New soil from recycled waste for barren steelworks The multi-million pound regeneration project of a 200-year-old steelworks “wasteland” has combined recycled green waste with post-industrial slag and colliery spill to create 11 hectares of new landscape. more...
02 Mar 2010
Prioritise reuse over recycling to reduce carbon emissions in construction industry, says expert Reuse of building materials, such as bricks and steel girders, should be prioritised over recycling in order to minimise carbon emissions, according to Bioregional Development Group reclaimed materials manager Jonathan Essex. In a webinar called Zero waste equals 100% reuse – towards a low carbon construction industry hosted by web-based discussion tool 2degrees, Essex said: “We are recycling at the expense of the environment. The drive to reduce waste to landfill has increased recycling massively but has also reduced the level of reuse.” more...
10 Feb 2010
British Gas to trial five biomethane projects British Gas has announced it is going ahead with five biomethane demonstration projects, which could be the first in the UK to inject green gas into the national grid. The news comes after the Government has professed its support for renewable technologies such as biomethane injection, biomass technology operators and biogas plants under the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme. The new initiative will see individuals, communities or businesses injecting biomethane into the grid receive financial support of 4p/kWh. more...
04 Feb 2010
New quality protocol for gypsum published A newly published gypsum quality protocol could save industries which generate waste plasterboard around £8 million each year in disposal costs. The Quality Protocol for the Production of Recycled Gypsum from Waste Plasterboard, published by the Waste Protocols Project – a joint Waste & Resources Action Programme and Environment Agency initiative – no longer defines used gypsum as waste. more...
22 Jan 2010
West Sussex firm is 'first' paint recycler in UK A West Sussex firm has uncovered a process which recycles unwanted emulsion paint back into usable paint. Newlife Paints, which says it is the only paint recyclers in the UK and possibly Europe, actually reprocesses unwanted paint using a chemical process and soon hopes to sell on the recycled emulsion paint as a product. more...
15 Jan 2010
Eight bidders chosen for Project Transform Project Transform, the £1 billion PFI venture, has shortlisted eight firms to build a waste management solution for a hub of four local authorities. The partnership, made up of Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council, has chosen the firms from 13 submissions from companies hoping to become the preferred bidder. more...
14 Jan 2010
Grundon Waste Management rebuilds MRF after fire Grundon Waste Management is to rebuild the materials recycling facility at its Colnbrook, Berkshire site which was destroyed by a fire last year. The new cutting edge £7M MRF will be installed inside the recently refurbished original building.
UPM expands services by building its first commingled MRF UPM, the world’s ‘largest’ user of recycled fibre in graphic papers, is expanding its interests by building its first materials recycling facility for comingled dry recyclables. The firm is investing £17M into a materials recycling facility at its Shotton paper mill in North Wales ‘to source high quality paper from commingled sources’. more...
05 Jan 2010
Viridor appeals Oxfordshire EfW refusal Viridor has appealed Oxfordshire County Council’s decision to refuse the construction of a £100M energy from waste facility in Ardley. The waste management firm believes it has a strong appeal case because the area needs the local treatment facility in order to ‘help the council manage its waste more sustainably and to avoid costly fines and increasing landfill taxes’. more...
04 Jan 2010
Wales builds 'unique' biomass plant Wales is to build its ‘first’ biochar facility, which will produce charcoal from dry organic waste. Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) is to purchase a purpose built plant after the Welsh Assembly Government’ s Academic Expertise for Business programme (A4B) provided it with £180,000. more...
22 Dec 2009
TEG partners with Alkane to improve bidding opportunities TEG and alternative energy firm Alkane have announced they are joining forces to bid for and develop anaerobic digestion plants in the UK. The two AIM-listed firms hope that through the partnership it will enhance its opportunities, enabling them to qualify for more bids and improves funding. more...
22 Dec 2009
Sita and United Utilities compete for South Tyne and Wear contract Two final bidders for the South Tyne and Wear waste management contract have been announced. Sita UK and United Utilities are now in the running for the 25-year deal, to develop a facility to deal with 200,000 tonnes of household waste each year and build any associated waste transfer stations. more...
21 Dec 2009
First commericial AD plant for North Wales North Wales is to build its first commercial anaerobic digestion facility after Anglesey Council granted planning permission for a plant which will treat up to 25,000 tonnes of waste. Anglesey Ecoparc Mon - run by the same group which owns Grays Waste Management – already has planning approval to construct a recycling centre on a site at the Mona Industrial Estate. The AD plant will be built in addition, treating food and farm waste. more...
