Do you have scrap metal lying around? Here are a few reasons to bring it to us!

Much has been made in recent years about the benefits of reducing or carbon footprints and while a great deal of noise is made around plastic and packaging recycling, car sharing and buying locally sourced produce, the benefits of scrap metal recycling are still off the radar for many people. Here we will look at a few of the benefits of recycling your scrap metal.

The benefits of metal recycling

A key reason to recycle your scrap metal is that it lessens the demand for raw materials. Mining often has a detrimental effect on the environment and can cause harmful impacts such as the release of toxic and radioactive chemicals contaminating soil and water tables, the formation of dangerous sinkholes and the disruption or destruction of habitats for local wildlife.

In terms of pollution, recycling is a better option than creating new products from metal as it lessens the demand for mining which causes damage to the environment along the way. Carbon emissions are one of the leading contributors to global warming and mining metals is a long process which takes up plenty of resources and leaving carbon emissions it its wake. By comparison, recycled aluminium uses 92% less energy than the mining, purifying and shaping involved in new metal creation, copper uses 90% less energy and steel 56% less energy.

There is also an economic motivation for recycling metal. The cost of extracting new metals is very high and is also time intensive. If more people recycle scrap metal, then the cost of producing metal products will be reduced which should eventually be passed on to consumers like you!

Recycling metal can be everything from making sure that you put aluminium cans in the right recycling bin through to bringing your ferrous and non-ferrous metals to a scrap metals recycler like LSPS.

Here at LSPS we have years of experience in scrap metal and waste management. We are one of Leicestershire's largest independent ferrous and non-ferrous metal recyclers equipped with our own electronic 50 tonne weighbridge. We are keen to buy all grades of ferrous metals for recycling and offer extremely competitive prices.

To make sure our customers receive the fairest price possible our ferrous and non-ferrous metal rates are linked to the The Metal Bulletin - a trading and pricing system for the global metals industry. For the most up to date prices you can also call us on 0800 083 7807.

To find out more please contact LSPS today on 0800 083 7807 for competitive prices or alternatively simply visit us today with your scrap metal.

4 reasons to hire a skip when moving house

In a list of stressful life events, moving to a new house is without a doubt in most people’s top few picks. In fact, in a recent poll, two thirds of people said that moving house caused more anxiety than starting a new job, the breakdown of a relationship and the end of a marriage. However, here at LSPS we believe that the humble skip can help make things a lot easier – read on to find out why.

1 - A skip helps you banish junk

One aspect of moving which can be a real stress inducer is the physical aspect of moving all of your belongings. For many people, moving represents new beginnings and a chance to start a-fresh and so with that in mind they decide to have a mass clear out. From clothes that don’t fit, to old computer games and paperwork, there are a great deal of things that we keep promising ourselves that one day we’ll find a use for them. However, moving house is a good time to re-evaluate just how much you need (or don’t need) those items. By hiring a skip, you can easily unload your unwanted items without having to worry about what goes in the recycling bin and what goes in general waste and whether or not you’ll be able to find time to take your junk to the local tip.

2 – A skip helps you move into your new home quicker

After all the stress of finding a new property, you’ll likely be counting down the days until you can get moved in. However, if you have lots of junk to get rid of, and you need to clean your current home before you vacate then the actual day can really begin to drag on and it could be very late into the night before you’re finally able to shut that door. By hiring a skip in advance of your moving date, you can begin unloading waste from your home well in advance so that come moving day the whole process takes far less time.

3 – Skips can be the environmentally friendly option

If you’re conscious of the environment and want to cut down on your carbon footprint then hiring a skip should be high on your agenda. Whereas landfill ends up rotting, waste that goes to skips is taken to our waste transfer sites where every effort is made to recycle recyclable materials, lessening the impact on the environment.

4 – Hiring a skip can bring down costs in other ways

By taking a minimalist approach to your possessions and having a mass clear out you can drastically cut down on the number of things that you need to take to your new home. While this might be a gut-wrenching decision for your inner-hoarder, you may find that the decision helps you out in a big way. The less stuff you have to transport, the smaller a van you will need to hire, or the smaller a removal team will be required on the day.

Are you interested in hiring a skip for your moving day? You can book yours using our online form in just a few clicks here, or alternatively you can contact us on freephone 0800 083 7807.

Skips for garden waste

With the summer holidays just around the corner, it’ll be just a matter of weeks before we hit BBQ season in the UK. If you want your garden to be in tip-top shape for your friends and family to come and join in the fun then you may well need to give your garden some lengthy maintenance, making it an attractive place to spend your time again after a long cold winter.

