Veolia takes over south Bucks contract
Veolia has taken over the waste collection contract in south Buckinghamshire.
The contract commenced today (1 November), seeing Veolia take over operations from the former contractor Biffa.
Some changes will come as part of the contract, including plans to collect paper and cardboard together rather than separately.
Peter Strachan, Buckinghamshire council’s cabinet member for climate change and the environment, explained: “When Buckinghamshire Council formed in April 2020, waste collection was just one of the services that we brought together from across four different districts. To make the new council more efficient, we are working to bring consistency to our one combined service but with minimal impact.
“Residents in the south Buckinghamshire area may notice a different logo on the vehicle when their waste and recycling is collected, but we want to keep disruption to an absolute minimum. Our residents do a fantastic job of recycling, but as more and more of the things we use every day can be recycled, it is important that we adapt our waste collections.”
Cawley’s partners with housing development
An upcoming Houghton Regis-based housing development, Linmere, has partnered with waste management business Cawleys to manage the waste generated by its planned community hub.
The arrangement will mean that the majority of the waste produced at the new community hub will either be recycled or treated through energy from waste (EfW).
The waste management service will collect from all areas of the community hub: the community hall, the café, and other retailers, along with the bins near the children’s play area.
Anna Cawley, Cawleys’ customer services director, said: “Being chosen as Linmere’s recycling partner is a huge honour. The local community is very close to our hearts and being part of this new community from the very start means we can help the development grow in a sustainable way by ensuring all the waste generated from the new Farmstead hub is recycled to its maximum capacity.
“Our state-of-the-art materials recycling facility is at the very heart of our ethos of ensuring waste is put to good use and the fact that we are local and waste miles can be kept to a minimum is another bonus.”
Glasgow airport installs reverse vending machines
Glasgow Airport has installed two reverse vending machines as part of a four-week pilot project to encourage passengers and staff to recycle cans and bottles.
In partnership with Biffa, the machines can each accept 320 plastic bottles and 650 cans. They have been brought in to coincide with the COP26 summit on climate change and ahead of the introduction of the Scottish Deposit Return Scheme.
Kirsty Webster, sustainability manager at Glasgow Airport, said: “AGS Airports Ltd launched its Sustainability Strategy earlier this summer and as a Group we are committed to continuing our policy of diverting 100% of our non-hazardous waste away from landfill and to incorporate circular economy principals where possible to enhance and encourage sustainable development at our airports.
“One of the key aims of our strategy is to ban all unavoidable single-use products within the airport by 2022″.
Rushmoor introduces waste changes
Rushmoor borough council has introduced changes to waste services in Aldershot and Farnborough, including a weekly food waste collection.
Separate weekly food waste collections began in the areas on 25 October, with residents being given outdoor and kitchen caddies.
Once collected, the food waste will be taken to an anaerobic digestion facility in Basingstoke. The council will be rolling out food waste collections to properties with shared or communal bins from next spring.
At the same time as introducing the weekly food waste collections, the council is also switching to fortnightly collections of residual waste bins.
Councillor Maurice Sheehan, cabinet member for operational services at Rushmoor Borough Council, said: “We’re thrilled to see food waste collections getting started across Rushmoor.
“This new service gives us a stronger focus on recycling and introducing food waste collections is a simple way to make a real difference. It’s easy to do, much kinder for the environment and will have a positive impact on our recycling rates.”
Bright Green Plastics develops flexible plastic technology
Bright Green Plastics claims to have developed “industry changing” technology which will recycle flexible plastic for it to be used in packaging.
The technology has been developed over the past year, and is designed to bypass the “expensive, labour intensive and highly unfeasible sorting of flexible plastics”, where typical near-infrared spectroscopic scanners are ineffective due to the light weight and “floatiness” of the material.
The firm will begin testing the technology throughout November, with a view to introducing soft plastics to feedstocks from early 2022.
Managing director, Steve Spencer, commented: “We have found a way to circumnavigate the restrictive sorting and processing costs that was, frustratingly, blocking progress in the recycling of soft plastics – which, let’s face it, makes up a huge percentage of plastic waste in this country.
“We’re proud to be known as innovators in our industry, and this is just the latest ground-breaking development from Bright Green Plastics as we continue to drive change and growth in UK plastic reprocessing.”
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