This weeks Rubbish Roundup feature stories of a litter pick in Kettering collecting 40kg of waste, an artist turning litter into items for sale and Brighton Council joining a campaign called launch the streets ahead campaign.  

The deposit return scheme looks to be edging nearer for implementation in Scotland, customers who buy a plastic bottle will pay an extra charge on the item and then receive a refund.  It has been successful in countries such as Germany and parts of Scandavia.

Keep Britain Tidy's annual campaign has arrive again, from the 19th to the 25th September their focus is waste less and live more, they have worked out the average household throws away £700 worth of food each year that can still be eaten.  

The Maldives are the latest nation to join the UN campaign which aims to help eliminate marine litter, in today's economy we use 20 times more plastic than we did in the 1960's.  More than 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans which can cause some serious damage to marine life.  

Newcastle has a mini litter champion, Wilfred Chaffey has started a litter picking group at the age of 9 and has so far collected over 200 bags of rubbish, for his efforts he has gained an award from the government and received praise from the prime minister.  

Scotland are encouraging all businesses and local councils to join a campaign to help prevent littering and flytipping across the country.  Zero Waste Scotland say taxpayers are currently paying over £50 million per year and that 15,000 tonnes of litter is discarded in Scotland each year.

Nappies can take as long as 500 years to decompose when sent to landfill as well as leaking toxins into the underground.  To make a nappy it takes wood pulp as well as crude oil.  To dispose correctly the nappy should be sealed from the tabs and placed into a sealed nappy bag.

Litter is an ever increasing problem despite more and more iniatives being launched, it's the same everywhere, you walk past it and you hear the complaints about how dirty it is but you don't do anything about it.  Many people still think it is okay to litter especially from their cars.  

This weeks stories feature a new 'Smart Bin' being installed in Picton, New Zealand, these bins sends alerts to waste management teams via a text message when they need emptying to help combat the problem of overflowing bins.  If this trial is successful successful it will become a familiar site aross the country.  

We are all well aware of the 5p plastic bag charge in the UK, but Tesco are going to stop selling these bags altogether, the are replacing this option with a reusable 'bag for life' that will cost 10p.  This change Tesco have expected to reduce the number of bags handed out per year by 700 million and if they are damaged they will replace them for free.