Public’s waste concerns keep pressure on politicians
Bedrock installs construction waste plant; Deal avoids Arun bin strike; Defence gold medal for Suez; FCC issues sustainability report
Bedrock Plant Hire has worked with supplier CDE to install a construction, demolition and excavation waste recycling plant at its Glasgow site.
It said this kind of waste was abundant in the Glasgow area from regeneration projects and had led to increased demand for recycled aggregates
The 80 tonnes per hour facility comprises an R1500 primary scalping screen, AggMax 83SR logwasher, a dual pass EvoWash sand washing fine material classification plant and AquaCycle A400 thickener with Flocstation.
Threatened bin strikes have been averted in Arun district - centred on Arundel - after talks between contractor Biffa and the GMB trade union.
Under the two-year settlement HGV drivers will be paid £13.50 an hour, other drivers £11.40 and loaders £10.80 an hour.
Suez Recycling and Recovery UK has received the gold award in the Ministry of Defence’s employer recognition scheme for its support for reservists, veterans, cadet force volunteers, spouses/partners and the wider armed forces community.
Some 250 veterans and reservists are among the company’s workforce, which Suez said brought “a wealth of transferrable skills” including in HGV driving and engineering.
Tracey Leghorn, Chief human resources officer at Suez said: “Our veterans are a great asset to SUEZ and we are committed to helping them develop fulfilling careers with us.”
FCC Environment has launched its 2021 Sustainability Report. Paul Taylor, group chief executive of FCC Environment UK, said: “After the impact of Covid-19, the economy is bouncing back, and we are extremely pleased with FCC’s progress. In 2021, we signed new collection contracts in Scotland and we continued to expand our network of household waste recycling centres in England.
“Net zero has, rightly, taken front of stage, and we are proud to support the industry in driving greater action on carbon emissions.”
Ineos Olefins and Polymers Europe have joined digital watermarks initiative named HolyGrail 2.0* to improve the sorting and recycling of plastic packaging waste.
They said challenges in sorting meant recycled plastics are often a mix of types and grades, making the recycled product difficult for plastics converters to re-use.
Digital watermarks are imperceptible codes which cover the surface of the packaging, detectable by cameras linked to high speed waste sorting systems.
Rob Ingram, chief executive of Ineos Olefins and Polymers North, says: “Partnering with HolyGrail 2.0 demonstrates our commitment to taking action across the value chain, to create a more sustainable future.”
Veolia has introduced an end-to-end cloud based system to ensure compliance and traceability for hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. The company said this would manage the cycle from enquiry through collection, treatment and disposal and was designed to cover more than 100,000 waste profiles.
Since starting trials last autumn, the system has managed more than 300,000 tonnes of waste processing and scheduled nearly 120,000 service appointments across the UK.
Veolia said the system segregates each item based on potential hazards, physical and chemical properties to ensure correct classification, storage and movement in accordance with the local geographical legislation. It also generates regulatory documents and eliminates the need to print paper forms, consignment notes, work orders and invoices.
Dutch hemical recycling technology provider Itero Technologie, has received a €6m (£5m) investment to support the design and construction of its first at-scale demonstration plant located at Geleen in the Netherlands. Most comes from Infinity Recycling’s Circular Plastics Fund
It said the plant would be able to process 27,000 tonnes of residual plastic waste annually, using a pyrolysis process developed by Itero that converts plastic waste into chemical products used as feedstock in the production of virgin-quality plastics.
Bryson Recycling has worked with Denbighshire County Council and St David’s Hospice to open a charity re-use shop in Rhyl.
Eric Randall, director of Bryson Recycling added: “We are delighted to see the St David’s Hospice Reuse Shop now open at our site. We encourage anyone visiting our sites to choose to reuse, as it is even better than recycling. As a social enterprise we were keen to deliver a project like this that brings together all three strands of environmental, economic and social well-being”.
Resource recovery firm Fiberight has embarked on a three-year £10m demonstrator project on the capture, recovery and recycling of plastic packaging.
It is working with four partners on the Uncaptured Unrecycled Plastics project to operate a commercial-scale demonstration facility at Swansea processing post-consumer plastic packaging from mixed waste streams. It will have a capacity of up to 60,000 tonnes per year.
Impact Recycling’s BOSS polymer separation systems will be integrated with Fiberight’s technology while Moulding Solutions will be the off-take partner.
Ranela Recycling Services will advise on product quality and routes while ProAmpac will provide technical advice and support.
Doncaster resident Stephen Smith, aged 60, of Warmsworth, has been found guilty of two counts of fly-tipping asbestos and sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years.
