Little's wasted as PCs get recycled and food scraps are composted.

IN Merthyr Tydfil, office paper and cardboard is collected for recycling as well as newspapers, magazines, drink and food cans, plastics - the same as its doorstep War on Waste initiatives for households.

IT equipment, including cartridges, toners, as well as the hard equipment of PCs and fluorescent light tubing is disposed of to a waste electronic company which reuses as many components as possible.

Waste food is collected from community centres and schools and processed to make compost.

The parks department chips as much tree and hedge waste on site as possible. Larger items are processed for composting.

Highways maintenance section recycles road surface planings to produce fresh material and street lighting columns and lanterns, are processed for recovery at relevant outlets.

Energy officer James Edwards says several efficiency measures to reduce consumption and emissions within the authority include loft/cavity insulation programmes mainly in schools, the installation of energy-efficient lighting, bio-mass boilers being installed at two sites, a ground-source heat pump installed at one school and fuel switching at sites that previously used coal. Good housekeeping at the Ty Keir Hardie offices achieved an A rating on its Display Energy Certificate (DEC).