When it comes to disposing of garden waste you have quite a few options, but some are certainly better than others. First of all, you could use your green bin. Green bins are usually provided freely by your councils and allow you some space to unload debris from your garden. However, they aren’t the most efficient of methods. Most councils only pick up green waste on a fortnightly basis, which means you are limited in the amount of waste you can get rid of in a period of time. So, if you have a big garden or you have a lot of work to do then it may take you a very long time to get rid of all the waste required to get your garden where you want it to be.

Another option that is sometimes used by homeowners is to incinerate all of their garden waste. This means setting fire to as much of your garden waste as you can. However, while this seems like a quick and efficient way to get rid of waste, it’s often not the case. While wood, dried up leaves and other dry rubbish may burn away, grass and rubble and other types of garden waste like soil aren’t going to budge. You can also land yourself in hot water if the fire gets out of control, creates too much smoke or ends up scorching the ground beneath it.

By far the most efficient method of reducing garden waste is to hire a skip. A skip is dropped right at your front door, at the most convenient time for you, in the actual size you require and your waste is removed of in a clean and healthy way with no risk.

Planning a garden clearance and thinking of hiring a skip? With our online booking system you can have a skip arranged for delivery with just a few clicks of your mouse. Find out more here: https://booking.lspsskiphire.co.uk/ or alternatively contact us on freephone 08000 083 7807.

How to teach your child about recycling

In the UK alone, there are over 30 million tonnes of waste in the UK generated from households every year. That sounds like a startling figure, but how would you explain that to a child who might not understand the gravity? Well, you could start by comparing it to some things that they do understand the weight of. 30 million tonnes is the equivalent of 4,000,000 elephants and 800,000 times as heavy as an adult hippopotamus.

In the same way that we teach our children about practicing good hygiene, looking both ways when they cross the road and how to look after their money, we also need to teach them the importance of looking after the world we inhabit, and recycling is a key part of that process.

The Three R’s

One of the best methods of teaching your children how to recycle is the ‘Three R’s’ which stand for reduce, reuse and recycle. Reduce is the idea of trying to use, buy and consume less. Reuse is the idea of putting the waste that we do use to a new use and recycle is to properly throw away items that can be recycled so that they avoid going to landfill.

A simple way to teach your children the three R’s is to write them on the fridge and to quiz them occasionally on what they are to see if they still remember. However, to really get the three R’s to stick with your children, you need to teach them why they are important and ultimately a positive thing instead of a chore. Watching nature programmes and highlighting stories about habitat destruction, global warming and other forms of disruption to the environment can help them to understand why they need to do their bit.

That might sound a miserable way to spend your time, but lots of fun can be had with the three R’s too. For example, you can play games in the supermarket where the person who finds a product with the most recyclable form of packaging, or the largest bulk product (to cut down on repeat waste) wins a small prize.

It can also teach valuable life skills too. Instead of throwing away a toy, game or piece of clothing when it breaks you can show them how to repair them instead. Even if you don’t know yourself how to fix something, there are often great instructional articles and videos ‘littered’ around the internet that can show you how.

Another fun activity to enjoy with your children that falls under the reuse category is to enjoy some creative time with your children. Often products like paper, napkins, plates, cups and other household waste items can be repurposed into fun crafts that bring out your child’s artistic side.

Teaching your children about the finite resources of our planet and how we need to help protect it can help your children to not only lead responsible lives but also equip them with valuable skills for the future.

Here at LSPS, recycling is of great importance to us and we help businesses and individuals all across Leicestershire to reduce the amount of their waste that ends up at landfill sites. Our Waste Transfer Station is open to traders and has an extensive range of state of the art equipment.

To find out how about we can help with your waste disposal needs please contact us on 0800 083 7807 or visit our website for further information.

How are the new bottle deposit schemes going to work?

Environment Secretary Michael Gove recently announced that the government will commit to introducing further efforts to cut plastic waste in the UK, including a bottle and can deposit scheme, in efforts to boost recycling figures and cut down on the impact of plastic waste on the environment.

Consultation will take place later this year to look at rolling it out, but how will the scheme actually work? Luckily there are lots of other examples around the world that can give us a clue or two.

The basic premise of a bottle and can deposit scheme is that a levy is added to the cost of any single-use glass or plastic bottle or steel and aluminium can. This extra cost can then be refunded when the bottle or can is returned. This helps to boost recycling and ultimately cut down on waste that goes to landfill or is littered into the environment.

Some factors that are still to be decided are the cost and the price of such a scheme. Across the world there are currently 40 counties that utilize a deposit return scheme as well as 21 US states. The price of the extra cost addition to the drink ranges between 8p and 22p with Germany at the top-end and Sweden the cheapest.

