Materials Recycling Week
22 April 2005
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Bobbies to get recycling facilities
London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is to provide recycling facilities for its police officers and support workers. The Met is to find new office space for 3,500 staff and will provide a range of facilities to recycle as well as energy efficient lighting and air conditioning. It will also continue trials of alternatively fuelled vehicles as part of its new five-year environmental strategy. MPS director of resources Keith Luck said: "The publication of t -
Burn baby burn
Controversial energy from waste (EfW) technology has been given the thumbs-up by a report released this week. It said that certain types of waste could produce up to 17% of the electricity generated in the UK by 2020. EfW, which can often mean the burning of rubbish to generate electricity, has attracted bad publicity. Many are concerned that incinerators release pollutants into the air and harm recycling levels. This includes the Conservative Party -
ESA backs 900% rise in incineration
Incineration could rise by 900% in the UK without damaging health or the environment, waste firms have insisted. The Environmental Services Association (ESA) pointed to Europe as an example as it backed calls for an increase in rubbish burning. An Institution of Civil Engineers report last week declared that more electricity should be produced from waste to help the UK meet renewable energy targets. A host of critics including the Liberal Democrats, the Conser -
Feature: Volume control
Sat at my desk strewn with press releases, Post-it notes, old conference packs and magazines, a paper-less office seems like a distant ideal. Despite my best intentions, I compulsively print out documents and drafts and hoard paper work. It's official, though, I'm not alone. A new report from Lexmark entitled In Paper We Trust, states that a combination of human psychology, entrenched business practices and so-called labour saving devices, is preventing the paperless office from becoming a re -
Feature: Why the North-East is down on being up
After the weekend's disappointing match, 30,000 'Toon fans will have mournfully cast aside those briefly cherished FA Cup semi-final programmes - but they are much more likely to have landed in a recycling box than the bin. Last month the North-East of England received what, to date, has been a rare bit of good news about its generally lamentable recycling rates as a report declared that household waste recycling is growing quicker in the North-East than in any other area of England. -
Final warning over illegal waste site from the '80s
Human health and the environment are still being put at risk by an illegal landfill site that started operating at least 17 years ago. The Kouroupitos site on the Greek island of Crete, which has been taking waste since 1988, was first clamped down on by the EU five years ago. Greece was fined €20,000 (£13,700) every day for almost eight months until the European Commission accepted it had shut the site in 2001. Now the country has been sent a final -
Fire leads to job losses
Jobs have been lost in the searing aftermath of the fire that ravaged the Milton Keynes household recycling site earlier this month. With no sign of when the materials recycling facility (MRF) will reopen, some workers have been laid off and the future of all others remains uncertain. The April 2 blaze sent up in smoke a massive development programme being undertaken by Community Waste since it took over the site in October. The firm introduced new shifts to a -
Firms to be held to account for staff fatalities
Waste management firms could be punished for deaths in the workplace under legislation the Government plans to bring in following the general election. The Home Office will be consulting on its draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill until June 17 and the paper could have serious repercussions for the recycling trade, which per employee has the worst fatality rate of any UK industry. The proposed bill doesn't introduce new sentences for the crime - this remains an unlimited fi -
Foreword: Safe or found
Another week goes by and there are more court cases relating to deaths and injuries within the industry. While employers are to be blamed for some incidences, the fault for other cases lays with the company supplying the waste for disposal. Is this an isolated case or are workers being exposed to unnecessary risks from outside contractors? If this is the situation then this industry will have to b -
Get in! Recyclers win top business awards
A number of recycling firms are breaking out the bubbly to celebrate being awarded a Queen's Award for Enterprise. Out of 137 awards granted this year in the UK's highest accolade for business, several were companies involved in recycling. These included scrap metal firms Dunn Brothers 1995 and G.D Metal Recycling, mobile phone recycler Fonebak, machine supplier Advanced Crusher Spares, wood chippers and green waste shredders Greenmech and ScotAsh which recycles ash prod -
Grundon "baffled" by Gloucestershire decision
Grundon Waste Management has said it is "baffled" by the decision of Gloucester County Council to refuse planning permission for a materials recovery facility (MRF) at its integrated waste management facility at Wingmoor Farm. The company will now appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against the decision. Grundon estates surveyor Paul Wormald said: "We were completely baffled at the time by the decision to refuse planning permission for the proposed MRF. This decision fle -
Industry attacks EU for abandoning Biowaste Directive
The Environmental Services Association (ESA) has backed a coalition of European organisations' call for a Biowaste Directive amid fears that the European Commission was shelving the legislation. Six environmental groups from across the continent wrote to the Commission to express their "deep concern" that it was abandoning plans for a directive covering the safe use, recovery, recycling and disposal of biodegradable waste. The Commission had promised to prepare a directi -
Kerbside boost for textiles industry
Struggling textile recyclers have been given hope with the announcement that a major waste firm is to trial kerbside collections of the material. Onyx will take waste clothing from 6,000 homes in Sheffield for six months beginning at the end of April. Textile merchants have been fighting for their lives in the face of falling quality of supply combined with lower demand due to stronger competition. If the Onyx trials are successful, many more kerbside collecti -
Metal recyclers to withhold license fees in protest
Metal recyclers in the South West have threatened to withhold their waste management license fees in protest against cowboy traders overrunning the area. As previously revealed in MRW (see story), a number of bona fide merchants in -
MRW - it's a lifesaver!
MRW has helped prevent money for sick children being wasted on skips. Our appeal for life-saving textile recyclers (see story) has also meant large amounts of material being recycled, instead of going t -
New chapter in fridge recycling debacle
A further twist has been added to the fridge recycling saga after a UN report ruled that CFC substitutes were themselves harmful to the environment. RAL Quality Assurance Association wants appliances made with hydrocarbons to be subject to the same laws as those made with CFCs. The Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations ruled that from January 2002 all fridges and freezers containing CFCs had to be recycled by a licensed site. Manufacturers started using hydro -
News analysis: Lib Dems' environmental manifesto
The Liberal Democrats have made the environment central to their bid for power. While Labour is concentrating on its economic record, and the Conservatives are focusing on immigration and public services, the Lib Dems are gunning for green votes. Leader Charles Kennedy said this week: "The environment is at the heart of the Liberal Democrat election campaign. "Action on the environment runs through our manifesto. It should underpin everything that government does. It is central to -
Preferred bidder selected for Grundon energy from waste plant
Lakeside Energy from Waste, the company set up by Grundon Waste Management to develop its energy from waste (EfW) facility at Colnbrook near Slough, has selected its preferred bidder for the project. Favourite to build the 400,000 tonnes per year plant is the Japanese consortium of Itochu and Takuma, which, if finally selected, will win a contract worth over £100 million. -
Urgent calls for contract procurement to be simplified
Whoever wins the election must slash the amount of time and money needed to secure waste contracts from councils, a key figure has warned. Environmental Services Association chief executive Dirk Hazell insisted vital investors were being put off by the UK's nightmare procurement system. "Tendering for a local authority contract can take years and cost millions of pounds," he said. It has been estimated that more than 2,000 waste-treatment facilities need to be
