Almost 10,000 solar panels have been imported from the United States and are placed in 12 lines in a six-acre field.

The £2.5m investment will be onstream three weeks before the UK government lowers the subsidy for large-scale solar energy investors.

Read full story on BBC News

In the visitor centre they watched a Powerpoint presentation on the importance of recycling and shown a video of the line where items are sorted etc. Glass recycling, cans recycling and a video by Tonyrefail Comprehensive School “Oceans of Waste”.

They donned fluorescent waistcoats and were then taken on a landfill SAFARI where they were shown what a landfill site looks like and how it is run. Whilst on the landfill safari they were shown how our refuse is disposed of and how landfill gas is extracted and turned into electricity.

All agreed that it was a super afternoon and everyone had gained a lot of information regarding all materials that can be recycled and ways in which the Recycling Centre deals with them.

The Bioenergy Action Plan for Wales aims to generate at least 5 terawatt hours of electricity, about 20% of our current needs, from renewable biomass by 2020. It also aims to have biomass provide 2.5 terawatt hours of usable heat energy, about 3% of our current needs. This will result in a reduction of about 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year in comparison with generation based on fossil fuels. It will also create new jobs.

Biomass is organic material that can be used to create renewable energy. This includes plants, trees and vegetations, as well as sewage and animal waste. Biomass is ‘carbon neutral’, in that the amount of carbon it absorbs while growing is the same as the amount it produces when burned. The Assembly Government wants to ensure that biomass is obtained from sustainable sources, whether these are in the UK or overseas, and take into account the carbon emissions associated with growing, harvesting, processing and treating it.

www.valleysgreen.co.uk

All articles and links from the old website have been moved over.

Please update any links you may have and point to the new address.

The name Valleys Green was chosen to make it easier to remember and encourage more people to use the website and read it as a ‘green newswire’.

Expect more changes to the website over the coming months …

The funding will help get Prosiect Gwyrdd started. The Project is a joint initiative between five South Wales councils which will look at the best way to dispose of municipal waste that can’t be recycled or composted. The extra funding for Prosiect Gwyrdd will be up to £7.8m in a full year of operation depending on the final costs of the project.

>> Simon Press, senior technical manager at the Co-op group said: “We believe that the recent losses in bee populations need definitive action, and as a result are temporarily prohibiting the eight neonicotinoid pesticides until we have evidence that refutes their involvement in the decline.”

>> Laboratory tests suggest that one of the banned chemicals, imidacloprid, can impede honeybees’ sophisticated communication and navigation systems. It has been banned in France for a decade as a seed dressing on sunflowers. Italy, Slovenia and Germany banned neonicotinoids last year after the loss of millions of honeybees. And the European Parliament voted earlier this month for tougher controls on bee-toxic chemicals.

>> Paul Monaghan, the Co-op’s head of social goals accused the UK government of failing to recognise that “pesticides could be a contributing factor” in the breakdown of nature’s number one pollinating machine.

( full story – http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/28/bees-coop-pesticide )

The BBC Today programme ran a very good piece about the decline in UK honeybees. There was an interview with a senior executive from the Co-op who said that they had decided to ban all 8 neonicotinoid pesticides from all the farms which the Co-op owns – and they are going to give £150,000 for emergency research – including pesticides; they are also proposing a 10 point plan to assist honeybees in the UK, which they are planning to implement throughout the Co-op’s farming operations and stores.

The Co-op chap said that although there was no conclusive proof that neo-nicotinoids were the primary cause of honeybee collapse – what was glaringly self evident was that no serious research was going on in the UK into pesticides and honeybees.

You can listen again to this segment of the programme by visiting this page http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/listen_again/default.stm – then choose the ’0845′ section of the programme from the menu on the page – “0845 Britain’s biggest farmer, the Co-op, will launch a 10-point rescue plan for the honeybee, after a steep decline in numbers. Science correspondent Tom Feilden reports on the package which even includes a ban on a group of pesticides.”

So far over 9,600 residents across Rhondda Cynon Taf have been invited to take up the new scheme that aims to rapidly reduce the amount of household waste sent to landfill. At present all households that use the Council’s weekly kerbside recycling scheme are being approached to use the Food Recycling Initiative as well.

