News in Brief

SITA branches into South Wales 

Just months after acquiring metal recycling firm Easco and expanding into Northern Ireland with the purchase of Wilson Waste (see letsrecycle.com story), the firm will take charge of a landfill and materials recycling facility near Rudbaxton in Pembrokeshire. RML also has contracts with local authorities including Pembrokeshire county council.

Geraint Rees, general manager at SITA UK, said: “The acquisition brings a range of new clients to our fold, provides good facilities and importantly gives us employees with the local knowledge and expertise to build our business in the area. We believe that there will be many opportunities in the area to secure future growth, with a recently constructed MRF and the security of a large landfill void.”

WRG gives £1.6 million to the community

The Waste Recycling Group (WRG) has awarded £1.6 million to eight community projects at its annual Communities Challenge event.

The money generated from landfill tax rebates from the treasury, is distributed on behalf of WRG by the Waste Recycling Environmental Limited (WREN), and winners announced at the prize-giving evening included a village hall in Derbyshire and a play park in Nottinghamshire.

The event was held in the House of Commons and WRG chief executive, Jim Meredith, called on government to give greater backing to the scheme and for “politicians to support it by putting money in”.

Lack of awarness over site waste management

Almost two fifths of construction companies are unaware they will be legally required to draw up Site Waste Management Plans (SWMPs) next April, government research has found.

The survey, commissioned by the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland, also revealed that while 62% of companies were aware they had to draw up plans detailing how they will deal with waste from projects, only 22% are presently doing so.

This study follows a similar survey in January, also commissioned by the three regulatory bodies, which found that 68% of businesses were unaware of their obligations, compared with 38% this month. A free website www.netregs.gov.uk has also been launched to give advice to small businesses on their legal environmental obligations.

West Midlands recycler wins MP's approval

Mr Ian Pearson, who is also MP for Dudley South, congratulated the Willenhall firm for achieving the standard which rewards a high level of compliance with environmental law and regulation.

Mr Pearson said: “I am very impressed with the advances they have made in metal reclamation and congratulate them on achieving ISO 14001.”

Southwark launches battery recycling tubes

Householders will soon be able to recycle batteries as they read under a pioneering new scheme in Southwark.

From early this month (December 2007), Southwark council will be placing battery collection tubes in nine of its twelve libraries for cells including standard, rechargeable, mobile phone and laptop batteries. The scheme is similar to some battery recycling trials being currently conducted by WRAP (see letsrecycle.com story) in preparation for the UK to meet targets of collection 25% of all portable batteries sold by 2012.

Gill Davies, director of environment and housing in Southwark, said: “Battery recycling has, quite rightly, become a major issue for many individuals in recent years as we all become more conscious of recycling issues. That's why we're really please to ba able to offer this new service.”