News in Brief

Gateshead council has been helping its parks to grow with the aid of its “Green-it” kerbside collection scheme.

Gateshead council staff are using recycled green waste as soil improver in parks

The council recently introduced the green waste recycling service which collects garden waste from residents and turns it into compost and soil improver.

So far over 3,395 tonnes of garden waste have been collected since the scheme started in February, the equivalent of over 60,000 bags of compost. The first tonnes collected back in February have been processed and are now being introduced to parks and flowerbeds as a soil improver.

Councillor Michael McNestry, cabinet member for the environment at Gateshead council, said: “Thanks to all residents who have been recycling their garden waste this will help towards our statutory target to recycle and compost 18% of household waste this year.”

Waste management company SITA has unveiled a new service designed to make hazardous waste disposal quick and easy for its customers.

The new service, launched on Monday (August 1) will allow SITA UK's customers to dispose of smaller hazardous items – such as fluorescent tubes, lead acid batteries, sodium lamps, toner cartridges and oil filters – through a tailored collection service.

Peter Hathaway, SITA UK's industrial and commercial operations director, said: “SITA UK is one of the first waste management companies to offer this type of hazardous waste collection on a national basis.

“We are able to provide a service which enables our customers to meet their obligation under the new legislation with little inconvenience to their established working practices. This obviously makes it easy for everyone and we believe that this is exactly what the market needed to accommodate these legislative changes,” he added.

Maldon district council will be using Dennis Eagle vehicles for its domestic waste and recycling collection services.

Enterprise MRS is to use Dennis Eagle vehicles on its five-year waste contract with Maldon

Enterprise MRS, which runs the waste management contract for the Essex district, has brought in five Dennis Eagle RCVs to service the 26,000 households across the district.

The vehicles will make up part of the companies new five year waste management contract, which Enterprise MRS has secured with Maldon.

In addition to supplying the new fleet, Dennis Eagle is also assuming responsibility for their maintenance through the lifespan of the vehicle whilst operating on the Maldon contract.

Enterprise MRS' group operations manager, David McGill said: “We are confident that the new fleet of vehicles will enable us to deliver an improved, more cost effective and efficient waste collection service across the borough of Maldon.”

Richmondshire district council has received praise from the Audit Commission for its new kerbside recycling collection scheme.

The local government watchdog carried out an inspection on the North Yorkshire district's waste services in April this year. The council was given a “good” two start service, with prospects for improvement adjudged to be “promising”.

Richmondshire has now launched a green box for cans and glass to 8,000 of the households in the district. This has been coupled with a garden waste scheme which has been rolled out to around 10,000 households.

The two collections are made on a fortnightly basis, alongside a blue bag for paper collection which has been rolled out district wide. Refuse waste is collected weekly.