News in Brief

The Environment Agency needs to urgently ensure that it can deliver a level regulatory framework for vehicle recyclers, Paul Fox, the newly-elected chairman of the Motor Vehicle Dismantlers Association, has warned.

Mr Fox’s comments come as the first stage of legislation governing the vehicle recycling process starts to emerge (see letsrecycle.com story).

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Mr Fox, who has an HNC in environment and waste management and has dismantling businesses in Humberside and Leeds, said that the Association would continue to play an important part in discussions about the ELV Directive and its implementation. He thanked the outgoing chairman, Dawn Allen, for her work in the post over the past year.

The chairman pledged that the association “will continue to look after the interests of the responsible dismantler. We recognise the importance of environmental regulation and quality assurance.”

But, he had a clear message over how the “responsible industry” is treated. Mr Fox said: “We are now all moving forward and are focusing hard on plans for dismantling between 2003 and 2007 and for 2007 and beyond. It is important that the Environment Agency understands the need for a nationwide level playing field.”

Mr Fox emphasised that if the responsible industry invested in facilities to meet new standards of treatment it was essential that it did not face unfair competition. He said: “I have concerns that the Agency are under-resourced and if this is the case how will they be able to regulate effectively. They will know where the permitted authorised treatment facilities will be but will they regulate the unauthorised sites?”

“And, we hope that the regulations are also enforced uniformly across the country,” he added.

The British Aerosol Manufacturers' Association has said it is encouraged by the 6% increase in the number of local authorities offering facilities for the recycling of aerosols over the last six months.

In March 2003, 48% of councils in a BAMA survey of 400 authorities said that they accepted empty aerosols for recycling at can banks or in kerbside collections. Six months later this figure has risen to 54%.

Commenting on the survey findings, Dr Paul Jackson, technical manager at BAMA, said: “We are very encouraged by these figures. They indicate that a growing number of local authorities are now actively persuading householders to recycle their empty aerosols. We also want to encourage other authorities to join in. Recycling empty aerosols helps reduce the amount of material going to landfills and makes good commercial sense.”

Each year the UK uses around 600 million aerosols, representing about 30,000 tonnes of reclaimable high grade metal that can be recycled each year. Aerosols account for about four per cent of the metals packaging stream in the UK with approximately 65 per cent of aerosols made from tin-plated steel, and the rest from high-grade aluminium.

For more information on aerosol can recycling and technical guidance, visit the BAMA web site.

Kent county council has now sold 20,000 home composters this year in a campaign funded with 200,000 from DEFRA's 140 million recycling fund.

This is the third year that the council has offered discounted composters, which are provided by Leeds-based Blackwall Ltd.

This year has also seen a promotional campaign visiting schools and public events across the County to emphasise the home composting message. Promotional leaflets were also delivered to every household in the county and adverts placed in local papers.

Belinda Cheriton, waste reduction officer at Kent County Council said: “Home composting is not only a cost effective method of waste reduction, but will also help the UK meet its targets under the European Landfill Directive.”