News in Brief

Wastecycle invests 1m in carpet recycling service

The Nottingham-based company has invested 1 million in buildings, machinery and staff training, as well as entering into a partnership with sector trade body Carpet Recycling UK. Wastecycles new plant creates a dry mix of fibres which will be used as a refuse derived fuel, an alternative to fossil fuels to fire cement kilns. The company intends to help reduce the 400,000 tonnes of carpet which is landfilled in the UK each year and is attempting to meet Carpet Recycling UKs call for innovations in technology and markets to meet growing demand for sustainable outlets for carpet waste.

Wastecycle’s national accounts manager, Daniel Shearstone, said: Carpets have been, and remain, a very difficult commodity to recycle efficiently. Thankfully, our task has been made easier following the recent research into alternatives to the long established, and very wasteful, landfill options. Only 2% of carpet waste was recycled in 2007. By 2010, it was 9% and so we have a long way to go to reach our target of 25% by 2015.

Poultrycompany targetszero waste to landfill

Poultry and food processing company Moy Park has reduced the amount of waste it sends to landfill to 10% over the course of a 12 month partnership with Biffa Integrated Waste Management.

The Northern Irish company, which also has operations in England, France and the Netherlands, said that six of its 15 manufacturing, milling and hatchery sites had already achieved zero waste to landfill. The achievement over the past year comes in the wake of Moy Park previously sending 80% of its waste to landfill.

Commenting on the project Moy Park group environmental management advisor Colin Wilkinson said: Sending zero waste to landfill is a top priority for our business, it helps us to fulfil our environmental ambitions, and its important to our customers. We are committed to working with Biffa to achieve 96% recycling across the group in the second quarter of 2011, with the aim of achieving the ambitious zero waste status by the end of the year.

Call for vigilance around reversing RCVs

Vehicle safety specialist Innovative Safety Systems (ISS) is calling for reversing radars to become compulsory for use on waste and recycling vehicles in order to reduce reversing incidents.

The company made the comments in the wake of Brighton-based Team Waste (Southern) being fined in April following an incident involving a reversing refuse collection truck in which a member of the public was fatally injured (see letsrecycle.com story).

Reversing radars use a combination of visual and audio signals to warn the driver if a person or object is behind the vehicle and at what distance. And, the closer the person or object the more prominent and persistent the warning signals become. At present, the majority of refuse vehicles are fitted with reversing alarms as standard equipment, but such devices do not detect if a person or object is behind the vehicle. They only serve to alert pedestrians and traffic that a reversing manoeuvre is being performed.

Jonathan Thomas, director at ISS, said: A waste collection vehicle can spend up to 20% of the day reversing and every measure needs to be taken to mitigate the dangers. This means a combination of stringent health and safety best practice, crew training and, in my view, a compulsory requirement for Reversing Radar. Radars can detect any objects, moving or stationery, from up to 10 metres away and, crucially, they alert the driver.

Leeds glass recycling firm signs deal with Straight

Recycling company The Glassman has teamed up with waste container manufacturer Straight to offer kerbside glass recycling collection boxesto residents in the north of Leeds.

Under the scheme, residents are charged 99p-a-week and receive a yellow recycling box for glass waste. The new kerbside service, which is still in the final stages of development, is being introduced as an alternative to city-wide bottle banks. Leeds city council does not presently collect glass at the kerbside.

Alex Webb from The Glassman said: We wanted to go for something which was safe to use and really stood out from all the other types of recycling bins and boxes. After quite a lot of research; we were pleased that Straight could meet our needs by producing a recycling box which looks quite cool and does the job.

Stadium owner fined 5,000 over illegally burning waste

The owner of the Mildenhall Stadium near Bury St Edmunds has been fined 5,000 for burning waste instead of disposing of it properly.

Owner David Coventry, trading as RDC Promotions, pleaded guilty at Bury St Edmunds Magistrates Court to knowingly permitting the burning of waste on or before June 15 2010. He was also ordered to pay full Environment Agency costs of 1,256. Mrs Sarah Nicholson, prosecuting for the Agency, told the court that Coventry had a history of burning waste at the site, which is primarily used for greyhounds and stock car racing, and had been sent a warning letter in September 2008 after a fire in August. He was advised again in 2009 to stop. Magistrates heard that Agency officers had been alerted three times to burning at the stadium and each time there was evidence of fires inside a large skip. Mr Coventry was charged with breaching Section 33(1)(b) and Section 33(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

After the hearing Environment Agency officer Nick Dyer said: Today’s proceedings should be a sufficient deterrent against continued burning of any waste at Mildenhall Stadium, as well as a warning to others. Not only is the illegal disposal of waste to the detriment of the environment, it also undermines legitimate businesses.