17 Dec 2009
Surrey County Council drops incinerator plans Surrey County Council has axed plans to build two energy from waste plants after improved waste and recycling rates meant there was no need for such big facilities. In their place, a gasification plant and anaerobic digestion plant will be built to handle 100,000 tonnes of waste each year, instead of the 270,000 tonne capacity the incinerators offered. more...
17 Dec 2009
London 2012 meeting waste goals London 2012 is on track to deliver its waste management plans. Published in its updated sustainability report, ‘Towards a One Planet 2012’, are achievements already carried out on the project. These include surpassing the target of recycling or reusing 90 per cent of demolition waste by 7.7 per cent, using waterways to transport waste and recyclables, cleaning more than 80 per cent of soil for reuse on the Olympic Park and using recycled materials for building the foundations for the Aquatics Centre, Handball Area and Olympic Stadium. more...
04 Dec 2009
Network Rail to recycle 1/4 of UK railway waste at new facility Network Rail has received planning permission to convert a Westbury railway yard into an £8 million recycling facility. The site will be used to recycle nearly 25 per cent of disused track materials from the UK’s railway network. This will include 110,000 concrete sleepers and 30,000 tonnes of rail and fixtures. more...
26 Nov 2009
Final four short-listed for Herts PFI The final four bidders in the shortlist for the £200 million Hertfordshire waste PFI have been announced. E.ON Energy from Waste AG, MVV Umwelt GmbH, Shanks PFI Investments/Wheelabrator Technologies and Veolia ES Aurora are all competing for the contract to treat 320,000 tonnes of waste each year. Covanta Energy and Sita UK were unsuccessful in their bids. more...
26 Nov 2009
Biffa gets go-ahead for Staffordshire AD plant Biffa has been granted planning permission to build an anaerobic digestion plant at its waste management facility in Poplars, Cannock. Staffordshire County Council approved the application to construct the plant, which will treat 80,000 tonnes of food waste from households and businesses each year. more...
20 Nov 2009
South West Devon waste PFI bidder list halved The shortlist of bidders for the £800M South West Devon Partnership PFI – made up of Plymouth, Devon and Torbay local authorities - has been halved to the final three. MVV Umwelt, Sita UK and Viridor remain to compete for the contract, as Shanks Waste Solutions, Urbaser and Veolia lose their places. more...
20 Nov 2009
Planning regulations for small AD and biomass structures made easier Planning regulations to build structures housing biomass boilers, anaerobic digestion plants on farms could be made easier, after a new consultation document designed to cut red-tape for small scale projects was published on 17 November. Housing and planning minister John Healey launched a consultation of the planning system to simplify the installation of small scale renewable and low carbon energy technologies for homeowners, developers and businesses. more...
20 Nov 2009
Home improvement firm expands waste contract The HomeForm Group, which is the firm behind home improvement brands Dolphin, Moben and Kitchens Direct, has extended its partnership with waste management firm Hippowaste.Since 2005, Hippowaste has provided waste disposal solutions for bathroom manufacturer Dolphin, but under a new agreement it will additionally manage the disposal of unwanted kitchen suites from Moben and Kitchens Direct customers.
Feasibility study underway for biofuel plant Renewable biofuel firm INEOS Bio has begun a study discussing the possibility of building a plant to convert biodegradable household and commercial waste into transport fuel and electricity in the North East. The £3.5 million study provides engineering details to build a plant at its Seal Sands site in the Tees Valley. Once completed, the study will inform an investment decision for a bio-ethanol and bio-energy plant using INEOS Bio technology. more...
Construction work on five household waste recycling centres in Manchester has been completed. This is part of a £631m programme to achieve 50% recycling and composting by 2015. The redevelopment works form part of the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority’s (GMWDA) long-term waste management contract with Viridor Laing (Greater Manchester).
End-of-life PVC recycling increases 20 per cent End-of-life PVC recycling increased by 20 per cent in 2009 – its highest ever levels, despite the recession. In the first nine months of 2009, the PVC industry’s recycling initiative, Recovinyl, has reported a 20 per cent increase on end of life material - such as PVC-U window and door frames – against the same period in 2008. more...
