News in brief

Gloucester waste operator jailed for 18 months

The operator of a Gloucestershire waste firm has been jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to waste and permitting offences at two different sites.

Gloucester Crown Court heard how Alfred Booy, who operated A1 Green Recycling Ltd, failed to remove waste from the Sharpness Waste Transfer Station – for which he was granted an environmental permit to run in November 2010.

The Environment Agency revoked Mr Booy’s permit and served him an enforcement notice to clear the waste following his eviction by the landowner in 2012. To date no action has been taken by Mr Booy or his company, it was claimed.

In June 2012, Environment Agency officers also visited a second site in Dursley that Mr Booy was operating as a waste transfer station. At the time of the inspection, there was no environmental permit in force for the site.

In mitigation, Mr Booy told the Court he did not commit the offence deliberately and did not have sufficient funds to clear waste from the Sharpness site.

But passing sentence this week (January 14), His Honour Judge Ambrose told Mr Booy that these offences were ‘so serous’ that only an immediate custodial term could be justified.

An Environment Agency officer said: “By avoiding regulation, Alfred Booy will have saved thousands of pounds. We do not tolerate waste crime and will not hesitate to prosecute in cases such as this.”

Council crew suspended over drinking allegations

South Tyneside council has suspended three refuse workers following allegations of drinking while carrying out collections in the borough.

Three waste collection operatives were suspended after the alleged incident which saw two of the workers accused of being under the influence of alcohol while out on rounds on December 27 last year.

The third employee, who had been driving the vehicle and was not involved in the drinking allegations, has also been suspended in his capacity as supervisor.

A South Tyneside council spokesperson: “We are aware of the alleged incident and the matter is subject to an internal investigation. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time. However our ongoing investigations do not relate to any driving offences.”

Biffa services ‘unaffected’ by suspected arson attacks

Biffa Municipal has confirmed collections will continue as normal following a spate of suspected arson attacks in South Oxfordshire yesterday (January 15).

The waste firm reassured that its premises and equipment had not been directly affected by the incident, in which the council’s headquarters were gutted by fire.

A call centre handling all waste-related services on behalf of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse councils was also unaffected by the fire – and remains in full operation to deal with requests from residents.

Meanwhile, Biffa’s local managers are working closely with council officers to assure service continuity.

South Oxfordshire took the top spot in England’s recycling league table last year, achieving an overall recycling rate of 65.71%.

Interserve to build Viridor East Lothian EfW

A joint venture comprising Interserve and Babcock & Wilcox has won a contract to build Viridor’s £177 million energy recovery facility in East Lothian, Scotland.

The construction group will undertake a 36-month build programme at Viridor’s existing Oxwellmains waste treatment hub, due to be completed in December 2017.

Once in operation, the 300,000 tonnes-per-year capacity plant will generate 30MW of power for the National Grid and support 55 full time jobs.

Ian Renhard, managing director of Interserve Construction, said: “We are pleased that our continued work with our partners Babcock & Wilcox Vølund A/S and Viridor on another Energy Recovery Facility will not only assist UK environmental targets, but also support the local economy and local employment in Dunbar.”

ZWS announces funding for textile designers

Zero Waste Scotland is offering funding to Scottish textile and apparel designers to help them reduce textile waste.

The Circular Economy Textile and Apparel Fund will support businesses prototyping new textile design and construction, exploring alternative fibres, and those attempting to ‘design out’ waste.

The funding is open to designers with a minimum of two years’ professional experience across performance, technical textiles and clothing, fashion and couture.

Iain Gulland, chief executive of Zero Waste Scotland, said: “We know from recent research that there are currently no truly circular textile products or services in Scotland, but that the characteristics of our country’s textile industry – heritage, provenance, durability, globally recognised quality manufacturing and production make it well placed to develop new ideas.

“This is a therefore a great opportunity for designers to play a leading role in identifying new innovative products and services for Scotland which could demonstrate how the sector can become truly circular in the future.”