Magistrates were shown CCTV footage of him twice depositing bags containing material with asbestos next to a ‘No Fly-tipping’ sign and public bin at the roadside, Doncaster Council said.
Smith was also required to undertake 80 hours unpaid work and must ay prosecution costs of £855.36.
NWH Group has appointed two internships through Entrepreneurial Scotland’s Saltire Scholarship Programme.
Blair Inglis who is studying for a degree in mathematics, statistics, business analysis and technology at the University of Strathclyde, will monitor the group’s consumption of utilities and propose ways to reduce carbon use.
Jake Mitchell is studying a MEng in chemical engineering, also at Strathclyde, and will document maintenance schedules and creating a plan to improve their efficiency.
Scottish businesses have only one week left to apply to a £2m fund to help reduce the environmental burden of textiles.
Zero Waste Scotland said the Circular Textiles Fund, aimed to support projects to reduce the high environmental impact of a sector that makes up just 4% of waste by weight but accounts for 32% of the carbon impact of Scotland’s household waste. For details see: circulartextilesfund.scot
Costa Coffee and McDonalds UK have partnered with Roadchef to increase cup recycling at James Cropper’s specialist facility
Used coffee cups collected through the partnership will be converted to stationery and packaging using the firm’s CupCycling Technology.
The partnership will see 65 new recycling points across all 30 Roadchef sites on the motorway network
Richard Burnett, head of technology and innovation at James Cropper said: “As a business that has sustainability at its core, creating a second life for valuable resources and materials that are considered challenging to recycle is hugely rewarding for us.”
Bolton firm Lloyds Metals has made a £5,000 donation to the Fire Fighters Chaorty after prompt action by fire crews meant a blaze caused only minimal damage to £2m worth of machinery.
Office manager Tonia Frail said: “Lloyds Metals was unfortunate enough to have a fire start in the yard in the early hours of Saturday, 9 July.
"A number of engines and fire service personnel attended the site to extinguish the fire.
"Their rapid response and professional skills are responsible for ensuring the £2m plus worth of machinery sustained minimal damage.
Developer TMR South Coast has won a planning appeal for a waste site that had earlier been rejected by Hampshire County Council.
Planning inspector Nick Palmer overturned the council’s decision for the site at Three Maids Hill.
The centre would have some 75 HGV movements a day and handle 75,000 tonnes of waste a year.
Palmer said fears of dust pollution were over-stated and the developer "has demonstrated that the development has been designed to prevent any escape of dust.
Havant Borough Council and contractor Norse South East are installing larger collection banks across the borough to encourage glass recycling.
They will install 10,700 litre enclosed skips, nine times larger than current glass collection bins. Fitted with a sensor device, the new banks also allow for remote monitoring of capacity before emptying is required.
Lulu Bowerman, cabinet lead for environmental services, said: ”The new technology combined with the increase in size will prevent unsightly and overflowing areas in the borough.”
Keep Britain Tidy repeated calls for the Government to introduce legislation to ban disposable, single-use barbecues and tackle the dangers of littered glass.
Fires over the past few days have highlighted the catastrophic impact these two items can have on the environment and the very real risk they present for people and wildlife.
A fire was started on Saddleworth Moors near Oldham by a disposable barbecue and London Fire Brigade, which has attended more than 1,000 grass and open land fires since the beginning of June, has called for a temporary ban on them in parks.
KBT is going one step further and reiterating its plea for the Government to ban single-use disposable barbecues outright, as well as repeating calls for glass to be included in the upcoming deposit return scheme.
Cory has urged Government to take immediate action to reduce the amount of plastic that enters the non-recyclable waste stream and to create the correct conditions for plastic reprocessing in the UK.
An in-depth composition analysis of the residual waste Cory receives and processes on behalf of Western Riverside Waste Authority found plastics, while only representing 16% of the residual waste by weight, contributed 65% of the fossil carbon emissions which are the most environmentally damaging.
Helen Murphy, Cory head of sustainability, said: "The UK Government must step up and provide the incentives and systems for business to help them on their journeys to planet friendly, circular models where waste is designed out, materials are reused, and unethical practices such as inbuilt obsolescence in electrics and white goods are banished."
Essex Fire & Rescue Service has fought a blaze with 600 tonnes of waste clothing alight at a recycling site in Braintree.
Eight appliances from six fire stations were initially in attendance at the site near the A131 road.
Crews worked in high heat to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby woodland and extinguished it in sections, and the public were asked to close windows despite the heat and avoid the area.
