Redbridge and police team up against waste crime
Redbridge council and the Police joined forces last week in an operation targeting vehicles transporting waste.
The operation saw commercial vehicles carrying waste stopped in a bid to identify unlicenced waste removal services transporting waste in the borough.
In the two-hour operation in High Road Seven Kings, Redbridge enforcement officers made checks on vehicles transporting waste to ensure proper disposal. The fines for those who failed to produce their waste carriers licence totalled £2,700.
All businesses transporting and disposing of waste in England are required to be registered with the Environment Agency and have a valid waste carriers licence and documentation.
The operation comes in the wake of several fly-tips in Redbridge, where “rogue operators” dumped the waste they had been hired to remove on the borough’s streets.
Sutco RecyclingTechnik rolls out waste treatment software
German manufacturer of waste sorting treatments Sutco RecyclingTechnik has developed a software to help optimise material flow.
The software, named ProDIGIT, uses data from material detection and process parameters. Data from Sutco bunker management are used in addition, which helps prevent sorting plant shutdowns and increases throughput.
The software uses simulation and intelligent prioritisation. The former ensures the material quantity needed for consistent bale production is drawn at the right point into the bale press.
The intelligent prioritisation optimises the energy consumption of the bunker press system, saves fuel and conserves machine technology.
The operator can view the various process parameters at any time via a dashboard. This ensures high transparency, which helps drawing up plans and tracking quantities, energy, and such.
The company said ProDIGIT is already being used successfully in sorting plants and is constantly being further developed.
Offer revised in North Somerset strike
The GMB Union has agreed to suspend planned strike action in North Somerset this month while its members consider a new offer.
A revised offer has been determined after North Somerset Environment Company (NSEC), the council’s waste contractor, and the GMB union met last week (7 April).
To allow for a ballot to take place, GMB has agreed to suspend planned strike action on four days this month: 12 April, 13 April, 16 April, and 17 April.
The council informed that North Somerset’s three recycling centres (HWRCs) will open as usual over this period.
Recycling services remain suspended on 21 April and 22 April, but residual, garden and clinical waste collections are to continue as usual, with the HWRCs closed.
Brian Veale, managing director at NSEC, said: “Significant progress has been made and I’m pleased with how negotiations are developing. While I can’t disclose the details of the package, I can say that our focus remains on providing staff with a package of measures to give them stability.”
CIWM appoints new junior vice president
The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) has announced the election of Tim Walker as junior vice president.
Tim Walker will take over the role from Dan Cooke, who will move to the role of senior vice president, at the presidential inauguration in June.
Mr Walker has been the chief executive of the arc21 local authority partnership in Northern Ireland since 2019. Before that, he headed up waste management at Belfast city council for over two decades.
He is also currently on the board of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and CIWM as a trustee.
Mr Walker said: “As a life-long environmentalist, I’ve always had an unhealthy interest in waste and CIWM has been a constant wellspring throughout my professional career. I’m thrilled that I now have an opportunity to front this great organisation and contribute to its journey to a world beyond waste.”
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