Recolight welcomes scheme membership growth
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) compliance scheme Recolight has announced that 22 companies joined the scheme in 2022, with another eight joining in 2023 so far.
Recolight listed the companies that have joined this year, including TRT Lighting Ltd, Lumino Distribution Ltd, Llumarlite Ltd, Fotolec Technologies Ltd, Make and Test Ltd, XAL Ltd, Nitelux Ltd, J. Adams & Co.
Announcing the news, Recolight CEO Nigel Harvey, commented: “We are delighted that so many lighting companies have transferred their WEEE compliance to Recolight. The Recolight team works incredibly hard to make sure we provide great collection, recycling and reuse services to our members.
“2023 promises to be a pivotal year for WEEE, with a major Government review and consultation planned. Recolight will be working with members, old and new, to ensure that the needs of the lighting industry are fully represented,” Mr Harvey added.
Recolight’s marketing manager Suzanne Castine explained that emerging tenders specify reconditioning and reuse of luminaires in a project, with specifiers also asking for environmental metrics of new products. She noted that not being able to provide this will put companies at a “significant commercial disadvantage”.
Bristol Waste Company plans service changes to address funding gap
The Bristol city council-owned company’s business plan for 2023/24 outlines service changes to deliver cost savings to address the “significant” funding gap of £4 million.
The business plan explained that “without remedial action such as significant efficiencies, improving our commercial proposition and delivery of service changes”, the company is looking at a gap in the region of £4 million.
Some steps to achieve this include reviewing commercial contracts and increasing business in that area as well as developing facilities at its Avonmouth materials recycling facility (MRF) to increase resilience and revenue potential. The business plan also suggested charging developers for waste and recycling kerbside facilities. This is expected to deliver company efficiencies of up to £2.6 million.
In addition, the plan continues, we have agreed with the council that we will have to reduce the service we provide to the city to meet the financial constraints placed upon us, which could deliver savings opportunities of £1.8 million. Amongst these changes were increasing the garden waste subscription fees, charging for DIY waste at Bristol’s household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) as well as reducing HWRC opening times to 5 days a week.
Report warns about commercial waste service ‘zoning’
The Environmental Services Association (ESA) released a report last week (23 February), warning against the “undesirable unintended consequences” of adopting commercial waste service ‘zoning’ models.
The ESA explained that the report, compiled by consultancy 360 Environmental, suggests that limiting the number of waste service operators allowed to compete and operate in urban areas could be costly and complex to implement.
The document also says that this would raise service prices for waste producers while putting waste collectors out of business, which could undermine the viability of local waste infrastructure.
The modelling work carried out as part of the report research used Glasgow as an example, concluding that more waste producing businesses would see higher waste service costs under zoning, that significant variation in the service requirements for different-sized businesses makes a one-size-fits-all approach “challenging”, the ESA noted.
Urbaser begins three-year contract to operate Dudley EfW plant
Urbaser has begun a three-year contract to operate Dudley council’s Lister Road energy from waste (EfW) facility.
The contract was awarded in December 2022 and became operational last month. It has the option to extend for up to a further two years and is thought to be worth around £9 million. French waste management company PAPREC previously held the contract, after taking over from CNIM when it collapsed.
The facility has a consented capacity of up to 105,000 tonnes per annum and generates approximately 7.40 MWe via its dual-line combustion and energy generation process.
Urbaser explained that as part of new contract, Dudley council will benefit from being able to sell energy back to the national grid, which has the potential to generate substantial income for the council.
Councillor Rob Clinton, Dudley cabinet member for waste management and climate change, said: “We’re really pleased to be working with Urbaser under the new arrangement. The contract will offer up significant financial savings in the short-term and has the potential to generate substantial income from the sale of the electricity we produce, which is great news for public purse.”
Alfred H Knight launches sampling hub services
Alfred H Knight (AHK) has announced the launch of its specialist sampling hub services to support organisations with the recycling of materials such as e-scrap and incinerator bottom ash.
The company explained that its facilities provide a platform for metal recyclers, reprocessors and smelters to increase their sampling capacity and build an accurate profile of their materials whilst in transit.
Describing the process, AHK said that its sampling hubs receive material at an industrial scale where they representatively generate samples for analysis at the group’s laboratories.
Once the materials have been assayed, a certification is provided to the client, the company added.
Patrick Le Mare, global industry lead for circular economy, commented: “Our services support a hugely important market for sustainability, and we are proud to be one of the first independent organisations to undertake sampling of circular economy-related materials at this scale.”
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