After the fire was brought under control diggers were used to pull some of the clothing away and dampen it down.
Station manager Nick Singleton said: “They worked really hard in blistering conditions and very hot work. They've done very well to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading into the woodlands and further onto the fields as well.” The site concerned has not been named.
A five-year-old boy was killed on Monday after being hit by a refuse lorry in Walsall, West Midlands Police have said.
Walsall Council has been locally reported as saying that the lorry, understood to be carrying meat waste, was not owned by the council or any contractor to it.
Police said the driver remained at the scene and is helping with enquiries.
York refuse collectors have complained that they have been forbidden to wear shorts in the heatwave even though collections at a nearby council may do so.
The York Press has reported that York workers must wear normal heavy protective trousers, while East Riding of Yorkshire Council allows its staff to wear shorts.
One York collector is reported to have worn a kilt to work as a proems against the rule on shorts.
The council said it asked residents to leave bins out earlier than usual so crews could avoid the hottest part of the day.
American plastic and chemical company LyondellBasell has joined the Nextloopp project, which aims to create circular food-grade recycled polypropylene from post-consumer packaging. Nextloopp said this meant there were now more than 40 organisations involved.
Chief executive professor Edward Kosior said: “As we continue to build momentum, LyondellBasell’s expertise on delivering technologies that advance solutions to our world’s biggest challenges will be key.”
Keen London’s apprenticeship programme has received a £3,000 donation from metal recycler EMR to help it offer apprenticeships to 10 young people.
The charity provides free sports and activity sessions for children with additional needs or disabilities, for which it uses a team of volunteer coaches and has a coach apprenticeship programme.
The donation was part of EMR’s Young Futures Reimagined initiative, which has supported more than 40 causes across the UK.
Esken Renewables has been awarded the Armed Forces Covenant’s gold award for its support for veteran, reservist and cadet force adult volunteer employees.
Some 10% of the firm’s staff are or have been reservists or cadet volunteers.
Chief executive Richard Jenkins said, “Going forward we aim to do even more to support armed forces people through developing our relationship with 611 Squadron Reservist Unit to find mutually beneficial activities to support development. We also aim to investigate developing relationships with Veterans into Logistics, the War Graves Commission and the Careers Transition Partnership.”
Packaging firm DS Smith has said it has designed out more than 313m pieces of problem plastics in the last two years under its plastic replacement programme.
Its designers have worked with customers to create thousands of innovations to replace plastic, the company said. Solutions have been created to remove everyday plastic items
Samantha Upham, sustainability business partner, said: “By using our circular design metrics, we can easily show not just where plastic can be replaced, but how circular their packaging is right now and where we can make improvements together.”
Eqtec has selected Petrofac as its engineering design contractor for its project at Haverton Hill, Billingham, where it intends to build a plant that converts refuse-derived fuel to combined heat and power.
This is planned to turn 200,000 tonnes a year of RDF into 25MW of electricity, with the potential for creating up to 34MW of thermal energy.
It is examining hydrogen production, battery storage and hydrogen refuelling as potential uses for an unallocated part of the site.
Patrick Coleman, 75, of Galsworthy Road, Barnet, North London, sole director of haulage company PJC Sweepers Ltd, has been prosecuted by the Environment Agency.
Coleman was acquitted at Cambridgeshire Crown Court on 1 June 2022 for transporting waste without a permit. However, his company was fined £6,000 plus costs of £10,000, a further £4,000 compensation for the remediation of the site. He also had to pay a £170 victim surcharge at the same court on 4 July, 2022.
In a case brought by Natural Resources Wales, a man from Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent in south east Wales, has been ordered to pay £3404, after pleading guilty to waste charges at Cwmbran Magistrates court last month.
Mervyn Lewis, had been operating an automotive business on land at Park Hill Garage in Tredegar, without the relevant environmental permits or waste exemptions.
The Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) has worked with Fichtner Engineering on a study of the practicality of electrifying the UK paper industry, but warned Government action would be required.
One ideas is to decarbonise production by electrifying heat generation by switching from natural gas to grid supplied power from a decarbonised supply network. The report is available here.
Steve Freeman, CPI director of energy and environmental affairs, said: “Today’s report highlights that electrification of heat will incur substantial costs in upgrading the national grid to allow increased generation of low-carbon electricity to be transferred from generation sites to consuming sites.
“We’re concerned these grid reinforcement costs are being neglected by policymakers. Required changes are not in the hands of industry and we need action from Government.”
