News in Brief

Poots adds further 2m to Rethink Waste Fund

The Rethink Waste Fund was initially launched in May 2010 with 3.13 million being made available and it has since been added to by the Department to mean that 4.5 million being issued to a host of projects across Northern Ireland. To mark the announcement of further funding, Leo OReilly, permanent secretary at the DOE, visited Gortrush civic amenity site in Omagh to see firsthand the improvements that will be made as a result of the funding. Omagh district council has been offered grants of over 500,000 to improve recycling facilities in the district.

Commenting on the Rethink Waste Fund, Mr Poots said: The fact that a third round of funding has been secured for recycling projects in the current financial climate acknowledges that waste, when handled correctly, can be a crucial asset for the Northern Ireland economy.

Bicycle scrappage scheme launched in Knowsley

Speke-based CREATE, a social enterprise and charity that specialises in recycling and refurbishing white goods, has launched the scheme for residents in Knowsley with help from a grant from KHT. Residents can take their old unused bikes, regardless of the condition, and exchange them for 50 off the price of a new bike from CREATE. There are enough funds to cover the exchange of 120 new bikes.

Chris Gold from CREATE said: This is a great way of recycling bikes that may have been sitting in a shed unused or headed for landfill, and providing an incentive to use a healthier, more sustainable form of transport. We have a range of new bikes, from childrens bikes to adult mountain bikes.
Caption: Bike engineer Phillip Hammond is part of the CREATE team operating the scrappage scheme in Knowsley

Partnership submits scoping report for 9m Devon AD plant

A partnership called Advanced Anaerobic Digestion (South West) Ltd has submitted a scoping report to Devon county council for a 75,000 tonnes-a-year capacity anaerobic digestion facility in South Devon.

The partnership, which is formed of waste management firm 4Recycling and British engineering company AeroThermal Group, intends to develop the plant at the site of Imerys Minerals at Lee Moor near Plymouth. The plant is expected to cost 9 million to develop and would incorporate anaerobic digestion and autoclave technology and produce a soil conditioner. The companies intend to use outputs from the plant at the nearby Imerys Minerals China Clay workings. Devon county council are expected to comment on the scoping report, which represents one of the initial stages of the planning process, at a later date.

Commenting on the proposal, Tristan Lloyd-Baker, commercial director at AeroThermal Group, said: Our 9 million investment will create 22 long-term, skilled jobs for local people. In addition the facility will divert up to 75,000 tonnes of waste from landfill every year thereby avoiding harmful methane emissions and providing a facility to enable local businesses to maximise landfill diversion.

WEEE specialist SWEEEP plays hosts music video shoot

Specialist waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling company SWEEEP Kuusakoski has broken from its normal routine and played host to the filming of a music video by up-and-coming electro pop outfit Fenech-Soler.

The Northamptonshire four-piece used the waste management firms Sittingbourne site as a warehouse filled with televisions ready for reprocessing as a backdrop to their third video. Formed in 2006, Fenech-Soler have been likened to Klaxons and Delphic and even enjoyed some mainstream exposure on Radio One. The band and its production company Salt Film donated 200 to the Kent Wildlife Trust, SWEEEPs corporate-sponsored charity, following the use of the site.

Justin Greenaway, contracts manager at SWEEEP Kuusakoski, said: “I am told diversification is a good thing but it was quite a surprise to get a call from the music industry when your core business is recycling electronics. Radio One featured band Fenech-Soler wanted an electronic waste background for their third music video and we were more than happy to accommodate – on the understanding that when electric guitars get smashed on stage they come to us for recycling. The finished video can be seen here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_3HVelRugo

Wales begins countdown to carrier bag charge

The Welsh Assembly Government aims to send information packs to 23,540 retailers across the country outlining the minimum five pence charge on single-use carrier bags which is set to come into force from October 1 2011.

The Government, known as the WAG, will become the first UK administration to introduce a mandatory charge, which is set at 5p per bag. The legislative move was first laid before the National Assembly in November 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story) and is now set to come into effect in less than 200 days time. The move is part of the Assembly Governments goal of dramatically reducing the number of carrier bags given out to shoppers.

Environment minister Jane Davidson said: There is no doubt in my mind that such a reduction is needed. In Wales during 2009 we took home on average 273 carrier bags per household from the major supermarkets alone. Add to this the number of bags we pick up when shopping on the high street or at smaller stores and you are left with an even higher figure.