A public inquiry into a plan to build a £117m incinerator, which faces tough opposition from residents, has got underway in Cornwall. The inquiry relates to a plan submitted by SITA UK to build an incinerator with a 390ft chimney at St Dennis, near St Austell. Cornwall Council rejected a planning application in March last year on the grounds of visual impact, noise, and inadequate consideration of alternatives.
RRS submits appeal against Derby's planning refusal Resource Recovery Solutions (Derbyshire) has lodged an appeal against Derby City Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for its waste treatment facility. A spokesperson for RRS said: “RRS has a strong case to lodge an appeal against Derby City Council’s planning committee decision to refuse consent for the facility. Not only does the application conform to all relevant planning policies, no statutory consultees objected to the application and Derby City Council’s planning officer recommended the application for approval on two occasions.” more...
Plans to build an incinerator at Ernesettle in Plymouth have been dropped by waste management firm MVV Umwelt. The site at Ernesettle was one of three in the running under the South West Devon Waste Partnerships plan to deal with waste across South Devon for the next 25 years.
London Mayor Boris Johnson needs to provide greater clarity on how he plans to reduce London’s municipal waste, according to the London Assembly Environment Committee. The request comes as part of a response from the committee to the Mayor’s draft Municipal Waste Strategy, London’s Wasted Resource, published in January.
Wales has the potential to produce nearly twice the amount of electricity it currently uses through wholly renewable energy sources by 2025, according to a new policy statement from the Welsh Assembly Government. The statement, A Low Carbon Revolution, sets out the Assembly Government’s ambitions to reach a low carbon energy economy in Wales as quickly as possible with part of the solution coming from biomass.
Bin collections in parts of East Devon will no longer include bins which do not have their lids fully closed. From Monday 22 March, East Devon District Council will enforce the policy in an attempt to protect collection contractors from injury.
Recycling success for Hull An overhaul of its recycling collection system is being hailed as a “phenomenal success” by Hull City Council as its recycling rate has almost doubled compared to last year. In February 2009, the amount of household waste being recycled was 24%, but figures for February 2010 reveal this has risen to 46%. This surpasses the target of 45% recycling by April 2011 which the council set itself at the start of its new recycling scheme. more...
A shortlist of seven companies in the running for a waste treatment contract has been announced by Essex Waste Partnership. The partnership, made up of Essex County Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, recently received Government Private Finance Initiative credits of around £100million to improve the way waste is treated in Essex. They are also looking into new ways to deal with non-recyclable waste.
An investigation into privacy intrusions should be focusing on “more important issues” than the country’s rubbish bins according to the Local Government Association. The report, Lifting the Lid, by the organisation Big Brother Watch, part of the Tax Payers’ Alliance, looks into the number of councils placing microchips into bins and what this means for people’s privacy.
Viridor plans Sutton AD plant with half initial capacity Viridor has submitted a fresh planning application to build an anaerobic digestion facility in the London Borough of Sutton, after a reassessment found less waste will be produced in the surrounding area than originally thought. Initially, Viridor received permission to build an AD facility capable of processing 75,000 tonnes of waste each year along with other waste management infrastructure in 2008. However, after a fresh assessment of how much waste is likely to be generated by the four boroughs it will serve – Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton – it was concluded that a smaller facility would be more appropriate. more...
A new campaign has been launched by Derbyshire County Council in attempt to encourage its residents to recycle more. The campaign, We’re Not Wasters, places emphasis on reduce, reuse and recycle and asks residents to submit their top reuse tips to the council to be in with a chance of receiving a £10 high street gift voucher.
LWaRB allocates £28 million to London's waste infrastructure The London Waste and Recycling Board has allocated £28 million to help develop waste infrastructure in the Capital. The money is to be allocated within a group of 20 preferred projects. These projects will be identified by the board over the next 12 months according to which ones suit the Mayor of London’s preferred approach to waste management. more...
Improving productivity and efficiency on bin rounds could lead to cost savings for local authorities according to a new guidance document. Introducing a no side waste policy and reducing the number of vehicle passes per household are just two of the measures suggested in More for Less, guidance for local authorities on saving money in waste and recycling services, published by the Waste Improvement Network.
