West Sussex HWRCs to collect rigid plastic
West Sussex county council announced that its household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) will accept hard plastic items following a successful trial.
This includes items such as garden furniture, coat hangers and plastic piping, which have been accepted at some sites since the trial started in February, the council continued.
After positive feedback from residents, the scheme has been extended to all HWRCs but Midhurst. The council explained this is due to the size of the site.
It added that around 70 tonnes of material were collected each month, with some separated for reuse and the remainder broken down into pellets to make new plastic components.
HWRC staff will direct residents to the new hard plastic collection bins as some site layout have been changed to accommodate the extra bin.
Deborah Urquhart, cabinet member for environment and climate change, said: “We are very pleased to be able to extend this service to more HWRCs as the trial scheme proved very popular.
“We are always looking at ways to help residents reduce their waste, and with this new addition we are helping residents to recycle more.”
DEFRA to delay outcome of consultation
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has announced this week (2 August) a delay to the outcome of its consultation on the implementation of mandatory waste tracking.
DEFRA said that “to give us time to analyse we expect to publish a summary of the responses in autumn 2022”.
The consultation was held online from 21 January to 15 April and received 713 responses.
It gathered responses about the government’s proposal for the practical implementation of digital waste tracking, including what waste will be tracked and what information should be recorded.
It also asked for opinions on when this information should be recorded as well as different ways to record it. Additional points were related to the enforcement consequences if the information isn’t recorded as required and how the operation and maintenance of the tracking service should be charged for.
Binn Group a ‘real living wage employer’
Scottish resource management company Binn Group has been accredited a real living wage employer.
The Perthshire-based business said its already pays its more than 150 workers above the real living wage rate but “hopes the recent formal accreditation by the UK’s independent Living Wage Foundation will encourage other businesses to follow suit”.
CEO Allan MacGregor commented: “I am delighted that Binn Group has signed up to the real living wage. Our employees are at the heart of our operations and our ongoing success is due to their hard work.”
He added: “We are a proud family run business and by becoming an accredited employer we can demonstrate our commitment to these family values.”
The current UK hourly real living wage is £9.90 and is reviewed annually.
Turmec awarded £25m for a waste solution in Australia
International waste and recycling solutions provider Turmec has announced on 4 August that it has been awarded a €30 million (£25.5 million) contract to design, build and install a waste processing solution in Australia.
Turmec will carry out the project for Rino Recycling at its Pinkenba facility near Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
The move comes on the back of Australian government environmental regulations to support increased recovery rates and diversion from landfill, including a new landfill levy in Queensland which is planned to increase annually.
It is set to be one of the largest construction and demolition (C&D) waste recovery sites in Australia, designed to achieve landfill diversion and recovery rates of up to 99% and with a processing capacity of 475 tonnes per hour.
The company said that recovered C&D materials will be recycled by Rino Recycling into a range of high-quality sand, fill, road bases and aggregate materials which will be supplied back into new construction projects.
Turmec plans to work with its project partners, Northern Ireland group, CDE, which will be providing the materials wet processing elements of the project.
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