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Re yecycle or not to recyrecycle –polluncov understandingab ut food-contaminat


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guidance. The poll also reveals amisconception among some residents that there is a sortingmechanismsomewhere in the process that can guarantee separating contaminated paper or cardboard, and thatmaterial spoiled by ood and grease can get through to reprocessing plants where it could cause the whole recycling batch to be treated as waste.


The findings of the poll strongly support the premise behind work being carried out byWRAP,


P, which aims to help local authorities achieve greater


consistency both in collectionmethodology and in what can and cannot be recycled by residents. TheWRAP Recycling Guidelines launched last year are designed to help local authorities infoformthe public what they should and should not recycle and are the culmination of work carried out with reprocessing to agree a common list of “do’s and don’ts”.


Greasy fofood packaging is specifically refeferenced in the guidelines, which suggests they should be put in the residual general waste and not in recycling, and demonstrates the importance of the need to continue efforts to educate a willing public about recycling.


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respondents would recycle paper and cardboard soiled with grease (fo example a takeaway pizza box) because they thought it was the right thing to do, or that the waste processing plant could remove it if it was not recyclable. The Yo


esearch commissioned by the Confefederation of Paper Industries (CPI) has revealed an insight into consumers’understanding of recyclingmaterials at home.When asked to choosewho ismost responsible fofor ensuring that recyclable packaging fromthe home is of good enough quality, 45 per cent of respondents said the onuswas on the household,while 38 per cent believed that itwas down to the packagingmanufafacturers or thematerial reprocessors. A further eight per cent believed it should be down to local authorities. YouGov also fofound thatmore than half of 2,163 for


R A UK survey conducted by Yo


YouGov poll suggests thatmany householdsmay be willing to help reverse the recent rise in general recycling rejection rates, with the right


ith 50 per cent of small businesses with over five employees planning to grow their headcount over the next two years, finding skilled staff tops the list of challenges business owners face, up fromthird place in 2015, according to a new report by Albion Ventures, one of the largest independent venture capital investors in the UK. The skills shortage ismost acute among London-based small firms followed by those in the South East and the NorthWest. On a sector


Ve


reported the highest level o basis SMEs in themanufact


ff,


f concern about uring industry


finding skilled staff, followed by those in the technology and telecoms sector and construction businesses in third place. y,


Conversely, finding unskilled staff has fallen to 15th place in the list of SME challenges.


This is the first time that SMEs have identified a shortage of skilled staff as the biggest obstacle to growth, ahead of red tape and regulation ranked in second and third places in 2016. Political uncertainty and leaving the EU were ranked in fourth and sixth place respectively,,y suggesting that small business owners aremost concerned with tangible obstacles to growth rather than those over which they have less control.


According to the fourth Albion Growth Report, which is based on interviews with 1,000 SMEs


www.convertermag.co.uk December/January 2017 5


Shortage of skilled staff ranks as biggest growth obstacle for SMEs W


Shortage of skilled staff


and sheds light on the factors that create and impede growth in post-Brexit Britain, the biggest skills gap reported by over a quarter of SMEs is marketing, followed by new technology (21 per cent) and business planning (17 per cent). The smallest skills gap is in FinancialManagement, with only nine per cent of small business owners


Patrick reporting


Reeve,managing partner at Albion problems.


Ventures, commented: “A “A shortage of skilled staff


shows that the growth pressures on the economy are at themost sophisticated end of


Editor:


Managing Editor: Advertisement Manager: Media Director: Artwork Editor:


the scale, which is precisely where we can expect to generate the biggest returns. The economy is coming under capacity constraints at a time of considerable political uncertainty.”


y.


With paper packaging rates now calculated to be close to 85 per cent (according to CPI) it is important to fofocus on extracting the remaining material at the best available quality fromhouseholders WRAP recently launched a Christmas campaign called


#SpreadTheSparkle, all .


about encouraging people to swap glittery andmetallicwrapping paper and cards fofor recycled and recyclable options,which are kinder to the environment. CPI’s director of packaging affairs, Andy Barnetson, said: “The corrugated industry is proud of its recycling heritage – every year, an amount ofmaterial is recycled, which if laid flat would cover an area the size of Greater London three times over – but corrugated contaminated with fo be recycled due to hygiene concerns.


food or grease cannot “Froma domestic perspective, we need to offe ffer guidance about the impact


of poor quality recycled packaging, and consistent and precise infoformation ffo


or households does provide greater clarity and simplicity.”


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