In terms of returning the bottles and cans, most schemes either see collections made at supermarkets and shops where they are purchased, or at automated collection points, typically in easy to access public areas such as supermarket car parks.

Obviously, not everyone will make the effort to return their bottles and cans for a deposit and what happens to the money when this happens varies from country to country. In some cases the money is donated to charities, while in other schemes the money goes back to the producer, retailer or is put towards the costs of running the scheme.

Currently in the UK only 7.5 billion plastic bottles are recycled every year out of the 13 billion sold. Another 15,000,000 are dropped as litter, landfilled or incinerated every day, a process which creates almost 250,000 tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere. The move towards a recycling scheme has also been welcomed by environmental activists concerned about the effect that plastic waste has on marine life, with recent figures showing that plastic pollution could treble in our seas within the decade unless efforts are taken to keep it in check.

Here at LSPS, recycling is of great importance to us and we help businesses and individuals all across Leicestershire to reduce the amount of their waste that ends up at landfill sites. Our Waste Transfer Station is open to traders and has an extensive range of state of the art equipment.

To find out how about we can help with your waste disposal needs please contact us on 0800 083 7807 or visit our website for further information.

Co-op chain to embrace part-recycled bottles

UK supermarket chain The Co-Op is to become the first retailer in the UK to sell all its bottled water in recycled containers – a move it says could save almost 350 tonnes of plastic annually.

The new 50% recycled bottles offer a “cloudy” appearance, making them less aesthetically pleasing than the current bottles that the retailer uses. However, the society has said that they are putting their faith in the ethics of their customers who they say would like to see more sustainable packaging options available.

The new bottles, which are processed by Cleantech in Hemswell, Lincolnshire, are made up of 50% recycled plastic, however are 100% recyclable according to the supermarket chain and could amount to a saving of almost 350 tonnes of plastic year on year. The bottles, which contain either still, sparkling or flavoured water, will contain to contain water sourced from Montgomery Spring, North Wales and Princes Foods’ Eden Valley in Cumbria.

Commenting on the move, Co-op Environmental Manager Iain Ferguson said: “Working with stakeholders across both supply and waste value chains is key to increasing the recyclability of our products and sourcing scalable, sustainable alternatives as we strive towards a more circular economy”.

This latest environmentally friendly move from the retailer follows other recent initiatives including a fully biodegradable paper tea bag that contains no plastics for its 99-tea brand. Many teabags in the UK are currently sealed using plastic which means they often are sent to landfill instead of being recycled.

Here at LSPS, recycling is of great importance to us and we help businesses and individuals all across Leicestershire to reduce the amount of their waste that ends up at landfill sites. Our Waste Transfer Station is open to traders and has an extensive range of state of the art equipment.

To find out how about we can help with your waste disposal needs please contact us on 0800 083 7807 or visit our website for further information.

An end to wheelie bins? Introducing a flat that recycles for you

An innovative new scheme set for East London plans to make recycling far easier than in the past, removing the need for wheelie bins and allowing greater amounts of waste to be recycled.

The scheme, which has already been piloted in cities like New York, Stockholm and Doha, allows for rubbish to be “sucked” through household shoots and sent into bins at the bottom of an apartment block. These bins feature cyclone technology which sorts recyclable materials from non-recyclable materials and sends the unrecyclable material to an incinerator. The recyclable material is then stored in the bins before it is collected as normal.

The scheme is set to be incorporated as part of the brand-new Barking Riverside development in London. This will be one of the “most ambitious and important new developments in the UK” where over ten thousand homes will be built on the site of a former power station, lying across the banks of the Thames. This follows on from the Quintain project in Wembley Park which has incorporated a similar system with great results, including a reported cut in carbon emissions.

In such a populous city, waste can be a real problem to deal with, a problem that is often exacerbated in flats and apartment blocks where less space is available for bins. A development of the same size as Barking Riverside would typically require as many as 19,000 waste bins and collections, however the new cyclone technology may help to reduce this number down to just 460 waste processing outlets instead.

Around the world, many local authorities and planners are looking at ways to reduce the overall output of waste among households. In Bergen, Norway for instance, households share communal chute bins on housing estates. Here in the UK, in North West Cambridge, a modern eco development in the city has incorporated specially designed kitchen bins as well as composting areas and further underground waste bins that have replaced wheelie bins.

Here at LSPS, recycling is of great importance to us and we help businesses and individuals all across Leicestershire to reduce the amount of their waste that ends up at landfill sites. Our Waste Transfer Station is open to traders and has an extensive range of state of the art equipment.

To find out how about we can help with your waste disposal needs please contact us on 0800 083 7807 or visit our website for further information.