News in Brief

Councillors in Bradford are set to consider the future of the city's waste management services next week.

A tender process is expected soon after details of waste plans are put before the metropolitan borough council's executive on October 17. Last month Bradford revealed that it was aiming to offer two contracts – one long-term contract from 2010 and one short-term, interim contract (see letsrecycle.com story). The long term contract is expected to be valued at around 440 million.

Bradford's municipal waste strategy sets out the current procedures for tackling around the 292,000 tonnes of waste which the council deals with each year, and how it plans to increase recycling rates and reduce the use of landfill.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, executive member for the environment, said: “It is imperative that, as a council, we take steps to reduce waste and increase recycling and that our contractors share that commitment.”

Islington Councillor Bridget Fox with pupils from Ambler Primary School at the new I-Recycle centre

The London Borough of Islington has opened its new 200,000 recycling education centre.

The council has developed the “I-Recycle” centre, at the household waste recycling centre on Cottage Road, working with experts from the Science Museum.

Made from recycled material, it features touch-screen displays, games and videos to teach local youngsters and adults about recycling and waste issues. The centre has been designed to be accessibly to groups of all ages and all abilities.

Visitors will learn about the UK’s waste difficulties, how to reduce waste by recycling at home and will be shown some of the things that can be made from recycled waste.

The centre had originally been due to open on July (see letsrecycle.com story), but the opening was postponed to this month because of the London bombings.

Defra is seeking views on the regulations and guidance for the measures under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act.

The Act contains a package of measures to give local authorities and the Environment Agency more powers to deal with everything from fly-tippers to litter droppers.

The first raft of measures came in to force in June, and included new powers to deal with litter and nuisance parking. More measures are due to commence later this month regarding fly-tipping and abandoned vehicles.

Those measures under consultation include further powers to deal with litter and fly-tipping, as well as options to make greater use of fixed penalties as an alternative to prosecution, and for fixed penalties for some offences to be issued by parish councils. The consultation runs until Monday 2 January, 2006.

Aluminium reprocessor Novelis has confirmed that it has completed its 1.4 million investment programme at its Warrington recycling plant.

Novelis has melted down six billion used beverage cans at the Warrington plant so far this year

The plant is being expanded to 120,000 tonnes capacity (see letsrecycle.com story) – a 25% increase in the plant's capacity to recycle used beverage cans. In the first nine months of 2005, the facility at Latchford Locks recycled six billion UBCs, establishing a new plant record.

“This investment is in addition to the continuous process improvements that have progressively increased the Warrington plant's recycling capacity,” said Nick Madden, president of Novelis' European Can, Litho and Recycling business unit. “It demonstrates our commitment to recycling and reconfirms our ability to meet the can reprocessing requirements across Europe.”

Because of the difficulty in increasing can collections in the UK, most of the new capacity will be used by Novelis to recycle cans from abroad.