South Herts Waste Management has been fined 20,000 for four of its sites breaching their waste management licence conditions.
The company pleaded guilty at Nottingham Magistrates Court to four charges relating to the sites at Lenton, Fiskerton, Hucknall and Bilsthorpe taking in more waste than they were permitted.
Speaking after the case, an Environment Agency officer involved in the investigation said: “This situation could have been easily resolved through investment and administration, and the company's failure to do this resulted in today's case.”
In mitigation, South Herts said the sites took domestic waste only and there was “no environmental impact from the situation”. The company said the situation had arisen because of an administrative error, and that new procedures had been put in place to prevent similar incidents in future.
Shorts and Blue Machinery stage demonstration day
Recycling group Shorts Services of Ascot has joined forces with recycling plant and equipment specialist Blue Machinery to run demonstration days for a wide variety of screening, shredding, compost turning and field spreading machinery.
 The Backhus 16-50 Compost Turner was on show at the Shorts/Blue Machinery open day |
The event was staged at Planners farm, Winkfield near Ascot, where Shorts Services operates a comprehensive green waste processing site for Bracknell Forest Borough Council.
On demonstration at Planners Farm was a range of Doppstadt shredders and chippers, the Powerscreen Orion 1400 Trommel and a Backhus 16-50 Compost Turner. Treatment of incoming green raw materials and turning of the compost on the concrete based windrows was continuous throughout the day and product managers were on hand to answer questions from visitors.
Cambridgeshire begins next stage of PFI procurement
Cambridgeshire county council has sent out the tender document for its Private Finance Initiative-backed waste management contract.
The council has named four companies – Donarbon, Focsa, Shanks and Waste Recycling Group – on the shortlist for the contract. Each company has now received the official tender documentation and has until the end of December to send in the official tender.
Mark Shelton, recycling manager at Cambridgeshire, said: “We will spend time between January and March assessing the offers and we hope to take two companies through to the next stage.”
Mr Shelton added: “We have been working very hard to this document together and are looking forward to a small rest while the waste management companies look over the tender.”
Call to Homebase shoppers to “Green-it” in Gateshead
Gateshead council has joined forces with DIY chain Homebase to encourage residents to recycle their garden waste.
From next week until the end of September, shoppers visiting the Homesbase store at Team Valley will be reminded to recycle their green waste using Gateshead's “Green-it” scheme.
Visitors will also be entered into a prize draw for the change to win top-of-the-range gardening equipment and vouchers to spend in Homebase.
Cllr Michael McNestry, cabinet member for the environment at Gateshead, said: “With the support of Homebase, we will be able to reach Gateshead gardeners in store, when they are thinking about gardening, to remind them to use their Green-it bins.”
Homebase garden centre manager Susan Anderson said: “There is no need for the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of garden waste each household collects every year to go to landfill.
The Green-it scheme is offered to 55,000 households in Gateshead, allowing gardeners to have their green waste collected every fortnight to be turned into compost and soil improver.
Register for free to comment