Members of the Council’s Streetcare Team are visiting homes and encouraging them to support this easy and clean method of recycling food waste. They have already spoken to residents in Tonyrefail, Penrhiwfer and Gilfach Goch with Coedely next on their list of communities to visit.

At present 55% of households in Rhondda Cynon Taf recycle, but thousands are still not getting involved even though there are so many schemes on offer, from the kerbside weekly collection service, easy-to-access community recycling centres, free collection of larger items and now the food waste recycling scheme.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s recycling champion mascot had a very warm welcome from all the children who have plenty of “green schemes” ongoing in the school to keep them occupied with environmental issues.

It was just one of many visits Rhys makes every week to primary, infant schools and nurseries as well as regular guest appearances in various functions from fun days to rugby matches.

Joined by members of the Council’s Streetcare Awareness Team, Rhys makes sure every child he meets realizes how important it is to recycle and encourage more people to get involved.

Through his award-winning website The World of Rhys Cycle, which can be found at www.rhyscycle.co.uk he has a global following with thousands of members on every continent.

Members of the Council’s Streetcare Team are visiting homes and encouraging them to support this easy and clean method of recycling food waste. They have already spoken to residents in Tonyrefail, with Penrhiwfer with Gilfach Goch next on their list of communities to visit.

At present 55% of households in Rhondda Cynon Taf recycle, but thousands are still not getting involved even though there are so many schemes on offer, from the kerbside weekly collection service, easy-to-access community recycling centres, free collection of larger items and now the food waste recycling scheme.

Every week residents recycle around 35% of waste, which is four times the amount recycled a few years ago, but this needs to reach 40% by 2010 or the Council will face stringent fines of up to £200 per tonne by the Welsh Assembly Government. Food waste forms 30% of the average Rhondda Cynon Taf refuse bin contents.

For more information on recycling, send an email to recycling@rhondda-cynon-taf.gov.uk or call 01443 494700.

The Community Recycling Centre on Cemetery Road has inadequate room and it is not possible to expand the area for the use of members of the public. A decision has been made to close the site on January 4th 2009.

With a significant lack of room it is becoming increasingly impossible to recycle goods in a similar manner to the new or upgraded sites throughout the county borough.

Recycling is a major priority for the local authority and the expansion of Community Recycling Centres in neighbouring Ferndale and Dinas is testament to this pledge.

Earlier this year the first Community Recycling Centre was opened in the Taff Ely area with the launch of a specially designed site at Treforest Industrial Estate.

Recycling has more than trebled in the last four years, with a massive investment in a new plant, community recycling points, new refuse collections vehicles and innovative ways to promote recycling, including the roll out of kerbside and food waste recycling.

The Community Recycling Centres are an integral part of the ongoing success story as they offer residents the opportunity to recycle a massive variety of items, some of which cannot be collected as part of the kerbside recycling service.

But due to this growing success it means that centres must also be able to cope with the quantity and range of items recycled, which Treorchy is unable to achieve.

Between April 1st 2006 and March 31st 2007 the Council recycled 33,238 tonnes of material compared to just 4,200 tonnes in 1999/2000. This year alone this figure has risen to 30%. We now recycle almost eight times the amount of waste we recycled seven years ago.

Every week 55% of residents take part in the kerbside recycling initiative and many more use the scheme at least once every month. Countless others use the recycling banks – or SORT centres – that are distributed throughout the county borough.

The Council’s Service Director for Streetcare Nigel Wheeler explained: “I can assure residents that the decision to close the Community Recycling Centre in Treorchy was not taken lightly.

“Unfortunately the site in Treorchy is now deemed inadequate to the growing demands of the public to recycle more household waste and reduce the quantity of materials sent to landfill. The success story of recycling in the county borough has meant that we have expanded and improved many of our Community Recycling Centres.

“It has also resulted in the opening of a new facility at Treforest. Unfortunately, Treorchy is unable to expand and develop due to the confined space and regrettably we can no longer provide a first-class service from this site.”