NRW publishes Annual Regulation Report 2022
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) published its Annual Regulation Report for 2022 which details that enforcement actions for waste offences fell from 92 to 61.
The report said that 16% (1,337) of incidents reported to the body were waste related, including fly-tipping, the burning of waste and illegal waste sites.
Martyn Evans, future regulation team leader for NRW said: “Strong regulation underpins our purpose to protect, maintain and enhance Wales’s natural resources so that people can live better, and healthier lives and our wildlife can thrive.
“While this report shows some improving trends, we know that there is still much work to do, especially in priority areas such as pollution. The quality of the Welsh environment is not where we, our partners and the people of Wales want it to be, and we will need a collaborative approach to address the issues Wales faces.
“This involves a suite of tools to protect our environment, prevent pollution and support the climate and nature emergencies, from raising awareness of environmental issues, laws and regulations and promoting good environmental practices, to undertaking enforcement action through civil penalties, notices and warnings, fines and prosecutions, for non-compliant or wholly illegal activities.”
Essex recycling consultation closes
Essex county council has announced that 18,000 people took part in its consultation on whether to retain a booking process at all the counties recycling centres.
The consultation closed 19 November and a decision about whether to retain the booking service will be made in the new year. In the meantime, customers will still be able to book a timeslot to visit a recycling centre.
Councillor Peter Schwier, Essex county council’s cabinet member for climate, environment, waste reduction and recycling said: “Thank you to everyone who took part in the consultation. We received a huge number of responses which highlights the valuable role of recycling centres in our waste and recycling services.”
Geminor appoints country manager for Germany
Geminor announced it has appointed Manfred Rissman as the country manager for Germany.
Mr Rissman has worked for Geminor for five years as a business development manager before being offered the promotion and has 30 years of industry experience having specialised in waste wood and biomass in the German market.
Manfred Rissmann said: “We plan to take advantage of Geminor’s international expertise and build a strong German team that will play an important role in the company’s international operations. Since 2021, the waste management industry has been quite turbulent, which also has been the case for our office in Germany. Taking charge of our operations in the biggest energy recovery market in Europe is a considerable responsibility, but I am looking forward to assisting Geminor in adapting to a new reality within resource management,
“A new CO2 tax and an increase in truck levies will be introduced in a relatively weak economy. These are some of the factors that will influence the German market in the time to come and be part of the challenges Geminor needs to deal with.”
Sutco opens plastic sorting plant in Sweden
Svensk Plaståtervinning in collaboration with Sutco has announced the opening of its new site zero plastics sorting plant in Motala, Sweden.
The company says the plant enables the collection of mater
ial such as PE film, PP film, DDPE, PP, PET bottles transparent, PET bottles colour, PET trays, EPS and PS. The recovered materials are sent from Motala to recyclers in the European Union.
According to Svensk Plaståtervinning the plant is able to process up to 42 tonnes of plastic per hour.
Mattias Philipsson, chief executive of Svensk Plaståtervinning and operator of the plant said: “The aim is to further increase the rates of recovered recyclable materials in Sweden too. Currently, 33% of plastic packaging in Sweden is recycled, so there is still a lot of potential.”
Isle of Wight opens Recycling and Waste survey
The Isle of Wight council has opened its annual recycling and waste survey for 23/24.
Every year the Isle of Wight holds an online consultation for residents to put across their views on the service and give any ideas on how to improve the service for the following year.
Councillor Karen Lucioni, Cabinet lead for waste, said: “We’ve made great progress as a community in recycling but sadly some rubbish produced by households locally still ends up in landfill. We want to reduce that as much as we can and continue, with our waste partners, to provide the best service possible.
“Please take a few minutes to complete this survey and we will carefully consider every response we receive. This information will help to inform the decisions that we make about how the Islands waste and recycling services can be even better.”
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