News round-up February 2019

ACP appoints wood sector reps 

The Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP) and Defra have appointed John Dye from Scott Pallets represent the wood packaging sector on the Committee, following an open selection process.

The recent increase in wood packaging recycling targets and subsequent 30-fold increase in wood packaging recovery note prices in 2018 brought into sharp focus the lack of wood representation on the government’s ACP. Since 2008, reported wood packaging recycling levels have halved as biomass demands have increased.

Increasing wood packaging recycling targets in 2019 and 2020 will see the need for specific sector expertise to ensure the wood packaging sector is fully understood and the government is properly informed on issues that need to be considered to ensure targets are met and policies do not conflict.

Press release

Refuse fleet sends residents messages

Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council has used panels on its refuse vehicles from graphics firm Spedian to spread messages about recycling and bulky waste.

The 16 new vehicles from Specialist Fleet Services started work last autumn on a seven-year contract hire agreement.

Council waste and business development manager Darren Moore said: “We find that running campaigns on our refuse collection vehicles does bring issues to people’s attention because the vehicles are highly visible and travel widely.”

Press release

Fines for illegal disposal

A waste management company was fined £612.81, and two staff £900 each, for illegally disposing of waste at a Penicuik site.

DAM Recycling pleaded guilty to keeping controlled waste without a waste management licence. Director Alan O’Connor and manager David Shaw pleaded guilty to consent, connivance or neglect in failing to ensure that only the inert wastes permitted were deposited at Bowlea Smithy.

The case was brought by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Press release

Bin aims to improve disposable cup recycling rates

A new range of litter bins which aim to resolve the problem of recycling paper cups used by coffee shops and takeaway outlets has been launched at a shopping centre in Lincoln.

The Cafe bin has been specifically designed for paper cup recycling by litter bin manufacturers Amberol in response to a request from St Marks Shopping Centre in Lincoln. The centre already has general recycling bins which are well used by visitors but was looking for a way to improve recycling rates for disposable cups.

Press release

Sales up for Terex

Terex Materials Processing has reported full year sales of $1.3bn (£994m) for 2018, up 17%, sector president Kieran Hegarty (pictured) has reported.

It said growth in materialsl processing was driven by global demand for crushing and screening products, material handlers and environmental equipment.

Press release

Yotta signs Cambridgeshire deal

Yotta has won a contract to provide asset management software for waste management, street cleansing and green spaces management to Cambridge City Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.

This is the first sale in the sector in the UK of Yotta’s Alloy connected asset management software.

Press release

Constructors launch packaging campaign

The construction industry’s Considerate Constructors Scheme has launched a campaign using its Best Practice Hub to raise awareness of what can be done to reduce, reuse and recycle plastics and packaging.

A survey of 900 people in the industry found 81% felt it is not doing enough to reduce its consumption of plastics and packaging, despite being the economy’s second largest consumer of plastics.

Press release

Attero name change

Doncaster-based Attero Recycling has rebranded as Eco-Power Environmental. With its subsidiary Eco-Power Fuels, it manufactures sustainable fuels from commercial and municipal waste streams. It recently expanded solid recovered fuel pellet production plant in Hull.

The company is not connected to the Dutch waste management company Attero

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Union claims Birmingham strike “rock solid”

Trade union Unite has said support for the refuse collectors’ industrial action in Birmingham is “rock solid” on the first day of its strike (19 February).

Members have been working to rule since early January in a dispute over payments made to members of a rival union after the end of a 2017 strike.

The BBC has reported that Majid Mahmood, who resigned as cabinet member for clean streets, waste and recycling over the council’s stance, joined picket lines

 Press release

Metals firm invests at Dundee

Metal recycling, decommissioning and steel tubulars specialist, John Lawrie Group, is set to expand in Scotland after agreeing a £10m deal with Forth Ports to develop a 2.0 acres site at the Port of Dundee for metal recycling and decommissioning.

It will be used to dismantle redundant offshore infrastructure and for metal processing operations once completed in 2020.

Press release

Companies form plastics alliance

Renmar Plastics Machinery and Bunting Magnetics Europe have agreed to collaborate in the plastics sector. Bunting Magnetics supplies magnetic separators and metal detectors to Renmar, which it uses to remove contamination.

Press release

Bulky waste service offers savings

Environmental consultancy Eunomia Research & Consulting has said that on average a local authority that introduces bulky waste collections of for re-use could increase its annual recycling rate by 1.5% and make more than £450,000 in savings over five years through avoided disposal costs. The data comes from Eunomia’s updated Waste Prevention Toolkit

Press release

Error blamed for bakery row

David Wood Foods has said an error led to a legal dispute between it and Bakers Basco, which supplies reusable trays for the bread industry (see below - Companies settle breadbasket row).

The company said it rents some 30,000 Bakers Basco trays per week and an error 2017 in meant some rental charges for trays were not accounted for.

It said: “David Wood Foods has a good trading /collaborative relationship with the bakery companies who are the shareholders of Bakers Basco Ltd, and we are continuing to grow together.“

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Veolia gives Valentine’s advice

Veolia has told lovers for Valentine’s Day that 77% of people surveyed for it by YouGov would be less likely to pursue a love interest if they saw them drop litter during a first date, and 57% would be offended by purposely putting something non-recyclable into a recycling bin.

