, packaging, leftover food, foil, drinks bottles and cans we throw away in the UK during the festive season adds up to an estimated three million tonnes of extra waste.

This year have a more environmentally friendly Christmas with these 8 quick and easy steps for waste reduction.

1. Don’t send paper Christmas Cards – instead send your friends, family and customers or suppliers E-cards. They are loads of fun and mean no paper waste. Check out JibJab to see some great examples.
2. Reduce your food waste by reusing leftovers to make tasty meals. There’s loads of great recipe ideas on the BBC Good Food Website >>
3. After Christmas is over give unwanted toys, clothes and games a new home. Take them to the local jumble sale or charity shop rather than throwing them away.
4. If you have any receive any nice Christmas cards keep them and use them to make christmas gift tags next year.
5. Although its tempting to throw everything in the general waste bin make sure you recycle properly and put everything into the correct places for recycling
6. Buy a Christmas tree with roots so you can plant in your garden or keep in a pot for next year. Artificial trees are even better as they can be used year after year.
7. Wrap all your presents with recycled paper
8. Buy gifts with rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones.

However you reduce your waste this Christmas we hope you have a fantastic one and a very happy new year.

Reduce Your Waste This Christmas

Pickles described the weekly bin collections as “a basic right” yet it seems many councils don’t agree. Research shows that only 1 in 5 have opted in to the scheme to get funding to support weekly collections.

In fact since the announcement in September, several councils have actually pressed ahead with plans to abandon weekly collections in favour of a fortnightly service. These include Conservative-led Croydon.

Instead of weekly general waste collections it appears that most councils are in favour of funding for weekly food-only collections.

Whitehall sources said some ministers have been privately battling to promote weekly food waste collection instead of Mr Pickles’ preferred general rubbish collections.

Read more about the councils reaction to weekly bin collections >>

Let us know what you think. Are our councils making a mistake? Or are you happy with fortnightly collections?

Councils Reject £250million Funding To Restore Weekly Bin Collections