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App joins in plastic-free challenge; Firm pioneers biotechnology in SRF; WEEE plant to use innovative chemistry; Council quells taxi drivers' waste row
ReSea Project – a Danish organisation that removes plastic waste from oceans and river - has joined with the Climategames app to run a Plastic-Free July challenge.
Consumers around the world logged their time spent swimming, running, cycling or walking via the smart app and for every kilometre ReSea Project removed 100 grams of plastic waste, the equivalent of five 500ml single use plastic water bottles.
Christine Tangdal, of ReSea Project, says: “To have a positive impact on plastic pollution and ocean health, we must all come together and Climategames is an initiative everyone can get behind easily to take action that has an immediate impact.”
Max Recycle has said it is the first waste management company in England to convert waste into solid recovered fuel using biotechnology.
It has an eight-year contract with Advetec under which it will convert contaminated residual waste into SRF using Advetec’s XO22 digester.
Maxc Recycle said that every two tonnes of residual waste that goes through the machine, 1.2 tonnes of CO2 would be saved as the organic fraction of the waste is digested using blends of bacteria. Remaining floc will be used as a coal replacement product
Scott Hawthorne, managing director of Max Recycle said: “Our contract with Advetec affords businesses within the north east an opportunity to accelerate their journey to net zero and contribute towards the circular economy.”
Waste firm Descycle, is using chemistry developed by the University of Leicester for a commercially viable WEEE recycling plant for its partner Gap Group.
Gap will supply approximately 5,000 tonnes of WEEE per year to be recycled through deep eutectic solvents (DES) chemistry, which uses non-toxic solvents. Descycle is also developing new DES-based solutions for metals processing.
Rules surrounding taxi drivers using council-owned waste sites have been clarified by Caerphilly County Borough Council following a complaint by the local taxi drivers’ association, the Caerphilly Observer has reported.
Under new council rules, it appeared that taxis were no longer allowed to visit recycling sites without a permit costing £35, which the divers said put them at a disadvantage when they want to get rid of their own domestic waste as many use their work vehicles as their personal vehicles. The council has now said that only eight-seater vehicles require a permit.
The first sea shipment of construction aggregate derived from Cornish china clay waste has been brought into London by GRS, which has struck a deal to import some 500,000 tonnes of secondary granite from Cornwall into London each year by ship.
Working with the Port of Tilbury, GRS has invested £4m in a Molson CDE aggregates processing plant on the dockside to produce a range of products to meet construction needs.
Waste lubricating oils recycler Slicker has expanded its American division by buying Ohio-based high voltage metal recycling company Cleveland Industrial Recycling, which will be integrated into Slicker’s US business, Hydrodec.
Mark Olpin, executive chairman of Slicker Recycling said: “We saw so many synergies between Hydrodec and the team at Cleveland and we can now closely integrate our expertise. There are efficiencies we will gain for used oil extraction and metal recycling, but the deal will also allow us to work with more businesses to help them achieve their green objectives and be awarded by gaining sought-after carbon credits.”
Natural Resources Wales has reminded farmers and to ensure their waste exemptions are renewed before they expire this summer.
Most need to register waste exemptions with NRW to use waste in common farming activities such as building tracks with rubble, using tyres on top of silage sheets, or burning hedge cuttings.
Geraint Richards, lead specialist advisor on waste policy for NRW, said: “This is a busy time of year for us so we’re asking anyone who has an exemption due to expire to head over to our website to get the renewal process started as soon as possible.”
Dozens of cases of verbal abuse of refuse collections - and occasional cases of physical violence have been reported in Berkshire, Get Reading has reported.
It said its Freedom of Information requests to the area's six councils had turned up 32 incidents in the past three years.
Waste management and recycling company DCW has invested £290,000 in machinery and facilities at its specialist plastics reprocessing centre in Marsh Barton.
It has introduced a 10,000 litre fountain blender, an extruder machine and a mezzanine floor to the plant, which its said would enable it to increase production of recycled plastic furniture range by 400% and create eight new jobs.
