Materials Recycling Week
15 October 2004
View all stories from this issue.
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Ban threat for shredder use
By Greg PitcherWar-weary vehicle recyclers are preparing for battle yet again as a further bombshell has been dropped on the industry.Senior figures at the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) are working flat out to counter a United Nations threat to ban shredders.The Stockholm Convention has met all this week in Tokyo to consider classifying vehicle-recycling machinery a major source of persistent organic pollutants.This classification wou -
Building society
New guidance launched last Wednesday by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) at the Implementing Sustainable Procurement 2004 conference is designed to help all those involved in the building industry identify opportunities to increase the use of recycled content at the design, procurement and construction stages.WRAP has produced the guidance, which covers both the commercial and house building sectors, following recommendations made by the Governments Sustainable Buildin -
Council Tax rebate illegal
A plan to offer a years free Council Tax as an incentive to recycle has been shelved after advice from lawyers.Bristol City Council was told it was illegal to offer money off the tax.The authority had to settle for a prize of £200, which will be awarded to people that use their black box correctly, are picked by council officers and answer a question correctly.Liberal Democrat council chairman Gary Hopkins said: A £200 prize is a significant amount of money fo -
Criminal fly-tippers must be stopped from laughing at the law
By Greg PitcherDeafening calls for action to halt the rise of organised fly-tipping grew louder still this week as councils joined the chorus started by the recycling industry.The Local Government Association (LGA) has demanded more money to fight illegal waste dumping and harsher punishments for offenders.Criminal gangs are becoming increasingly involved in fly-tipping, costing councils millions of pounds and making recycling targets harder to meet. -
Eastern promise
For years now, the agricultural industry in Eastern Europe has been recycling farm plastics. Seen as a relatively valuable commodity in a society that thinks twice about throwing away useful materials, recycling farming plastic is big business in the former communist block. Evolution Projects is working closely with Italian recycling machinery manufacturers PRT and a contaminated plastics recycling plant based in Hungary to explore opportunities in the UK. Revealing an interesting ne -
Fingers crossed for Big Recycle
Almost 250 councils are ready for a crucial week in the £10 million attempt to increase the amount of material the public recycles.As MRW went to press, 245 of the 410 local authorities in England and Wales had registered their support for the Big Recycle.Monday sees the start of a vital week of promotional activity spearheaded by comedian Alistair McGowan. The Big Recycle is seen as the focal point of the Recycle Now communications campaign.Leadin -
Fining residents for their waste won't encourage them to recycle
By Ian BellamyLocal authorities must win the hearts and minds of the public if they are to meet tough European Union recycling targets, which aim to divert 33 million tonnes of waste away from landfill sites by 2020.Fining people for throwing away too much rubbish will not encourage recycling. It will only spark resentment about being forced to pay for a waste collection service that was once free and will be extremely difficult to police. Similarly, providing -
Food waste first as Somerset aims for 40% recycling
The first ever collections of food waste have been made in Somerset this week as part of the countys push to reach its 2005/6 target of 40% recycling.The kitchen waste pick-ups have been added to weekly kerbside boxes for dry recyclables and alternate-week collections between garden and residual waste.Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) chairman Nigel Woollcombe-Adams said: Food waste makes up 25% of the average bin. Diverting this material away from landfill and into compos -
Growing the recycling message
TV gardener Charlie Dimmock is helping to plant the seeds of change in the minds of Londoners by backing the capitals campaign to encourage more people to recycle.The £3.5 million Recycle for London advertising scheme will remind Londoners of the need to recycle, and how they can go about it, on billboards, in 70 local papers and through online advertising.Ground Force presenter Dimmock joined London Mayor Ken Livingstone at a launch this week of the campaign. She said: L -
How to engineer a move to managing director
When he joined the company as site engineer in 1984, Kevin Francis could not have known that 20 years later he would be owning and running it from a 25,000ft2 base.Yet that is what has happened since Francis headed up the successful management buyout of recycling equipment supplier Engineering Services.Francis is now managing director of the south Wales firm, looking after 38 members of staff and hoping to recruit even more.The companys future was in doubt ear -
ID tags to stop contamination
Newtownabbey Borough Council has fitted microchips to 1,000 bins to stop residents contaminating its compostable waste collections.The chips act as ID tags that let the council know what residents are putting out for recycling when scanned by specially equipped refuse collection vehicles.The Northern Irish council invested in Sulos weigh and ID technology to target households with low recycling rates, so that it could educate them on the importance of using their brown bi -
Manslaughter Committal
Manslaughter CommittalThe case of paper recycler Paul White has been committed to Norwich Crown Court for trial on November 8. Forty-two-year-old White, owner of MW White, is charged with manslaughter in regard to corporate responsibility for the death of a worker onsite. White was granted unconditional bail. -
New uses for old tyres
New uses for old tyresItalian tyre company Pirelli is exploring two new uses for old tyres as part of a E670 million (£460m) research programme. Pirelli said that it would be exploring the use of used tyres in the manufacture of phono-absorbent panels. In effect, the material would help to sound-proof walls for studios and similar rooms. A second project would investigate how old tyres could be mixed with other solid wastes to produce a solid fuel that could b -
Recycling cuts builders' costs
By John McKennaRecycling has reduced builders costs by 60% in the refurbishment of 1,400 homes in Reading. Removed windows, doors and sinks were segregated into separate skips for plastic, metal and glass and then sold to reprocessors.Diverting the waste from landfill meant gate fees and Landfill Tax were much lower, while the use of six segregated skips rather than a couple taking mixed waste allowed skip pick-ups to be made less often. Environmental firm BKP -
Southampton scraps its popular alternate-week collection service
By John McKennaSouthampton City Council ignored its residents this week as it scrapped its popular alternate-week collection scheme.Despite 90% of city residents being in favour of the scheme according to a recent MORI poll, the council opted to go back to weekly collections of residual waste.The decision divided councillors in the hung city council, with Labour and Conservative members out-voting council leaders the Liberal Democrats, who wished to keep the c -
TRIF Awards
TRIF awardsThe Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has awarded £1.36 million in research grants through the Technologies Research and Innovation Fund. The money has been given to research teams to explore new ways of diverting biodegradable waste from landfill. -
Tyre Watch
Tyre WatchTyre manufacturers and recyclers have asked the Government to ensure they are not penalised for responsible recovery. As part of the Environment Agencys Tyre Watch Programme, stakeholders have suggested exemptions from waste management licensing for tyre recovery.
