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News in Brief (06/10/2015)

With news on: Southern Housing re-use hub; Mick George growth; J&B retailer tie-up; WRAP bag funding, and; Hambleton fleet renewal.

Southern Housing opens first resident re-use hub

Southern Housing Group, one of the largest housing associations in the south of Engand, has joined forces with Groundwork London and London Community Resource Network (LCRN) to deliver a community re-use centre at Warner Road Estate in Camberwell, London.

Artist's impression of the Warner Road reuse hub
Artist’s impression of the Warner Road reuse hub

The programme, called Repurpose, will see the Group open a recycling hub to offer a collection and re-sale service for its residents that will take furniture and electrical items.

With funding from the European Commission’s LIFE+ programme, Repurpose aims to offer residents a repair and upcycling service to give unusable items a new lease of life and provide low cost items to people who need them.

The programme will employ a Re-use Coordinator and a Re-use Assistant to run the hub. It will also offer a wide range of volunteering opportunities and accredited training for residents and estate staff.

The service will play a significant role in reducing the amount of fly-tipping on the estate as well as providing affordable household items and will help residents develop new skills at the same time.

Jonathan Cavanagh, resident services manager at Southern Housing Group, said that the programme will improve the local environment and encourage residents not to waste their unwanted goods.

“This is an exciting opportunity for Southern Housing Group as it hasn’t been trialled before in London, so we’re delighted to be involved. The hub will contain a workshop, storage space and retail area to provide a collection service for residents to donate their unwanted items.”

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Mick George expands into Leicestershire 

Construction waste and recycling business Mick George has expanded its territory into Leicestershire with the opening of a new site at Ellistown, south of Coalville.

Established as a key supplier to the construction sector in Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, the company said it is hoping for similar success in Leicestershire.

Jon Stump, Finance Director at Mick George commented: ‘’The business has experienced continuous expansion in recent years, and adding new geographic locations for our service offerings is a key part of our  long term growth strategy.

“Commercially we have gained a lot of interest in and around Leicestershire for our products and services, so the natural progression was to have a facility within the region whereby we can provide our wide range of services to both trade and residential customers.’’

The new site is the first phase of a wider plan to incorporate more facilities and services in the region with further developments planned for 2016.

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J&B strengthens Lidl recycling work

J&B Recycling has strengthened its operations with the Lidl supermarket chain and is now providing a range of services to its regional distribution centre in Newton Aycliffe.

J&B has expanded its work for Lidl in north east England
J&B has expanded its work for Lidl in north east England

Originally providing just general waste solutions when it secured a contract in 2011, J&B said today that it is now providing a wider range of recovery solutions to the centre which serves 90 stores in north east England.

The majority of waste collected is taken to one of J&B’s local recovery facilities before being sent for recycling, rather than heading to landfill.

James Bragg, Lidl’s consultant for Recycling & Waste Logistics, said: “We obviously produce waste from our stores, and as a company it is our policy to recycle rather than send that waste to landfill.

Electrical

“J&B Recycling started off their contract with us by removing general waste, but that now expands to metal, wood, glass, plastics, some electrical waste and other redundant products.

“We are delighted to be working alongside J&B Recycling, they provide good service levels and have an excellent local knowledge which opens doors and gives us avenues into different markets in terms of the recycling chain.”

Mark Penny, Commercial Manager at J&B Recycling, said: “We have developed a strong partnership with Lidl that has benefited both companies. We handle a variety of wastes such as magazines, leaflets and even their hazardous waste.

“The food waste is taken to an anaerobic digestion plant which creates new energy for the local area, and then everything else is sorted into the relevant categories and recycled accordingly.

At the distribution centre in Aycliffe, Lidl staff segregate it into different streams within their own on-site recycling centre.

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WRAP wins funding from Wilko carrier bags charge

Waste prevention and resource efficiency charity WRAP has been chosen by retail gian Wilko as one of the four national charities to help drive its charitable aims, from the new 5p carrier bag charge.

Commenting on the agreement to receive carrier bag funding from Wilko, WRAP said today (6 October) that it would provide it “with vital funding to support its work on waste reduction and resource efficiency – helping find ways that we can reduce our impact on the environment.”

Liz Goodwin, WRAP chief executive, said: “Securing this generous new stream of funding from Wilko will be a tremendous help towards furthering WRAP’s charitable aims, helping to find new ways to move towards a more sustainable, resource efficient world. WRAP has an ambitious five year plan that will help the transition towards a world where resources are used sustainably, and this development will really help maximise our impact”.

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Hambleton renews fleet service with SFS

Hambleton district council has announced that it has awarded Specialist Fleet Services Ltd (SFS) a 10 year contract to supply and maintain its entire fleet for waste collection, recycling and street cleansing services.

This is the third time that the authority, which has its headquarters in Northallerton, North Yorkshire has renewed its contract with SFS, and there is an option to extend for an additional 10 years.

SFS has renewed its contract with Hambleton district council and work will be subcontracted to Dennis Eagle
SFS has renewed its contract with Hambleton district council and maintenance work will be subcontracted to Dennis Eagle

Hambleton collects waste from approximately 40,000 households and has just completed a waste services review.

Paul Staines, head of environment service at the local authority said: “SFS has an excellent track record in helping us keep our waste and recycling fleet running smoothly.  We are rolling out a new service and we are pleased that SFS will be managing our entire fleet including street cleansing and that this will facilitate a seamless transition.”

Deliveries

The first batch of vehicles, five Dennis Eagle Twin Packs, will be delivered in February 2016.  The remaining vehicles; a combination of refuse collection vehicles, sweepers, vans and a mobile crane will be delivered throughout the term of the contract, as and when replacement is required.

Bob Sweetland, managing director, SFS said: “It’s great news that Hambleton have chosen us to supply and maintain their fleet for the third time running.  We started working with the authority in 2007 and we have worked hard to gain a thorough understanding of their operations, which has enabled us to provide a contract that reflects their needs to the last detail.”

SFS is sub-contracting the maintenance for the contract to Dennis Eagle. Geoff Rigg, Aftermarket Director, Dennis Eagle said: “Dennis Eagle has a strong working relationship with SFS that goes back over 20 years, so we are pleased to be working alongside them on this contract to help keep Hambleton’s fleet running smoothly.”

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