Liverpool City Council has been urged in a motion from councillors to make landlords responsible for waste dumped at the end of the academic in parts of the city where large number of students live .
The motion said residents in these areas were “disgusted and distressed by horrendous piles of clothes, food, kitchen utensils and personal items dumped onto their streets and in alleyways, with over-flowing and contaminated bins left strewn around, making some streets impassable”.
Waste left behind by students was in effect landlords’ business waste and so the council should “insist landlords are fully responsible for items from their properties”, using the licensing system to enforce this.
The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) has appointed Liz Parkes as chair of its general council
She has been a CIWM trustee since 2021 and replaces Dan Cooke who had been chair since 2019.
Parkes has spent the past 10 years leading the Environment Agency’s work on the climate emergency, and before that its action on waste and resource management.
MBA Polymers UK, part of the EMR Group, has gained certification under ISO 14001:2015, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 45001:2018 for its quality, environmental and safety management systems.
General manager Paul Mayhew said: “Achieving triple ISO accreditation is brilliant news and allows our customers to have complete assurance that our products and services are being produced to the highest standards of quality and environmental impact.”
Recycling Lives has completed its acquisition of Glasgow-based recycler John R. Adam and Sons Ltd for an undisclosed sum.
Three Hills Capital Partners, as a shareholder in Recycling Lives, provided additional support throughout the acquisition process.
12 July sawthe first day of operations for the combined company. The move will see Recycling Lives’ recycling business hit over £300m turnover and take its employee count to over 550.
Baby care company Pura is to pilot a nappy recycling service in Bristol.
The six-months trial will initially offer 47 households and one nursery group free kerbside nappy collections, provided by Natural UK.
Used nappies will be sent to the NappiCycle plant in Wales, where they will be cleansed with plastics and cellulose fibres separated for re-use.
Pura founder Guy Fennell said: “We know that nappy collection and recycling works, but it requires investment and legislation change to roll out the service outside of Wales. We need to act now and to try to convince the Government to make a change as soon as possible.”
Northern Trains and its waste management contractor Biffa are deploying smart bin sensors at 70 stations that give real-time data on recycling volumes from individual bins, helping it with monitoring and improved recycling rates.
The operator plans to recycle 70% of the waste produced across its sites this year and the data will allow it to adjust recycling schemes in response to seasonal trends, and prevent bin overflows.
Biffa carries out an average of 1,200 lifts per month of waste and recycling bins for Northern Rail.
Solid improved recovered fuel pellets perform significantly better than coal and natural gas on carbon emissions, according to management consultant and waste specialist Monksleigh.
Research commissioned by waste-to-pellet company WKE found the pellets performed twice as well on CO2 emissions than natural gas, and 3.5 times better than coal.
WKE chief executive Ian Jones said: “The results demonstrate that SIRF pellets work particularly well as a substitute to coal, including coking coal, pet coke and industrial coal, in cement kilns, coal-fired power stations and steel manufacturing. As a substitute for natural gas, for example in brickmaking, there are also significant benefits.”
Councils may delay bin collections because of the excessive heat this week. South Oxfordshire District Council was among the first to warn residents that collections were “likely [to] stop early due to the extremely hot weather forecast today and the rest of the week”.
It apologised for any inconvenience and asked residents to leave bins out for two days after scheduled collections.
Toy firm Playmobil is to make its Wiltopia product range from an average of more than 80% sustainable material.
It will use both recyclable and bio-based plastics working with Coolrec, a subsidiary of waste firm Renewi.
Items will be made from the recycled plastics that Coolrec obtains from discarded refrigerators. The remaining plastics are turned into Coolrec granulate,
Wiltopia sets will include animals from all over the world with accessories to open up creative role-play, as well as collectible animal cards and a QR code leading to online information about them.
Research by DS Smith has found 85m cubic metres of air is being shipped to UK homes each year due to unnecessary packaging – the space left empty within each package.
DS Smith said oversized boxes containing excess material caused nearly 5.0m unnecessary delivery journeys, leading to 86,071 tonnes of potentially avoidable CO2 being released.
Stefano Rossi, DS Smith Packaging chief executive, said: “Consumers want less packaging. Raw materials are more expensive than ever, and the benefits for the environment are significant, so now is the time to design the air out of online shopping.”
Steve Double has been appointed junior minister at Defra, and may take responsibility for the vacant waste and recycling brief left by Rebecca Pow and Jo Churchill in the recent spate of ministerial resignations. Defra said how role would be decided “in due course”.
Double is MP for Newquay and St Austell. He was previously a government whip.
The Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) has issued a commemorative 150th anniversary edition of its annual review covering 2021-22.
This reflects on its history since the founding in 1872 of the Paper Makers’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland.
The CPI will also mark the occasion with awards, a photography exhibition and charitable donations and bursaries.
Bedfordshire fire services are dealing with a large fire at a metal recycling centre in Knolls View, Totternhoe. Services said 30 tonnes of scrap metal were ablaze.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue crews were called to the incident at 19:32 on Thursday 7 July.
Local residents were advised to keep their windows shut due to amount of smoke.
National Resources Wales (NRW) has issued a warning to individuals and businesses advertising illegal waste collection services on social media.
David Powell, NRW operations manager north east, said: “As a waste producer, you are responsible for your waste, and you have a duty of care to ensure that it is disposed of lawfully.
“On average a legitimate waste carrier charges around £52 to remove a car boot sized bundle of waste while a van load would cost £166 and an average skip load around £230. If your waste carrier is charging less, ask to see their waste carrier’s licence and check NRW’s public register.
“Otherwise, these illegal waste carriers might dump your waste in areas that harm the local community, the environment and risk you a hefty fine.”
Veolia proudly marched in this year's Pride in London parade, with its electric collection vehicle in vivid rainbow colours taking centre stage, alongside colleagues and allies, to support and celebrate its diverse workforce and the LGBTQ+ communities they serve.
Veolia's fully electric street cleansing fleet operating in the West End and dedicated team ensured a swift, green and effective clean up operation for one of the biggest events of the year, collecting over 180 tonnes of waste.
More than a million people celebrated the 50th anniversary of the UK's first Pride parade in London making this year’s the largest and most diverse in the UK. Veolia’s collection teams cleared over 75 tonnes of waste from the parade and 105 tonnes from evening celebrations.
The first to recycle polystyrene, £100 million of new recycling facilities nearing completion, and recycling more than 67,000 mattresses in just eight months are three major achievements by North London Waste Authority (NLWA) in 2021-22 cited at its recent AGM.
With household recycling rates plateauing across the country in recent years, due in part to a lack of legislation for local authorities to enforce it, NLWA has been trying to ensure more items, particularly those that are tricky to recycle, can now be recycled in north London.
In June 2021 it began to recycle the mountains of mattresses thrown out or fly-tipped every year. In eight months, 67,058 mattresses were recycled, saving 1,527 tonnes of reusable resources including steel, cotton and polyester for the circular economy.
Wood recyclers were challenged to turn future challenges into opportunities as they gathered to mark the 21st anniversary of the Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA).
The milestone conference and celebration at The Belfry Hotel & Resort near Birmingham saw more than 120 WRA members and guests meet to reflect on the successful history of the association and look towards the next 21 years.
The keynote address was delivered by former British rally champion Penny Mallory, who spoke about the importance of mental toughness and of turning challenges into opportunities.
Eqtec has selected Wood as its technology partner for design and deployment of a clean waste-to-hydrogen solution during phase two development of a waste-to-hydrogen plant at Southport Hybrid Energy Park, Merseyside.
It signed a letter of intent with Wood to formalise their joint intent to collaborate.
Eqtec chief operating officer Jeff Vander Linden said: “Our joint efforts at Southport with Wood will not only generate a unique, waste-to-hydrogen solution, but will also introduce the Southport community to a solution for clean, circular, sustainable energy from waste.”
Valpak’s Re-Volt scheme has been extended to Plymouth. The scheme is already in London, Cambridge, Brighton and Hereford.
In Plymouth, Valpak will supply free battery boxes to businesses throughout the city. These are then collected free of charge by Zedify cycle couriers while they’re delivering packages across the city. The scheme adds to Valpak’s existing battery service, which collects millions of batteries from more than 30,000 businesses around the UK, including Sainsburys, Co-op and M&S.
Valpak commercial manager James Nash said: “The expansion of the zero-carbon service to Plymouth is gathering pace already and we’re urging businesses of all sizes to take advantage of the scheme.”
Kensington and Chelsea Council is hosting electrical repair parties. Residents can bring their broken electrical devices to be fixed and learn how learn how to repair them.
Lead member for planning, place and environment Cem Kemahli said: “The rising cost of goods and services is affecting many households throughout the country. We’re making it easier for residents to learn how to give new life to old electrical items so they can save money where possible.
“Reusing old items is the first, often overlooked step to reducing waste and carbon emissions. So by saving those old mobiles, kitchen appliances and headphones you’re not just saving money, you’re having a positive impact on the environment too.”
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