Hospital probe clears composting equipment
The composting scheme used a “Rocket” in-vessel composting unit, which became the focus of national media reports concerning the outbreak at the Newham University Hospital NHS Trust hospital (see letsrecycle.com story).
In a statement regarding the initial investigation into the problems, the NHS Trust said: “The Trust has now conducted its initial investigation into this and has evidence that the equipment – the Rocket composter – was in no way at fault and that the problem at Newham Hospital was an isolated incident.”
Biffa targeted by equity groups
Montagu Private Equity and Hg Pooled Management Ltd, also known as HgCapital, said in a statement to the London stock exchange last week that they had approached the Biffa board on September 4 to discuss a possible offer, but were rejected by Biffa. The companies said they have already bought a small stake in Biffa with a view to making further investment. In the statement, which was issued in response to speculation over their interest in Biffa, the companies said they had financial backing from HSBC and HBOS for a takeover move.
The statement said: “Montagu and HgCapital are committed to pursuing an investment in Biffa and the bid vehicle formed for the purpose of making any offer currently holds a 2.4% stake in Biffa. However, there can be no certainty that any further proposal will be made to the board of Biffa or that any offer or transaction will result. A further announcement will be made if appropriate.”
Agency targets unregistered waste carriers
The Environment Agency said it will send letters to 13,000 waste haulage and skip hire businesses across the North East of England to ensure that they hold a waste carriers licence.
The Agency is using information from sources including the Yellow Pages, cross-matched with its own database of registered carriers, to target unregistered businesses trading as waste carriers with as many as 1,000 letters a week in the BREW-funded campaign. Any business that does not respond within four weeks will receive a second warning letter, after which legal proceedings could begin.
Environment Agency campaign manager, Gerald Lee said: “Our message is simple – we will track down unregistered waste carriers. Our ‘dump-it and leg-it' campaign is successfully getting the message across that householders and businesses should only use a registered waste carrier of face a £5,000 fine. We are now contacting firms who advertise that they work in the waste collection business directly to give them a chance to apply to be registered. If they ignore us then we will investigate and we will not hesitate to prosecute if we find that they have been operating illegally.”
Newport Paper appoints regional managers
The company, which doubled in size between 2006 and 2007 to handle more than 250,000 tonnes of recovered material a year, said the appointments would help it to source more material from local authorities and waste management companies. Mr Yannakoyorgos, formerly business creation manager at BTCV Scotland Action Recycle, will be responsible for Scotland and the North East. Ms Kirby, whose experience was gained as recycling manager for the London borough of Richmond, will be responsible for the London and South East region.
Matthew Hoare, Managing Director of Newport Paper comments, “We're really pleased to have recruited two people of such calibre and are looking forward to securing more contracts with local authorities and waste management companies.”
Firms respond to pre-treatment challenge
Waste firm Viridor has said it has been receiving a flood of new enquiries for its trade waste recycling collection services in Greater Manchester, after the new pre-treatment regulations came into force on October 31.
The regulations, which are part of Europe's Landfill Directive, mean that all business waste destined for landfill must have had some form of treatment to reduce its volume, separate it for recycling or make it less hazardous before it can go to landfill (see letsrecycle.com story). Viridor currently collects recyclable material from over 300 companies in the Greater Manchester area, providing a seven-days-a-week service, managed through the Trafford Park site.
Paul Southwell, Viridor's Trafford Park site manager, said: “Since the pre-treatment regulations have come in to force we are seeing a week on week increase in enquiries about collection and recycling of trade waste. This indicates to us that businesses understand what is expected and are taking their new responsibility seriously.”
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