Richard Kirkman, chief technology and innovation officer, Veolia UK & Ireland said: “It’s clear there is an attraction to recycling for the public - as a majority of Brits find behaviour which shows respect for the environment desirable in a potential partner.”

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Paper straw range launched

SIG is to offer a new paper straw product to customers from this quarter. Nestlé is the first customer to introduce this and has tested the market launch in the Dominican Republic.

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School gets bottle greenhouse

Newark-based UKWSL has partnered with Lovers’ Lane Church of England Primary School on activities to improve its ‘green’ credentials via the Eco-Schools Programme.

The partners have now worked with the local Rotary Club to build an EcoBottle Greenhouse (pictured) as part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Campaign for School Gardening.

Press release

Suez staff fundraise against cancer

Suez employees have exceeded their long-term goal to raise £250,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.The target was set in 2013 and have reached £255,733 through a series of fundraising events.

UK chief executive David Palmer-Jones said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been able to champion the incredible work of the Macmillan cancer support team.”

 Press release

Selfridges turns bottles into bags

Selfridges has become the world’s first retailer of garment covers made from recycled plastic bottles. The covers are supplied by Jutexpo and are available in small, medium and large sizes using seven, eight and 12 plastic bottles respectively.

They are now available in all Selfridges stores and the company expects 222,000 bottles will be recycled in the first six months.

Press release

Companies settle breadbasket row

David Wood Foods has agreed to pay £18,310.50 to Bakers Basco to settle a claim that it misused its bread baskets, the latter has said.

Basco was set up to provide bakeries with reusable standard sized baskets to transport bread, which are recycled at the end of their useful life. The company said David Wood Foods has used the baskets without payment or permission. Wood has been contacted for comment.

Press release

Apprentices sought as Brexit hits recruitment

Bristol’s ETM Group is seeking more apprentices for its recycling and highways maintenance work.

It said that since the 2016 referendum the flow of foreign nationals working in the UK had declined leaving companies struggling to find qualified replacements.

Amy McCormack, director of ETM Recycling, said: “The challenges in recruitment nationally are well documented. We are looking to take on more apprentices, particularly with the new plant opening, and we are keen to future-proof the business and create a world-class apprenticeship programme.”

Press release

Scotland moves on cups

The Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group (PCRRG) is supporting a Scottish initiative to stop single-use cups going to landfill or ending up as litter.

Launched in Glasgow, the Cup Movement, has been developed by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful in response to growing public concern about the environmental impact of single-use items. It will be the largest, sustained single-use cup collection and behaviour change initiative of its kind in Scotland and, if successful, the model could be rolled out across many more cities in the UK.

With an estimated 95 million single-use cups being used in the Greater Glasgow area every year, the project will tackle this issue head on by transforming recycling infrastructure and encouraging people to adopt more sustainable behaviours.

Press release

Call to support Global Recycling Day

The Global Recycling Foundation has called on the industry to support Global Recycling Day on 18 March, the second such ‘day’ after its launch last year. It is intended to increase awareness of the Katowice Climate Package agreed by world leaders in 2018.

Foundation president Ranjit Baxi, who is also president of the Bureau of International Recycling, said: “It’s our responsibility and collective duty to protect our planet. Recycling and the circular economy are crucial to achieving this and beating climate change.”

Press release

Cups come a Cropper

James Cropper has received the first bales of used coffee cups from a pioneering pilot scheme in collaboration with Forge Recycling, environmental charity Hubbub and Leeds City Council.    

Through its CupCycling  technology - billed as the world’s first process dedicated to upcycling disposable coffee cups – James Cropper has the capacity to upcycle 500 million used coffee cups.

Forge Recycling has collected 159,000 single-use coffee cups - from workplaces, coffee shops, universities, shopping centres and on street cup bins - since launching on 18^thOctober 2018. Instead of the cups going to waste they have been delivered to James Cropper for upcycling. 

Press release

Suez open Aberdeen MRF to public

Suez Recycling and Recovery UK has launched a new education and visitor experience at Aberdeen’s MRF at Altens East. The new experience will allow local schools, groups and residents to learn what happens to the city’s recyclable and non-recyclable waste and explore the £27m facility.

Guests to the new education and visitor experience will be able to follow the journey of recyclable and non-recyclable waste and see first-hand the processes at work to see how the latest technology is being used to ensure that the city’s waste is being put to good use.

Tullos School’s Eco Group joined Suez and Aberdeen City Council’s councillor Philip Bell to launch the experience.

Press release

Norfolk SCRAP campaign

Norfolk has launched the SCRAP fly-tipping campaign which aims to fight the blight of fly-tipping in the county and cut the annual £1m clear up cost.

The campaign reminds people to check their waste is being taken away for disposal by a licensed carrier – either by asking to see a Waste Carriers Licence* or by looking up the company on the Environment Agency website.

Councillor John Fisher, chairman of the Norfolk Waste Partnership, said: “There are lots of ways that people can legally get rid of the things they no longer want, so in addition to asking people to avoid giving their waste to rogue traders, the SCRAP campaign will be highlighting how people can dispose of items and stay within the law.”

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