Veolia invests £1m in cycling safety
Waste management firm Veolia is investing £1 million on improving cycling safety by fitting audible and visual warnings on its 3,125 vehicles of 3.5 tonnes or more.
The investment follows the installation of audible nearside warnings on all vehicles of 18 tonnes or more in 2013.
The latest extension will commence in London from this month with other UK regions to follow.
Along with the nearside hazard display, a cyclist awareness training programme for Veolia drivers will be completed by September 2015.
This intends to build on the success of the existing scheme in London which sees drivers getting on a bike and obtaining a ‘cyclist’s eye view’ of an HGV as part of their annual CPC training.
John Matthews, fleet director for Veolia, said: “By launching this initiative now and combining it with a comprehensive driver training scheme we are putting the onus on accident prevention. We believe there will be enforcement of a minimum cyclist standard for fleet operators in London in due course and these measures reflect the need to promote safety in a demanding operating environment.”
DS Smith publishes circular economy paper
Paper recycler DS Smith has published a white paper entitled ‘One Step Away from Zero Waste’ which stresses the importance of developing a circular economy across the supply chain.
The publication was developed from the firm’s Supply Cycle Think Tank workshop which includes a number of enablers and blockers surrounding product design, business models, reverse networks and enabling conditions.
Issues addressed in the white paper include operating at the top of the waste hierarchy to ensure materials are used and reused efficiently. It goes on to suggest that collaboration is ‘central’ to developing a circular economy.
Resource Association chief executive Ray Georgeson, who sat as a workshop panellist, said: “We need a stronger [framework] than we presently have. Markets in my view have worked better where intelligent regulations worked with markets. I liken it to the way government’s shape other policy areas, such as health or defence spending.”
Firewalls installed at Essex MBT
State-of-the-art firewalls have been installed at Urbaser Balfour Beatty’s mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility ahead of its opening in 2015.
ISD Solutions is installing some 8,500 square metres of specialist composite steel faced panels to form airtight fire separation between processing areas.
The walls are also able to withstand ‘volatile and corrosive’ conditions, which minimises fire risk and insurance requirements for the facility.
When completed, the plant will process up to 417,000 tonnes of municipal waste on behalf of Essex county council.
A spokesperson for Urbaser Balfour Beatty, said: “We are on plan to deliver an impressive new facility for Essex that will manage waste in a way that benefits the local community, economy and environment. ISD Solutions’ specialist knowledge, experience with firewall applications and ability to come up with a workable solution to minimise the risk of fire in a CX atmosphere has been essential.”
Tradebe acquires two UK firms
Industrial waste management firm Tradebe has announced the acquisition of Solvents with Safety (SWS) and Scotoil Services Ltd.
The two UK companies are the latest addition to Tradebe’s UK portfolio, which also provides waste services in Spain and the US, as well as via subsidiaries in France and Brazil.
SWS is a distributor of packaged virgin and recovered solvents, and operates facilities in Harworth in Doncaster.
Meanwhile Scotoil is a provider of specialist environmental and disposal services to the UK oil and gas industry and employs 54 members of staff. In 2013, the firm received revenues of over £8 million.
A spokesperson for Tradebe said: “The SWS acquisition enhances our presence within the European solvent market, whilst Scotoil increases our offerings to the oil and gas industry. Overall, our position as UK leading providers of hazardous waste treatment, disposal and resource recovery services has further been reinforced with revenues in excess of £100M, 27 operating facilities and 825 employees.”
Viridor opens solar park on closed landfill
Operations have begun at Viridor’s first solar park, situated on a former landfill site owned by the company in Westbury, Wiltshire.
The solar energy facility, based on the northern part of the site, covers 7 hectares and is designed to export 3,200MWh of electricity per year to the National Grid.
The park includes 12,780 solar panels, which were built and installed for Viridor by Solar Century, and aims to save around 1,000 tonnes in CO2 emissions.
Mike Denman, Viridor project manager, said: “We were very pleased with how quickly this project came together and see this closed landfill site being used to generate vital renewable energy through solar.
We were able to use the electricity generation infrastructure already in place from the landfill gas engines and the grassland continues to support the local biodiversity.”
A review of all Viridor UK sites is underway to assess the viability of future solar schemes.
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