Veolia appeals Newport incinerator decision
Planning permission for the facility, which would burn up to 260,000 tonnes of residual waste a year, was refused by the councils planning committee in July 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The facility is being proposed to treat waste on behalf of Project Gwyrdd, a group of five councils which has shortlisted Veolia for the work alongside Viridor. Viridor has already started work on an 350,000 tonne-a-year capacity energy-from-waste incinerator at Trident Park in Cardiff (see letsrecycle.com story). However, in July Project Gwyrdd claimed that Veolias bid for the work was not affected by its planning setback.
Robert Hunt, Veolia ES executive director, said We strongly believe that the case for granting of permission has been demonstrated, as reflected in the positive recommendation by the officers of the council to grant permission and that the facility represents the best solution for the treatment of non-recyclable waste in South Wales.
He added: At this stage of the process it is not possible to indicate the timing of any appeal but we believe it will take place in the first half of next year.
SITA UK to supply SRF to Latvian cement kilns
Waste management company SITA UK has signed a three year contract to supply 180,000 tonnes of solid recovered fuel to power cement giant CEMEXs kilns in Latvia.
The fuel will be produced from residual commercial waste at a purpose built facility at Ridham Docks in Kent. Materials such as bricks and concrete which are not suitable for the cement kilns will be removed from the waste at the facility.
Andy Hill, head of organics and alternative fuels, at SITA UK said: We have invested over 6 million developing a new processing facility to produce and bale SRF at Ridham. This brand new, purpose-built facility was commissioned in August and we are sending our first shipment to Latvia in September.
The new facility will enable us to process up to 50 tonnes of material per hour and we will be able to extract more recyclables. By locating the processing facility at Ridham Docks, we are also cutting down on the need to transport the material in the UK as we can load bales directly onto ships from our facility.
Robotic recycling firm attracts 10 million investment
Finnish recycling technology developer ZenRobotics Ltd has announced that it has raised 10.4 million (13 million) through international equity investor Invus, to develop its brand across the globe.
The company has developed the ZenRobotics Recycler (ZRR), a robotic arm capable of sorting and recovering recyclable material from construction and demolition waste.
Dutch recycling firm Baesten Recycling bv has recently awarded Zen Robotics a contract worth more than 1 million to equip the ZRR at its Son recycling facility in February 2013.
Juho Malmberg, the companys chief executive, said: The fantastic ZenRobotics team has created a product that is unique; it will be a tough act to follow. After an intensive research and product development phase were now shipping: the world gets ZenRobotics Recycler! Our continued partnership with Invus opens great possibilities. We can now go global, fast. The robotic revolution in recycling is closer than ever!
CBI: Outsourcing waste services could save 192m
Councils could save more than 190 million by outsourcing more waste management services, according to a report from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
According to the study, titled Open Access: delivering quality and value in our public services, local authorities spend around 2.4bn a year on regular domestic waste and recycling collection and street cleaning, with just over half providing in-house services while the rest outsource to independent providers.
The report has identified 192 million worth of potential savings for councils from improved productivity in outsourcing all waste management services.
Responding to the report, John Wilkinson, managing director of waste contractor May Gurney Public Services, said: The greatest potential for government and local authorities to save money and deliver better services lies with more than just outsourcing contracts. Working with private and third sector experts to re-engineer and redesign services can have an even more transformational impact.
“A new study from think tank New Local Government Network, sponsored by May Gurney, has found that the value of publically owned assets in the UK is in the region of 385 billion, slightly more than the 375 billion pumped into the economy through quantity easing.
BPF calls for end to unfair advantage for exporters
The British Plastic Federation’s (BPFs) Recycling Group has written to Defra junior minister Richard Benyon calling for reforms to the packaging waste recovery note (PRN) system, which it says unfairly favours exporters.
According to the group, there are concerns that the high value of PRNs could incentivise recyclers to send unobligated packaging material to reprocessing facilities overseas and could discourage investment in the UKs plastic recycling sector.
Chair of the BPFs Recycling Group Roger Baynham, said: There is no doubt that the current system works in favour of waste exporters to the disadvantage of the UK recycler. Not only that, but our members are worried that high PRN/PERN values will incentivise unscrupulous players to pass off unobligated packaging as packaging waste, so the current system would become in effect a cheaters charter.
“The quality of raw materials available to our members is of absolutely paramount importance. Increased PERN values will only serve to incentivise contamination, drive down quality and undermine the good work already done.
Subscribe for free