A 12-strong European consortium has secured €1.9m of EU funding to develop processes to add value to recycled plastics for food contact applications.

Limerick start-up company ALR Innovations plans to dominate the European market with its LCD screen-recycling technology within two years - after that, it will move on to the rest of the world, starting with Japan and Korea.

Wales' environment minister has urged homeowners and businesses to recycle more than half of the country's waste in 2012, building on its position as the country with the highest recycling rates in the UK.

Cré - Composting & Anaerobic Digestion Association of Ireland - and WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) co-sponsored preliminary trials to investigate the use of high quality composted materials in the maintenance of golf fairways.

The Serenity Community Garden held an event on December 3rd last to build a recycled plastic bottle greenhouse.

Although many trees will be taken to recycling centres, others will be dumped in a less eco-friendly fashion.

The people of Belfast have been asked to increase their efforts to hit tough recycling targets next year.

Some will be recycled, a few will be replanted and many will sadly be dumped in a skip.

A fund of half a million pounds whas been launched to support demonstration projects which encourage the collection of food waste from businesses and public sector buildings.

A leading European plastics organisation has set up a working group to target waste agricultural plastics that are currently being sent to landfill every year.

Repak is encouraging Irish householders not to fall into bad recycling habits over the Christmas holiday season.

Almost a quarter of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) thrown out each year by consumers could be reused, generating more than £220 million in the process, according to new research released by WRAP.

Recycling has multiple benefits for many areas of the economy - providing raw materials, creating jobs and encouraging business opportunities and innovation.

The November 2011 edition of the rx3 Newsletter is now available online.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has announced the provision of €5 million in funding to assist local authorities in meeting the costs associated with the operation of their bring banks and civic amenity facilities for the period January to June 2011.