News in brief

‘Plastic bottle’ Christmas tree returns to Ealing

A Christmas tree made entirely of recyclable plastic bottles has returned to Southall Square in the London borough of Ealing, ahead of the festive holiday.

The unique tree – designed by artist Ashley Phillips – is made of hundreds of bottles and forms part of the council’s 50% by 2020 recycling campaign.

This year the tree has been given a new look – with pink and purple bottles replacing the green bottles used to build the artwork in December 2013.

Standing six metres high, it will be one of the main attractions at the upcoming Southall Christmas Market on Sunday 7 December.

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for environment and transport said: “Following the successful campaign last year, we wanted to reinvigorate the conversation about recycling. While we have made progress in increasing recycling rates, we still have some way to go to meet the 50% target. We all have a responsibility to ensure we meet this target by recycling as much as we can.”

FCC launches charity re-use shop at Cannock HWRC

FCC Environment has opened a charity re-use shop at the Cannock household waste recycling centre (HWRC), which it runs on behalf of Staffordshire county council.

Following the opening of re-use shops at its other HWRCs, FCC has introduced the Cannock shop in partnership with Katharine House – a charity which provides free hospice care in Staffordshire for people with incurable illnesses.

The new service will allow Cannock HWRC users to purchase unwanted household goods, which are sold by the charity every day. Items in turn can be donated at all the HWRCs throughout the county.

Richard Belfield, FCC Environment’s group development director, said: “Improving the services offered at our HWRCs and opening a charity shop will boost local recycling and re-use rates, make savings for the Council and give much needed help to a local charity.”

Viridor donates more cash to Sue Ryder

Waste management firm Viridor has presented a second £1,000 cheque to the Sue Ryder appeal after celebrating 200,000 man hours without time lost or injury at its Peterborough energy recovery facility.

The money donated to the charity will be put towards building a new hospice at Thorpe Hall in Peterborough. The company made a prior donation to the appeal earlier this year (see letsrecycle.com story).

Viridor began construction of the £76 million Peterborough EfW in July 2013 with partners B&W Volund, Interserve and Fichtner. Operations at the plant are due to begin in late 2015.

Hospice fundraiser, Nilesh Patel, said: “We’re grateful for the continued support from Viridor and its partners. Building work is well underway now on the new in patient unit at Thorpe Hall and donations such as this will help us reach our target.”

Niramax reaches SRF export target

Hartlepool-based recycling firm Niramax has reached its export target for solid recovered fuel – exporting more than 60,000 tonnes of SRF to one of its clients in Denmark.

The milestone marks the end of the first 12 months of a three-year contract with Akata Bio Energy to supply 180,000 tonnes of processed SRF to be used as fuel in cement kilns.

Niramax managing director Frank Antropik said he was ‘proud’ of the company’s strategy, which has seen the firm invest an extra £.13 million in upgrading a German-made refuse-derived fuel plant to meet demand.

Mr Antropik said: “The Akata shipments have been very successful and a significant achievement for our workforce. We have made a substantial investment to meet the demands of the alternative fuel market which helps divert as much waste as possible away from landfill into more productive use.”

MetalMatters launches Welsh campaign

MetalMatters has teamed up with TV presenter Iolo Williams to promote metal recycling in the Welsh boroughs of Torfaen and Rhondda Cynon Taff.

Set up by ALUPRO, the metal recycling programme is calling on residents to ‘make their metals matter’, with households in both areas generating around 166 million items of metal packaging per year.

Leaflets will be distributed at every household within the two boroughs, and advertisements broadcast on local radio as well as online via council websites.

The new campaign is backed by Waste Awareness Wales and the metal packaging industry, and Iolo Williams –best known for his BBC and S4C nature shows.

Mr Williams said: “Just think of all the things we use in our kitchens and bathrooms that are packaged using metal – food tins, drink cans, foil trays and aerosols – these items can all be easily recycled over and over again. I think this is a great campaign and I’m delighted to be supporting it today.”

Rick Hindley of the MetalMatters industry partnership added: “Campaigns like this allow us to take the recycling message into people’s homes and highlight exactly how they can help just by recycling more of the packaging they use every day.”