LAWR

NEWS March 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 15 Rubbish relationships, Schwooping and superheroes Who says romance is dead? Well, an LBC talk radio presenter didn't. Citing a recent survey, he said that the key to a happy relationship is to help out with recycling. Yes, you read this rightly. Who would have thought? But men you do need to pull your fingers out. According to a BusinessWaste.co.uk survey, women are better at recycling than men. The research showed that while women in traditional relationships were more likely to make sure that the right materials went into the right bin, it is generally the man who is more likely to put the bin out. More than a third (39%) of households surveyed said females were taking the lead in ensuring their rubbish was correctly sorted, compared to males (19%). Delving deeper, the study found that when it came to taking waste materials to the tip, 78% of households left it to the man to do the deed. Charming! Here at LAWR we think the quote of the month has to go to Indigo Waste Services director Gary Lee. When asked about the issue of the lack of high quality materials going into some material recycling facilities, he responded: "Well, if you put rubbish in you get rubbish out." Elsewhere, anaerobic digestion (AD) company Biogen has recruited a pair of superheroes to help promote the technology to the public, to potential suppliers of food waste and to local authorities. Biogen Ben and Anna Robic are caped crusaders from another world, committed to the fight to encourage humans to send their food waste to AD. Each character has its own unique superpower. Anna's power is creating electricity from food waste to light up our homes and power our appliances while her sidekick and companion, Biogen Ben re-energises farmland and crops with the biofertiliser created from our AD plants. The cartoon characters have been designed with children in mind and it is anticipated that their interest will also help to raise awareness to adults of the need to dispose of food waste correctly. Anna and Ben have their own webpage on the Biogen website www.biogen.co.uk/anna-robic. Meanwhile, the European Commission has unveiled a new film that promotes the message of viewing waste as a resource as part of its environmental initiative - Generation Awake. The film takes the form of a movie-style trailer for 'The Awakeners' in which waste bin Richard Rubbish 'suffer[s] disrespect, until one day, he stood up' and is helped by shopping bags Impulse Inga, Chubby Charlie and Routine Robbie. Viewers are then told to 'join "The Awakeners" at generationawake.eu and turn rubbish into a resource.' Model Georgia May Jagger revealed in Glamour magazine last month that she often swaps clothes with friends and never gives them back (hasn't she got enough money to buy her own?) She said: "I think I still have one of Cara's [Delevingne] outfits from Glastonbury." Recycling Bits and Pieces The month in resource management TRUCK CANS - The work of artist Martine Camillieri is a continuation of small experiments intended to enliven everyday life. Here, she creates toy vehicles from emptied plastic bottles. The main idea behind her work is to propose a second life or to multiply the usages of common consumer objects through recycling, in order to limit their environmental impact on the planet. Camillieri says: "For me the object in itself doesn't exist, it's nothing but an endlessly interchangeable Lego brick, it is only important when we look at it. Let's stop always wanting more, making too many or importing so many - one day all these goods will overwhelm us." UK clothing powerhouses including Tesco, Next and designer Stella McCartney are among 53 retailers, suppliers, charities and recyclers in the textiles sector who have Textiles Fashion giants sign green pledge YOUR ROUND-UP OF THIS MONTH'S TOP STORIES ACROSS THE INDUSTRY committed to significantly reduce the environmental impacts of clothing across its lifecycle. WRAP has also launched a consumer campaign Love Your Clothes, supported by the SCAP 2020 Commitment signatories and supporters, designed to encourage the public to think about the way they buy, use and discard their clothing. Former supermodel Anna Freemantle with students launching WRAP- backed Love Your Clothes campaign

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