Norfolk confirms PFI bidder shortlist
The council issued a provisional list earlier this month which saw it recommend four bidders for council approval. The bidders are: a consortium comprising London-based Cory Environmental Management and American energy-from-waste specialists Wheelabrator Technologies; AmeyCespa, a consortium of Oxford-based services company Amey UK and Spanish construction firm Cespa SA; German energy-from-waste giant MVV Umwelt GmbH; and, Resources from Waste, a consortium comprising utilities company United Utilities, construction company Laing O'Rourke and equity investor John Laing Investments (see letsrecycle.com story). Councillors this week (September 14) confirmed the bidders for the deal, which is set to see the successful applicant charged with handling 155,000 tonnes of residual waste each year.
The council, which received £92 million in government funding in March, earlier this year scrapped plans to develop an organics recycling facility near Norwich as part of its long-term waste treatment plans due to increased costs caused by the credit crunch (see letsrecycle.com story).
Biffa and German firm sign up for Manchester MRF
The Trafford Park facility is set to be built by Stadler and owned and operated by Biffa, and is intended to sort 200,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial dry mixed recyclable material annually. Senior representatives from Stadler and technology firm TiTech UK, which is set to provide automated sorting systems to separate and recover materials at the plant, joined Dr John Casey of Biffa to sign the contract. Work has already commenced on the plant, which is scheduled to be fully operational by January 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Dr John Casey, director of engineering and quality at Biffa, said: “The plant uses a unique combination of mechanical and optical sorting systems and has been designed to operate with very high levels of automation and efficiency, making it the most advanced plant in the UK. This is the first of a new generation of material recovery facilities that we will be building across the UK.”
BPI launches bin recycling scheme
Plastics recycling firm bpi.recycled products has launched a scheme to help councils to recycle old wheeled bins into secondary applications such as outdoor furniture and building films.
The company, which is a subsidiary of Renfrewshire-based BPI Polythene, currently recycles in excess of 70,000 tonnes of polythene scrap per annum. The scheme involves local authorities contacting bpi.recycled and then having a technical team assess the status of the bin before transporting those to be reprocessed to its recycling centre at Rhymney in South Wales. Once there, the bins are recycled into feedstock which can then be used to create items like bpi.recycled products' Plaswood range of plastic wood products, its Green Sack range of refuse sacks and various building films such as damp proof membranes. Currently seven councils have signed up to the scheme, although bpi said that “the numbers are growing”.
Commenting on the scheme, Guy Coates, marketing director at bpi.recycled products, said: “bpi.recycled products already uses its considerable expertise and infrastructure to reclaim and remanufacture scrap from a number of different sources. Wheelie bin recycling is a natural extension of this and gives us yet another way of closing the loop on polythene waste.”
SITA UK invest £1.9m in Gateshead landfill gas project
The waste management company has installed three gas engines at the site, which opened in 2007, giving it a projected output of 16,644 Mega Watt hours-a-year. Electricity is generated by using the energy content of the methane in the landfill gas generated on site to power the gas engines. The Path Head site accepts non-hazardous waste such as household waste, demolition waste and road sweepings collected from households and commercial premises. It is expected to cease operating in 2017, after which it will be sealed and fully restored as lowland heath.
Bob Thompson, north east operations manager for SITA UK's landfill gas arm SITA Power, said: “Even with increased recycling, there is still some waste that will need to be landfilled, but it is important that we landfill in modern, well-run facilities like Path Head to generate renewable forms of electricity.”
World record for sorting recyclables set at Bywaters
East London-based Bywaters Recycling and Waste Management, helpline Breathingspace, office development Enjoy Work and retailer Tesco have set a new Guinness World Record for sorting recycling material.
The event, held at Chiswick Park in West London, saw Melis Biskin at film company UIP and Sian Smith from Paramount Pictures beat other hopefuls by sorting two bags of dry recyclable material in the quickest possible time and setting the record with efforts of 1 minute 50 seconds. Chiswick Business Park is home to head offices of over 30 household names including Discovery Channel, Starbucks and Paramount Pictures and claims to currently recycle 90% of it waste through Bywaters and its materials recycling facility at Bromley-by-Bow. The World Record was intended to showcase the increasing commitment to recycling.
Kirsty Baillie, communications manager, Bywaters, said: “We have been working closely with the Park since August 2008 and in that time have greatly increased the recycling rates. The site with approximately 15,000 people, either working or visiting per day, is now achieving zero landfill.”
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