Bristol submits waste incentive proposal Today (8 March) Bristol City Council submitted its proposal to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to trial a waste incentive scheme. Under the scheme householders would receive 50 pence for each kilogramme of waste reduced from its average waste levels but householders would only be able to receive a maximum of £17.50 a year.
Biomass development in the English regions could be set to increase following the release of new guidelines from the Department of Energy and Climate Change designed to aid regional authorities in assessing their potential for renewable energy. The guidelines should help the English regions, of which there are nine, set themselves ambitious renewable targets in their new regional strategies.
Four bidders have successfully made it through to the next stage of the South London Waste Partnership’s procurement process. Resources from Waste, Viridor, Veoila and Waste Recycling Group have all made it through to the Invitation to Submit Detailed Solutions stage of the process.
Projected budget cuts in council spending, highlighted in a recent BBC survey, will not necessarily affect waste and recycling services. The BBC survey on the future of council spending, published on Monday, highlighted the estimated percentage cuts in services local authorities expect to face over the next three to five years.
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
Veolia drops injunction to bring fresh proceedings against Thurrock Council Veolia Environmental Services has withdrawn its application for a High Court injunction against Thurrock Council and is instead launching fresh legal proceedings. A Veolia Environmental Services spokesperson said: “We are issuing fresh legal proceedings against Thurrock Council in the Chancery Division of the High Court. These new proceedings relate to what we believe to be the council’s unlawful termination of the procurement process. We are also maintaining and pursuing our damages claim against the council, issued on February 8.” more...
The Government must close the “legal loophole” to protect council tax payers from picking up the bill from Schedule 2 premises such as schools and hospitals, according to the London Councils.Its call follows on from a joint statement by four Government departments urging public bodies like hospitals and schools not to seek changes to the way their rubbish is collected to take advantage of the service provided by councils for local residents (see MRW story).
Two fly-tipping brothers described as the “scourge of the capital” were sentenced to community penalties at Wood Green Crown Court on February 23. Peter O’Donoghue and James O’Donoghue had pleaded guilty to collecting money from householders to take away furniture and electrical appliances before dumping it in streets across Haringey and Enfield, in north London.
Council job cuts will not affect waste services in Leciestershire Leicestershire County Council has said that frontline waste services will not be affected despite its plans to 650 of its full-time staff redundant over the next four years. The reason for the planned job cuts comes down to the need to reduce public spending following the recession. more...
25 Feb 2010
BDR Waste Partnership selects two companies Two firms have been shortlisted for the Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham Waste Partnership private finance initiative after the decision was delayed by a month. The chosen firms are Sita Lend Lease and 3SE, which is a consortium of Shanks Group and Scottish and Southern Energy. Earth Tech Skanska and AmeyCespa lost out on the recent round of bidding. more...
24 Feb 2010
Lowest council tax rises in England since 1993 could cause problems for waste collections Council tax in England for the financial year 2010/11 is expected to rise by the lowest percentage since 1993, according to a new survey. However, this news has been met with concern from some quarters who are worried that such small increases in council tax will place financial strain on local authorities and force subsequent cuts to frontline services such as waste collections. more...
Local authority bodies have called for councils to be able to charge for the disposal of waste amid the release of a position statement on the Schedule 2 Regulations published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and other Government departments affected by the legislation. Defra is currently reviewing the Schedule 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations. Under the regulations, local authorities have the power to charge for the collection of waste from properties such as schools and hospitals. However, councils do not have legal powers to charge for waste treatment or disposal from Schedule 2 premises.
Following the launch of the boiler scrappage scheme in England last month, the Welsh Assembly Government has announced plans for a similar scheme in Wales, beginning on April 1. From this date over 60s living in Wales with inefficient G-rated boilers will be eligible to apply for a £500 voucher towards the cost of replacing their old boiler with a new A-rated one.
Derby City Council has been forced to spend £50,000 on extra efforts to resolve problems with its new recycling collection system. The council launched a change to its refuse collections in January in order to make rounds more efficient and increase recycling rates by adding an extra 6,000 properties to its kerbside recycling service.
