Innovation celebrated at Organics Recycling Awards

The venture between Croydon council, Veolia Environmental Services, Viridor and Bio Collectors scooped the Local Authority Partnership Award at the ceremony last Thursday (March 21). The annual event was held in partnership with TEG on the evening of the Organics Recycling Groups (ORG) conference at Heythrop Park Resort in Oxfordshire. The ORG, formerly known as the Association for Organics Recycling, is part of the Renewable Energy Association.

Also among the winners on the night were Eco Sustainable Solutions for its anaerobic digestion plant in Piddlehinton, Dorset; Agrivert site manager Neil Pollington and a plastic bodied utility vehicle developed by Terberg Matec UK. Other winners included: Fresh Olive with WasteSolve; Forth Resource Management; and, 4R Group.

Seven awards were presented throughout the ceremony, which was hosted by Ecos managing director Trelawney Dampney. Entertainment for the evening was provided by comedian Bob Webb.

Charity

The night also saw 1,263.45 raised for charity from a quiz competition run by Bill Griffiths of Viridor. Mr Griffiths tested his audience with questions about the allowable volumes of plastics in composting and the number of cans in a tonne. The money will be donated to charity POD Charitable Trust, which raises money to provide entertainment for children in hospital.

A further 1,390 was raised through an auction on the night. A model JCB loader plus a visit to the JCB museum for two, donated by JCB, was secured by consultant Mike Orr and a case of Fortnum and Mason wine, sponsored by TEG, went to Jim Frederickson of the Open University.

Mr Dampney also added a surprise item to the auction: A day with Trelawney Dampney finding out the inside story and secrets of Eco Composting, which fetched 1,000 and was taken up by Stephen Hall, director of equipment supplier and consultancy firm Titchberry.

Winners

The four way partnership between Croydon council, Veolia ES, Viridor and Bio Collectors won the Local Authority Partnership Award (sponsored by Menart) after they introduced a food waste collection service to 120,000 households and 26,000 flats in early 2012. Areas of collaboration between the four parties included hosting media engagements and training council staff.

Supplier of Mediterranean food products Fresh Olive and consultancy WasteSolve received the Food Recycling Award (sponsored by Riverside Machinery) for their review of its waste management practices. A big focus was put on staff training and engagement which saw systems put in place to segregate waste. Within two months Fresh Olive had achieved zero waste to landfill and an impressive 87% recycling rate.

An innovative plastic bodied utility vehicle developed by Terberg Matec UK won the Organics Recycling Supplier Award (sponsored by TEG). The smaller footprint of the vehicle makes it ideal for food waste collection from areas with low density population or restricted access. As it is made out of plastic, the body is not susceptible to erosion due to chemicals in the waste stream and is fully recyclable at the end of its life.

The AD Output Award went to Eco Sustainable Solutions facility at Piddlehinton Farm in Dorset. The plant generates 498kW per hour which is exported to neighbouring Mole Valley Feeds cattle mill. When this is not operational, the power is fed into the national grid. The facility also provides biogas to the mill. Digestate produced by the facility, which is in the process of gaining PAS 110 accreditation, is used by two local farms.

Forth Resource Management received the Source Segregated Compost and Digestate Marketing Award (sponsored by AES) for its work in diverting compost from agricultural uses to its retail division Caledonian Horticulture. In 2010 it produced and sold 20,000 tonnes of organically enhanced topsoil. The firm also started up Growing Forth, a social enterprise which offers opportunities for young disadvantaged people.

4R Group scooped the award for Separated Organics Materials to Land Award (sponsored by Veolia Water Organics Recycling) for its use of material outputs from mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plants. The outputs have been used by 4R on nine separate projects, with more expected to start in the spring. The firm has also secured contracts with Shanks Waste Management which will see it recycle up to 65,000 tonnes of separated organics materials from 2015.

The Site Manager Award (sponsored by Energy & Utility Skills) was clinched by Neil Pollington from Oxfordshire-based Agrivert. Mr Pollington joined Agrivert in April 2011 as site manager of the IVC site in Ardley. During his time as site manager, the number of complaints regarding odour reduced significantly, with none being substantiated. He achieved this by re-examining the processing of material on site and undertook a number of measures to address this.