Waste plastics collected from businesses across the south west and shredded into plastic granules by the extruder. The fountain blender can blend approximately four tonnes of recycled granulated plastic at any one time.
The new mezzanine floor has increased the size of the company’s premises by 2,880 square feet.
Research commissioned by Reward4Waste has found consumer’s prefer digital systems for deposit return scheme which could be extended to include products beyond drinks containers.
Polling firm One Poll surveyed 2,000 adults and found 63% would prefer a digital scheme using an app at home or on-the-go, while only 25% favoured a system where containers must be returned to retailers and 12% were unsure.
The survey also found 54% of respondents wanted glass bottles included. These are due to be excluded in England and Northern Ireland.
Tony McGurk, chairman of Reward4Waste, said: “I hope Government ministers currently considering the different DRS options will note that a digital DRS, where people use a smartphone app to scan a unique code on their drinks containers and recycling bin to capture that return and redeem the deposit, is the clear first choice for consumers.”
Northern Ireland waste management firm RiverRidge has been visited by officials of the Department for Infrastructure’s Transport Regulation Unit at its Duncrue facility, where it demonstrated compliance with its operator’s licence.
Systems viewed included those for route planning, maintenance, recording and monitoring drivers’ hours and vehicle downloads, health and safety and training.
Unit head David Mullan said, “As a team, we generally don’t get to engage with the more compliant companies and see how they are operating, so it was a welcome change to be shown how RiverRidge is at the forefront of innovation, and how the company is reacting to and managing risks.”
A body has been found at a park and recycling centre two days after a man was arrested and charged on suspicion of murdering a missing woman, the Sun has reported.
Police have charged Garry Bennett, 36, with the murder of 30-year-old Madison Wright, after a body was found at the Wat Tyler Country Park in Pitsea, Essex.
An Essex County Council statement said: “The park and nearby recycling centre is closed due to an ongoing police incident."
Birmingham City Council is trying out its first eCollect vehicle. This will operate in the city’s designated city centre clean air zone for three weeks collecting waste and recycling material.
Provider Dennis Eagle said the vehicle would produce no nitrogen oxide gases, microparticles or CO2 and would be far quieter than conventional vehicles.
Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for environment, said: “Birmingham is making the bold transition to zero-emissions operations to help combat climate change and to create clean air for people who live, work or visit here. We know of the benefits that electric vehicles bring and we can now look more closely at how this vehicle performs and what it can deliver.”
Recycling and reuse services operated by three councils will share in £3.4m from the Scottish Government’s recycling improvement fund.
Projects in Aberdeen City, Perth & Kinross and Renfrewshire Council could in all cut CO2 emissions by more than 8,000 tonnes each year, circular economy minister Lorna Slater said.
Gail Macgregor, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities spokesperson for environment and economy said: “It is at the forefront of our thinking to make it easier to live well locally and to do the ‘right’ thing when it comes to waste, recycling and reuse.
“We want to have clear and effective systems in place to improve recycling and waste processing in our local communities, and improve these consistently.”
The waste management sector is not yet at its full capacity of saving energy to help wean countries off Russian energy supplies, the European trade body FEAD has said.
It said the sector could help through increased recycling and from the electricity and heat produced from waste through incineration and anaerobic digestion.
FEAD president Peter Kurth said: “The European waste management sector has a role to play in the decarbonisation of our society, avoiding the combustion of fossil fuels and the use of virgin raw materials; it has a role to play in the promotion of a circular economy, by producing secondary raw materials and safely treating non-recyclable waste; and it has a role to play in the energy independence of the EU, by providing energy from a local, reliable, and safe source.
“This essential role needs to be consistently recognised across EU legislation and its requirements clearly and realistically established with a holistic approach”.
WRAP’s International Circular Plastics Flagship Competition has awarded funding of £1.2m to six UK based bodies to work with partners tackling plastic in India, Chile, South Africa and Kenya. It is backed by UK Research & Innovation.
Richard Swannell, WRAP’s international director, said: “These projects will address problems head on, and drive action towards delivering the challenging plastic targets of each country’s plastic pact.”
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