John Enright shortlisted for fiction award
Local authority recycling and waste management expert, John Enright has been shortlisted for the inaugural Wilbur Smith Adventure writing prize for his novel ‘Churchill’s Rogue’.
Mr Enright, who writes under the pseudonym ‘John Righten’, is up for the ‘best unpublished adventure manuscript’ award at the event, held by the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation.
Mr Enright currently leads a project looking at joint working amongst councils as part of the Local Partnerships Programme. Previously he worked at Defra to set up local authority support programmes for waste authorities across England as well as leading the department’s £3.2 billion PFI scrutiny programme.
Prior to this, Mr Enright also served as operations director for London Remade, project manager for the London Recycling Fund and also Assistant Services Manager for the London Borough of Camden.
The novel, set in December 1937, tells the story of a fictional organisation, known as the ‘Rogues’ standing up to the Nazis on the eve of the Second World War.
The winner of the prize will be offered the chance to complete a creative writing residency at the University of Cape Town. Winners will be announced by the BBC’s Kate Silverton at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Thursday (12 May).
Commenting on his nomination, Mr Enright said: “I’m up against four top writers, two from South Africa, one from Kenya and the other from New Zealand, so I have no expectations of winning the award, but you never know – I might be the Leicester City of the literary world!”
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B&M Waste partners with UCLan
B&M Waste Services has won a new three-year contract with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) to help divert their waste from landfill.
The waste management company is planning to introduce new recycling and segregation policies, as well as new technologies such as a bin tagging system across the university’s Preston campus.
Established in 1954, Wirral-based Bagnall and Morris Waste Services provides waste management services for businesses across the UK.
Mick Ashall, director at B&M Waste Services said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to win this contact. We plan to use our experience and knowledge to make a real impact with this new account.”
According to B&M Services, only 3% of the university’s 983 tonnes of waste ended up landfilled during 2014-15.
Mr Ashall added: “It’s a good record but we think we can make significant improvement on those figures.
“The University and its students have been very receptive to the ‘segregation at source’ ethos so we believe the improvements we will deliver will increase recycling even further. Our aim is to help achieve a 100% diversion from landfill.”
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Bigbelly bin numbers expanded in Bradford
A trial of nine Bigbelly ‘smart’ units in the city of Bradford has reduced manual collections from over 15,000 to less than 300 between November 2015 and April 2016, the company behind the containers claims.
Bigbelly, part of the Egbert Taylor Group, is now expanding its smart systems across West Yorkshire following its initial trial in Shipley, where Bigbelly’s 606-litre solar powered compacting units replaced 34 100-litre bins.
Following the successful trial, Bradford’s metropolitan district council has decided to extend the number of smart bins to 47 across Keighley, Bingley and other areas within Bradford city centre. As well as future plans to roll out a further 150 units across Bradford.
Mark Jenkins, sales director at Bigbelly, said: “With Bigbelly, the council has access to more than just a container but a regular stream of real-time updates that can be used to inform and plan its approach to collection.
“Not only are the City of Bradford’s units 100 per cent contained through self-closing chutes, but also their in-built SIM cards alerts the waste team at the council when the stations are 85 and 99 per cent full, enabling collection operatives time to respond before they reach capacity.
“There is no more litter attributable to overfull bins, no more risk of pest infestation and with the inclusion of large ash trays on either side of each station, smoking-related litter has also dramatically decreased.”
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Recycle Now launches magic-themed campaign
Recycle Now has produced short videos promoting metal and glass recycling as part of its quarterly themed recycling campaigns.
The national recycling campaign, which began in 2004, has teamed up with a street magician to show how metal and glass packaging items can become new packaging items through recycling.
There are a series of four short videos with the first already having been released this week and the following three released in the next few days.
Alongside the videos, Recycle Now are running a social media campaign using #RecycleForever.
WRAP, which manages the Recycle Now campaign claim it is used by over 90% of English authorities.
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Hospice rewarded by Salford recyclers
St Ann’s Hospice in Greater Manchester has been given £1,000 as part of Salford city council’s Recycle and Reward scheme.
Receiving the reward has enabled the hospice, which has sites in Cheadle, Worsley and Wythenshawe to purchase a new hoist.
The scheme allows local good causes to bid for funding and if residents’ recycling increases in that neighbourhood, the chosen cause receives the reward. It began in December and is funded by a government grant with up to £200,000 available to Salford.
The scheme aims to boost recycling and decrease waste sent to landfill by 3% which could potentially save the council £420,000.
Ben Dolan, strategic director of environment at Salford city council, said: “St Ann’s Hospice needs to raise around £16,000 a day to maintain their fantastic services so every bit of help counts.
“They asked for help in buying the new hoist and residents delivered by recycling more waste, benefiting the environment and saving money on landfill fees. It’s a winner all round.”
