LondonWaste advertises organic waste deal
The firm, which operates the LondonWaste EcoPark at Edmonton in North London and is owned by the North London Waste Authority (NLWA), is seeking a partner for the collection, reprocessing, marketing and disposal of mixed food and green waste, separately collected green waste, separately collected food waste and compost oversize. The contract is anticipated to run from April 2011 to December 2014, with an option to extend the deal to December 2017, if required. It is anticipated that the successful bidder would handle around 40,500 tonnes of organic material-a-year at the start of the contract, which would rise to 63,500 tonnes-a-year by 2014/15. The deadline for expressions of interest is September 17 2010.
LondonWaste was previously owned by waste management firm SITA UK under a joint arrangement with the NLWA, before the statutory body purchased the French-owned firm's 50% stake in the disposal services in November 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Lancashire schools rewarded for battery recycling
The company has donated prizes to the top three performing schools in each district of the county, where battery recycling points have been available in primary schools since 2004 and pupils are encouraged to ‘Tune into Battery Recycling'. The top prized school received laptop computers, with the second and third schools receiving sports equipment vouchers of £200 and £100, respectively. And, last month, a special awards event was held to present the winning schools their prizes, which were handed out by Lancashire county councillor, Mike France, alongside Damian Perkins from Valpak's Preston materials recycling facility.
Duncan Simpson, Valpak's director of sales and marketing, said: “Valpak is delighted to support Lancashire county council's ‘Tune into Battery Recycling' scheme. Under the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations, Valpak are providing battery recycling services to help the UK to increase battery recycling levels from the current 3% to 45% by 2016. Therefore, we feel that this campaign is helping to raise awareness of the importance of recycling waste batteries and is helping us to reach this target.”
Swap shop recycling scheme a hit with rockers
A Recycle Garden used to encourage recycling at the Sonisphere music festival at Knebworth has proven popular among festival goers, according to Coca-Cola Enterprises and volunteering organisations running the scheme.
Items traded at the ‘Swap for Swag Shop' included cans, bottles and bottle lids which were swapped for merchandise, such as ponchos, torches and t-shirts. Over six tonnes of recyclable material was collected and around 1,682 people visited the Recycle Garden over the course of the event, while a further 28 recycling points were added around the Sonisphere event to ensure recycling was readily available. The scheme also ran at the Isle of Wight Festival earlier this summer and is earmarked for other events including V Festival and Bloodstock. The Recycle Garden initiative is part of Coca-Cola Enterprises' ‘Keep It Going' programme which, in partnership with plastics recycling organisation Recoup and WRAP, has set up recycling points in public spaces across the UK.
Coca-Cola Enterprises recycling director, Patrick McGuirk said: “It's not just about recycling at the festival, it's about inspiring people to recycle every bottle and can, every day. We want to show people what a difference recycling can make and the festival environment is a great place to spread this sustainability message.”
Enviroco uses route planning software from Paragon
The software system incorporates road speed data in order to give increased journey accuracy for mixed long-haul and city driving. According to Paragon, planning time has been reduced from four days to a few hours, enabling Enviroco to adjust to urgent call-outs and last-minute changes requested by customers. Enviroco is now also looking at Paragon Fleet Controller software for tracking real-time vehicle activity this additional software will also alert customers of updated delivery times when the vehicle is an agreed number of minutes away.
Howard Jonas, Enviroco operations director, said: “Collections vary in frequency from site to site, plus we have to deal with ad hoc requests and emergencies. Paragon brings new levels of accuracy to our route planning and it removes laborious manual processes. Our staff now have more time for customer service and to manage and improve our efficiencies,”
BPF to fully integrate Recycling Council into operations
Plastics sector trade body, the British Plastics Federation, is to fully integrate its Recycling Council into its operations from January 1 2011.
The Council, which has acted at arms length since its inception, will be renamed the BPF Recycling Group and become a fully fledged business group supported within the trade association's structure. Members of the Recycling Council voted unanimously for this change at their Annual General Meeting held in Grantham, Lincolnshire last month (July 7) and this was endorsed by the BPF Council meeting in London the following day. The move was facilitated by members of the Recycling Council acknowledging that organisations' policies are “well aligned” and that the merger presented “major opportunities for the Council to broaden its offering to potential members”.
Commenting on the change, Recycling Council chairman, Mark Burstall, said: “The Recycling Council has been very successful at increasing its membership in the last years, he said. By fully entering the BPF, the offering to recyclers will be very impressive indeed and we anticipate a future boost to membership. This move will enable greater interaction between recyclers and converters using recyclate. “
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