16 Nov 2009
'First' zero-landfill plant approved Peterborough Renewable Energy has been given the green light to build the UK’s first zero-landfill plant at Storey’s Bar Gate. The Department of Energy and Climate Change granted approval for the construction of the plant today (4 November). It will generate 80 MW annually from mixed waste by combining recycling, food waste digestion, gasification and plasma melting, which remelts scrap metals. According to PREL, the energy park is the first to offer this complete cycle of processing waste, which can deliver up to 100 per cent recycling. more...
Construction group Morgan Sindall is to work with skip company Hippowaste to reduce waste and improve efficiency and recycling. Morgan Sindall named Hippowaste as one of its preferred partners after trialling its Hippobag skip system in its Morgan Ashurst construction division. It piloted the skip system, which uses plastic bags instead of traditional metal boxes, at a £5m office redevelopment in Portsmouth.
Quality Protocol for tyre derived materials is to be brought in early next year that could help grow this market by up to £23m over the next decade. A certification scheme will be introduced alongside the protocol and businesses that sign up will be listed on a public online register.The scheme will enable those participating to demonstrate to customers that their product meets the new standard and is a viable alternative to virgin materials.
AWS begins demolition at its Hemswell site Demolition has begun on the fire-damaged AWS Ecoplastics site in Hemswell, Lincolnshire. Around half the plastic bottle sorting and storage sites, which were destroyed in August, have already been pulled down to make way for construction. It is hoped the plant will be up and running to its full capacity in August 2010. more...
Mouchel to support innovative waste and recycling funding Consulting and business services group Mouchel has been awarded a business support services contract by the London Waste and Recycling Board. Under the contract Mouchel will provide business support to applicants seeking funding from the LWaRB for innovative waste and resource efficiency projects in the capital. more...
30 Oct 2009
JCB announces £39M profit JCB has announced pre-tax profits of £39 million last year and a turnover of £2 billion in very difficult market conditions. As a result, the firm remains the world’s third largest construction equipment brand, as it has secured 10.8 per cent of global market share with total sales of 57,000 machines. Profits of £187 million and turnover of £2.25 billion were reported in 2007 with machine sales of 72,000. more...
29 Oct 2009
REY funding triples tyre recycler processing rate Funding from Resource Efficiency Yorkshire has enabled a tyre-recycler to triple its processing speed. Recyclers Swiers and Grainger received £25,000 from REY to help purchase new equipment including a pre-shredder. The firm will now be capable of treating an extra 6,284 tonnes over the next three years. more...
29 Oct 2009
Mobile asphalt recycler trialled in Dorset A vehicle that both recycles and re-lays old asphalt for footpath resurfacing is being trialled by Dorset County Council. Manufactured by RSL, the VEB Hot Asphalt Recycler is on loan from Cornwall Council as North Dorset trials it on two footpaths in the area. more...
29 Oct 2009
'First ever' chip fat road laid in Bedfordshire Bedfordshire has laid the ‘first ever’ road surface using waste chip fat in place of conventional bitumen. Befordshire Highways with Central Bedfordshire Council, infrastructure engineering firm Amey and construction firm Aggregate Industries have teamed up to pilot the use of waste fat in resurfacing roads. more...
26 Oct 2009
Envac to launch underground mobile waste system in UK An underground waste collection company is launching its mobile vacuum waste system in the UK. Envac, which uses vacuums to transport waste through underground pipes, has already installed mobile systems in Sweden, Norway and Spain. more...
23 Oct 2009
Wakefield will reach financial close early 2010 Wakefield’s £700 million waste management PFI project will reach financial close in early 2010. Since 2007, VT Group has been the preferred bidder to build treatment facilities to deal with up to 200,000 tonnes of residual waste but delays have beset the project because of the credit market. more...
23 Oct 2009
Derby waste treatment facility deferred A planning application to build a waste treatment facility in Derby has been deferred indefinitely by the local authority, despite planning officers’ recommendation to approve the plant. Derby County Council Planning Committee has asked the waste management firm behind the planned facility, Resource Recovery Solutions to submit further information about the impact the plant will have on public health. more...
23 Oct 2009
Planning permission approval for Doncaster gasification plant BioGen Power, with help from environmental consultants SLR Consulting, has secured planning permission for a new gasification plant in Doncaster.The facility will have a 120,000 tonne capacity which will generate 9.4 MW of electricity annually – enough to power 20,000 homes. more...
