News

With the Christmas stockings packed away and the last turkey sandwich eaten, Christmas is over for another year – and some of the present choices we made can start to look a little less appealing.

The Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing today (11 December) visited Ysgol y Berllan Deg in Cardiff, one of the latest Eco-schools in Wales to be awarded the highest environmental rating, and home to the star of Waste Awareness Wales’ latest advertising campaign.

"Recycling one glass bottle could save enough energy to power a light bulb for almost an hour", "Reducing our food waste by half could have the same effect on CO2 emissions as taking thousands of cars off the road" – these are some of the powerful messages being delivered in a new campaign launched today (Monday, 3 December) by Waste Awareness Wales.

Waste Awareness Wales, the organisation encouraging us to reduce, reuse and recycle our rubbish has today launched its first campaign to help reduce the amount of food waste being thrown away by households across the country.

Statutory targets set for waste disposal mean that there is an urgent need for new waste facilities in Wales to treat residual waste (the rubbish left after recycling and composting has taken place). The Welsh Assembly Government firmly believes that the people of Wales should be involved in developing the future waste management services for the country. As a result the Regional Waste Groups (of North, South East and South West Wales) have launched a ten week consultation period, starting this week, which is actively seeking the views of the people of Wales.

It’s the scariest time of the year again…and as across the country thousands of pumpkins go under the knife, this year people in Wales are being challenged to use them for more than just the fright-factor.

While stereotypically students may not always be seen as putting the environment at the top of their list of priorities, it seems many of Wales’ students have a relatively green approach to their studies and lifestyle, naturally.

Schools from across Wales have been taking part in recycling schemes for years, from aluminium can collections to recycling paper, but according to Waste Awareness Wales, more needs to be done if we are to succeed in changing the nation’s habits when it comes to managing our waste.

The Welsh Assembly Government’s new Minister for Sustainability and Housing – Jane Davidson Assembly Member – is encouraging visitors to this year’s Royal Welsh Show to recycle their rubbish both at home and away.

With invitations already starting to stack up on mantlepieces across Wales, the key wedding season is definitely approaching – and this year people are finding the most stylish weddings around can be both special for you and kinder to the environment.

Bob Geldof has been voted by the people of Wales as the ‘greenest’ celebrity, according to results of a new poll. Prince Charles, Sting, Al Gore and Chris Martin were also named as green ambassadors as part of the research carried out to mark Recycle Week (2-8 June).

In an attempt to further increase recycling rates, several of the events have additional recycling facilities for those people staying overnight at the event. Recycling sites collecting plastic bottles and cans, amongst other materials, will be located at various camping sites.

Landfills across the country are running out of space but Waste Awareness Wales is encouraging people to adopt a practice that won’t just help banish millions of tonnes of landfill waste each year, but will also help create blooming marvellous gardens!Waste Awareness Wales is supporting Compost Awareness Week 2007 (6 – 12 May) – a week set up by the Composting Association – and is keen to illustrate to the people of Wales that composting is a great way to do your bit for the environment.

Fourth anniversaries are traditionally celebrated with gifts of fruit and flowers – but Waste Awareness Wales has taken a different approach to celebrate their fourth anniversary, by presenting wildlife enthusiast and TV star Iolo Williams with a bucket full of fruit waste and ageing flowers…along with a wormery to dispose of them in.

Easter can be a time for family, friends – and maybe even the odd chocolate egg or two. But our love for all things sweet means that each Easter across Wales and the rest of the UK we generate an astonishing 4,500 tonnes of extra waste from the foil and card in our Easter egg packaging alone.

With Saint Dwynwen’s Day and Saint Valentine’s Day fast approaching, Waste Awareness Wales is playing Cupid by encouraging people to show some love to the environment as well as with their loved ones by sending e-cards.

With households in the United Kingdom throwing away an estimated 3 million additional tonnes of waste over the Christmas period, Waste Awareness Wales takes a look at how you can make it a greener Christmas and New Year with your post-celebration clean-up and de-clutter.

A series of new Welsh and English television and radio adverts are to be launched by Waste Awareness Wales today (Monday 16 October) as the most recent drive in the ‘recycle for Wales/ ailgylchu dros Gymru’ campaign.

Latest figures from Waste Awareness Wales reveal people in Wales are saying no to unwanted mail. With high profile news stories earlier this year making junk mail – also known as direct mail - headline news, it seems people are becoming more aware of ways they can avoid receiving unwanted mail.

For the second year running, Waste Awareness Wales’ ‘recycle for Wales/ailgylchu dros Gymru’ campaign has been awarded a bronze award at the prestigious Cream Awards.