M&S announces local authority recycling partnerships High-street retailer M&S has announced four recycling partnerships with UK local authorities to help councils collect an additional 60,000 tonnes of recyclable material per year by 2015. The announcement comes as part of the M&S Plan A eco-initiative and is set to significantly increase kerbside recycling in the four partnership areas. more...
18 Feb 2010
Performance failure notice for Greyhound Recycling Dublin City Council has confirmed that its Environment and Engineering Department has issued a performance failure notice against Greyhound Recycling and Recovery in relation to its failure to collect green bins in January and February of this year. The notice was served on February 12 following action from the four Dublin local authorities after some homes in Dublin were left without a collection for over a month. more...
Local authorities could soon be required to provide information on how quickly they respond to reports of fly-tipping, if a new bill is passed. The bill was presented to the House of Commons on February 9 by Member of Parliament for Enfield North, Joan Ryan. Although local authorities now have increased powers to take action against fly-tippers Ryan feels that fly-tipping remains a big problem in her constituency.
Wasting leaflets to ask residents about waste A London Borough council which sent out 33,000 questionnaires to ask its residents about recycling only received 3,100 responses, meaning that over 29,000 questionnaires were wasted. Lambeth Borough Council’s recycling consultation saw only 9.4% of the leaflets returned as the majority of residents failed to respond to the questionnaire. more...
17 Feb 2010
Additional sites consultation for South London Waste Partnership Residents and businesses are being asked to give their views on eight additional sites which could be used for waste management purposes in South London. The South London Waste Partnership, a joint initiative between the boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton, is currently in the process of identifying potential sites that are suitable for waste management. more...
Government announces proposals for Exeter to take charge of its own waste "destiny" Exeter City Council will be “in charge of its own destiny” in relation to waste management if it becomes a unitary authority, according to its head of cleansing services Mike Trim. Trim’s views come after Local Government Minister Rosie Winterton recently announced that Exeter along with Norwich had been selected for unitary status. Speaking to MRW, Trim said in practice, waste management should not create any major problems if Exeter becomes a unitary authority. more...
15 Feb 2010
Veolia seeks High Court injunction against Thurrock Council Veolia Environmental Services is seeking a High Court injunction against Thurrock Council in Essex after it awarded its bin collection contract to its own in-house bid. Veolia has been in charge of Thurrock’s bin collection services for seven years under a large contract, which incorporated kerbside collections, collecting recyclates, green waste processing, residual waste disposal and managing household waste recycling centres. The contract with Veolia is up for renewal in April. more...
Members of staff from Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council have been caught dropping off scrap metal at an illegally-run transfer yard. Electrical recycling firm C Soar and Sons operations manager Dale Evans told MRW that his staff had witnessed council workers dropping off scrap metal and beer kegs in a council van at a travellers site on Tank Row, Stairfoot, Barnsley. Members of staff from C Soar and Sons took a registration number of the van.
Shortlisted bidders both propose EfW for Leeds A new Energy from Waste facility could be built in Leeds after Leeds City Council announced that it has cut the list of bidders for its waste PFI contract to just two. Both of the contenders have said that EfW will be their chosen method of dealing with the city’s residual waste. The two shortlisted bidders are Aire Valley Environmental and Veolia Environmental Services Aurora. more...
08 Feb 2010
Consultation on potential waste sites in Wiltshire and Swindon People living in Wiltshire and Swindon are invited to have their say on potential sites for managing rubbish in the region over the next 15 years. A total of 52 potential sites have been earmarked for a variety of uses including recycling, landfill and waste treatment. more...
08 Feb 2010
Equipment installation begins at Greenstar Atlas MRF Greenstar UK has begun installing equipment at its Atlas plant, which is to be London’s ‘largest’ materials recycling facility. Since construction of the building finished at the 250,000 tonnes per year facility, work has begun on installing over 1,600 tonnes of steelwork and processing equipment. A waste transfer station is also located onsite to process a further 250,000 tonnes of waste annually once the facility is complete. more...
04 Feb 2010
New Luton plant for laminate packaging recycling Waste firms or producers looking to recycle their laminate packaging waste such as drink cartons, toothpaste tubes and coffee sachets can now test this at a new engineering facility in Luton. more...