22 Oct 2009
Viridor and WRG denied planning permission for Oxfordshire EfWs Oxfordshire County Council has denied both Viridor and the Waste Recycling Group planning permission to each build an energy from waste facility in Ardley and Sutton Courtenay respectively. The local authority’s Planning and Regulation Committee rejected Viridor’s planning application by nine votes to five and WRG was refused by seven votes to five. more...
21 Oct 2009
£200M biomass plant approved Plans to build a £200million biomass power plant at Tees Valley have been approved. Gaia Power’s plant will be powered on recycled wood chippings, generating 50MW, which is enough to supply over 80,000 homes. Around 275,000 tonnes of pallets, MDF and chipboard will be diverted from landfill to fuel the facility each year. more...
20 Oct 2009
EA fines waste tyre exporter An exporter had to pay £10,000 in fines and costs for its involvement in illegally shipping waste tyres to Vietnam.
Cheshire-based BTR was found to have organised shipments by paying container related fees and introducing tyre baling companies to the firm responsible for the illegal export. It was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs by Southampton Crown Court after it pleaded guilty. more...
13 Oct 2009
New AD trade association aims to help develop infrastructure A new anaerobic digestion and biogas trade body is aiming to generate 20 per cent of the UK’s gas demand from biogas by 2020. The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) is a trade association for those involved in the design and build of Britain’s biogas infrastructure. It hopes to help farmers raise finances for AD and help with the education, development and quality standards associated with these technologies. more...
12 Oct 2009
Sita officially opens £70 million EfW extension Sita UK has officially opened its new £70 million extension at its Tees Valley energy from waste facility. The extension treats 136,000 tonnes of waste per year, enabling the facility to handle 390,000 tonnes of waste annually, increasing the plant’s capacity by 140,000 tonnes. Additionally it is now capable of generating 30 MW of electricity. more...
12 Oct 2009
ODA commits to halving waste to landfill The Olympic Delivery Authority has committed to halving waste to landfill under the Waste & Resources Action Programme’s initiative. Almost 200 firms across the construction industry have signed up to the commitment and it is hoped the addition of the ODA will play a key role in encouraging others to do the same. more...
12 Oct 2009
Cemex and WRG partner up to produce alternative cement-making fuel Cemex is joining forces with the Waste Recycling Group to build and operate an alternative fuel plant in Rugby. Building solutions provider Cemex has applied for permission to build a Climafuel manufacturing plant either at Southam or Malpass Farm, Rugby. It is hoped that if Warwickshire County Council agrees to the planning application, WRG and Cemex would operate it as a partnership. more...
12 Oct 2009
Shanks to build first UK AD plant Shanks has signed an £8 million joint venture to build its first UK anaerobic digestion plant in Scotland. Working in partnership with Scotland-based Energen Biogas, a renewable energy firm, the collaboration will develop and operate a 60,000 tonne capacity AD plant. The facility will generate up to 3 MWh of electricity – enough to power 3,000 homes. more...
07 Oct 2009
Crossrail using barges to transport excavated earth Crossrail will transport more than five million tonnes of excavated earth along the Thames to be reused in landscaping projects. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Port of London Authority and Crossrail at the end of September, to confirm the commitment to use barges and ships along the river to move the materials. more...
07 Oct 2009
Recycled plasterboard content hits 61 per cent Average UK recycled content in plasterboard reached 61 per cent in 2008, making the UK one of the best performing European countries. The Gypsum Products Development Association showed the recycled content rose from 55 per cent the previous year. Recycled content is derived from secondary fibre in the plasterboard liner, post consumer gypsum recovered from the construction industry or by-product gypsum from industrial processes. more...
06 Oct 2009
Midlands waste PFI out for tender Coventry City Council has issued a tender notice for the £1 billion PFI venture Project Transform. The three-council waste management project, which includes Coventry, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council, will treat 305,000 tonnes of municipal waste each year by 2040. more...
02 Oct 2009
Innovative online tool launched for construction waste recovery The Waste & Resources Action Programme has launched an innovative new tool, allowing materials recycling operators and waste management contractors to track recovery rates. Aimed at those working in the construction industry and committed to halving waste to landfill, the Site Specific Waste Analysis Tool enables firms to record each consignment of construction, demolition and excavation waste processed at their facilities. more...
