FCC Environment wins health and safety award
FCC Environment has been awarded the Sword of Honour award from the British Safety Council for their health and safety performance, the waste management business has announced.
The company was one of 57 organisations worldwide to win the award, which is given to companies that show “excellence” in managing health and safety risks at work.
In order to compete for the award, FCC had to first achieve the maximum five stars in the British Safety Council’s health and safety management audit scheme and demonstrate their achievements to an independent panel.
FCC Environment’s Paul Stokes, Head of Safety, Health, Environment and Quality said: “We are delighted to accept the Sword of Honour and being recognised in this way is great news, although it doesn’t come easy, a lot of time and effort from everyone in the organisation has been put in over a number of years which has helped us achieve this accolade.
“I hope this spurs all our staff on to do even better every day as good health and safety makes good business sense. Not only does it protect people it also delivers real value to the bottom line ensuring a successful and competitive business for the future.”
‘Future innovation’ to underpin NERF annual conference
The theme of ‘Future innovation in the waste sector’ is set to underpin the North East Recycling Forum (NERF) Annual Conference this November, the forum has announced.
The conference will be taking place on the 30th November at Durham Town Hall, in Durham and will feature speeches, workshops and discussions.
Mark Shayler, director of sustainability consultancy Ape, will be delivering the keynote speech and Adam Read, director of external affairs at Suez will present the company’s ‘Mind the Gap’ report into the UK residual waste infrastructure capacity requirements.
More information: To book your place or for further information, get in touch with jo@daxi.co.uk before the 22nd November.
Viridor calls for collaboration to detect lithium batteries
Viridor has issued a call for collaboration on vital technology to detect lithium ion batteries – the biggest cause of waste industry fires.
The recycling and renewable energy company has partnered with the University of Sheffield and the Energy Innovation Centre to offer up to £75,000 in research funding.
Viridor said that they have identified challenges linked to detection in waste collection vehicles and on conveyor belts, as well as challenges in differentiating between the batteries and other metallic scrap, and detecting heat or fumes from a burning battery in waste bunkers.
Marcus Du Pree Thomas, Viridor development manager and co-ordinator of technology and innovation, said: “If the batteries are punctured they can ignite, and large batteries can project a shaft of flame for several minutes.”
Mr Thomas continued: “During the last few years, there has been a significant increase in the number of fires at waste recycling plants across the world of which many have been attributed to batteries.”
“Many of these fires are extinguished at the point of ignition but the large waste volumes sometimes present can result in large fires with very serious consequences.”
For more information on how to register initial interest and request an expression of interest form please call the Energy Innovation Centre before 25th October 2017.
ESG rebranded to SOCOTEC
ESG, provider of testing, inspection and compliance services, has announced that it has rebranded to SOCOTEC, following its acquisition by the SOCOTEC group earlier this year.
SOCOTEC is an international French company assisting companies in the areas of quality, health and safety and the environment.
In the UK, the company employs more than 1,400 people and operates 28 sites in the UK and Ireland.
Ian Sparks, Chief Executive Officer of SOCOTEC in the UK, said: ‘It is important that our UK operations reflect the ambition and vision of the wider SOCOTEC Group, who share our drive for ambitious growth through a client-driven strategy, that is why we have adopted the SOCOTEC name and identity.
“With SOCOTEC global footprint, we will be able to provide a wider geographic offering, and also an even broader technical service provision, while still delivering the high level of service and commitment that our clients have come to expect from us.”
The group announced that the rebranding “reflects the Group’s positioning and expansion goals” in Europe, with a particular focus on France, the UK and Germany.
BIR launches global recycling day website
Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has switched on the Global Recycling Day website as it starts its countdown to the new international awareness day taking place on 18 March 2018.
The initiative was officially kicked off at BIR’s 2017 World Recycling Convention in New Delhi on 16 October.
In an announcement by BIR, the bureau said that the single biggest mission of the recycling day is to make the world focus on recycling for one day and “for people to change at least one habit”.
The bureau hopes the day will “unite people across the world, highlighting the need to conserve our six primary resources (water, air, coal, oil, natural gas and minerals) and celebrating the power of the newly termed “Seventh Resource”- the goods we recycle every day”.
Ranjit Baxi, president of BIR, commented: “Primary resources, as we all know, are finite. It is our collective duty, across the globe, to preserve, respect and make the best use of virgin resources.
“The world has six significant natural resources – water, air, coal, oil, natural gas and minerals. My goal in envisaging, and now launching, Global Recycling Day is to show the world that there is a Seventh Resource, as precious as and more sustainable than all the others, the materials we recycle.”
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