Miles Smith partners with FareShare
Insurance group Miles Smith is supporting food redistribution charity FareShare’s efforts to tackle the problem of food waste across the UK and to help those affected by food poverty.
FareShare saves good food destined for waste and sends it to charities and community groups who transform it into nutritious meals for vulnerable people.
The food the charity redistributes is fresh and in-date surplus from the food industry. Last year FareShare worked with 5,589 charities and community groups across the UK, providing 25.8 million meals to vulnerable people.
As well as supporting the charity through donations, Miles Smith will also be giving its employees the opportunity to volunteer at FareShare, sorting and packing food for local charities and community groups.
Miles Smith chief executive Paul Chainey said of the partnership: “I am delighted that Miles Smith has partnered with FareShare in their efforts to tackle hunger and food waste across the UK. I greatly admire the work they do, and I am pleased that Miles Smith is able to support them.”
Miles Smith has been providing insurance solutions to recycling and waste businesses in the UK for over 25 years.
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GHS invests in refurbished baler
Portsmouth-based GHS Recycling has invested in a refurbished closed-end ME 80 semi-automatic baler.
The investment comes after the company’s previous £70,000 baling machine and a storage area for processed waste were destroyed in a fire in September 2016.
GHS said that the business is stronger and tonnage has increased due in part to the new baler supplied and installed at short notice by machinery specialist Middleton Engineering.
The company manages waste volumes of 100 tonnes a week, collecting and processing a range of materials from businesses of all sizes and diverting waste from landfill.
Rachael Harris, general manager of GHS explained: “We needed a quick solution. It would have to be a stop gap and unfortunately new wasn’t an option, but it was also an opportunity to source a machine that would allow us to achieve maximum weight for the bales we were producing and improve throughput.”
Ms Harris added: “we are now achieving maximum tonnage in terms of bale size and weight. Before this we were sending out artics only partially filled and down on weight, but now we are more competitive which in turn means we can deliver improved rebates to our customers too”.
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Repic launches ‘Powering Communities’ campaign
Repic, the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) producer compliance scheme is launching a ‘Powering Communities’ campaign to incentivise community groups to collect WEEE.
The campaign, which is the latest part of REPIC’s ‘Responsible Recycling’ initiative, gives community groups, schools and good causes from ten regions the chance to each win £500 worth of vouchers for new electrical products, out of a total prize pot of £5,000.
The ‘Powering Communities’ campaign marks the tenth anniversary of the Government’s WEEE Directive, designed to encourage and regulate the collection, reuse, recycling and recovery of WEEE.
Repic said the scheme celebrates its long-term partnerships with ten local authorities across the UK, which it has worked with to meet collection targets and encourage responsible recycling of unwanted electrical items.
Mark Burrows-Smith, chief executive of Repic said: “We’re proud to have collected and treated over two million tonnes of WEEE to date and hope that the Powering Communities campaign will encourage people to think about responsibly recycling their old electricals, particularly when they purchase new ones.”
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Welsh minister joins visit to Cardiff ERF
Vaughan Gething, Welsh minister for health, well-being and sport, joined a school’s visit to Viridor’s £223m Trident Park Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) in Cardiff last Thursday (30 March).
The visit forms part of the Welsh Government’s zero waste strategy which focuses on waste reduction, reuse, enhanced recycling and recovering energy, to divert more waste from landfill.
The plant diverts over 95% of South Wales’s residual waste away from landfill and generates 30MW of electricity for the national grid.
Following a tour of the facility, Mr Gething said: “I enjoyed a fascinating tour around the Trident Park facility, learning a great deal about the processes which take place there.
“It was fantastic to join pupils from Moorland Primary School on their tour and I am extremely pleased to see local children engaging with the facility.”
He said: “I am looking forward to seeing local communities gain tangible benefits from Viridor’s Trident Park facility, both now and in the future.”
Viridor has a community fund which supports the activities of local community associations and projects.
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Recycle Now and Wastebuster launch educational campaign
Nationwide recycling communications campaign Recycle Now and the waste reduction charity Wastebuster have developed an education campaign which they hope will engage the ‘recycling generation of the future’.
The campaign includes a nationwide home recycling challenge, which involves educating children on recycling and encouraging them to take home what they have learnt, in the hope that their families can improve their recycling habits.
The campaign, which is fronted by children’s TV presenter, Maddie Moate, reaches out to over 20,000 schools across the UK to increase knowledge and awareness of what can be recycled.
Recycle Now said its Recycling Locator tool will play a key role in engaging children and their families to find out what can be recycled locally.
Linda Crichton, head of Recycle Now at WRAP, said: “We know that many families are recycling but not all are clear on all the items they can recycle. By challenging children to find out about what they can recycle from all around the home and by getting their families to recycle more, we want recycling to become the norm for the next generation. “
WRAP’s Recycle Now campaign is currently highlighting unusual items in the home that can be recycled. In addition to the home recycling challenge, the campaign will look to dispel common misconceptions around recycling.
Recycle Now and Wastebuster are partnering with the online retailer Ocado, as part of a project to help educate children about recycling and the environment. The funding is being provided by the Ocado foundation.
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FERCELL installs dust extraction system for London Reclaimed
FERCELL, the recycling and ventilation engineering company, has installed a bespoke dust extraction system for London Reclaimed, a London based charity.
One of London Reclaim’s two businesses, Goldfinch Furniture, provides a paid trainee programme for young people to work and earn for a year producing custom made furniture from locally sourced timber.
FERCELL commissioned and installed a centralised dust system with a multi-breather dust collector for the business, in an effort to provide a comfortable working environment for its employees.
By installing the new system, Goldfinch said it had increased its usable floor space and improved dust control and noise reduction.
Mark Fletcher, managing director of FERCELL said: “To be able to help a business like London Reclaimed, who are helping young people get onto the business ladder and setting them up for the future is a real honour”
He added: “They are investing in the workforce of tomorrow and in the environment, which for us to
Goldfinch said: “We have some exciting plans for the future – including expanding the milling side of the business and investing further in the Grade A hard wood that’s left to rot in London. Fercell are absolutely 100% in our future plans to grow our business.”
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