News in Brief

Norfolk launches cooking oil recycling scheme

The county council has placed bright yellow collection containers at 18 recycling centres, so residents can dispose of their waste cooking oil. This will be collected by Norfolk company Living Fuels, who will convert it into biofuel.

Norfolk County Council recycling officer Dan Jacobs said: “Although most homes individually don't generate large amounts of used cooking oil, the wider environmental benefits of collecting this waste county-wide are huge.

Viridor to submit Scottish EfW planning application

Viridor Waste Management's plan for an energy-from-waste facility in East Lothian – capable of processing up to 450,000 tonnes of waste each year – is to be submitted to the local planning authority in the New Year.

East Lothian council is expected to receive the proposal for the plant on Oxwellmains landfill, Dunbar, on January 7, now that a period of public consultation with the community has ended. The energy-from-waste Combined Heat and Power plant will supply the national grid with around 34 Megawatts of power.

Viridor's external affairs manager Dan Cooke said: “All local authorities in Scotland have to meet demanding European targets for reducing the amount of waste they send to landfill under the 2002 Landfill Directive. The use of EfW combined with maximum practical levels of recycling and composting is an essential element to help Scotland move towards improved resource efficiency and better waste management.”

Welsh minister lends to support to waste campaign

Jane Davidson went to Ysgol y Berllan Deg school Wales, where she was shown round by Mari-Ann Bull, 7, who stars in the campaign. Waste Awareness Wales aims to link waste reduction, reuse and recycling to tackling tackle climate change.

Ms Davidson said: “As a nation we are using three planets worth of the earth's resources so it is essential that we all recycle more. Waste reduction is key to fighting climate change. Reducing waste at source, and increasing the proportion that is recycled, is good for the planet and it's good for Wales”

West Sussex backs London's bid to ban throwaway bags

West Sussex county council has backed a bid by councils in the capital to reduce the number of free throwaway bags handed out by retailers.

London Councils is seeking legal powers to impose either a levy or a ban the bags and West Sussex, which fears its landfills will be inundated with rubbish from the capital, is lending its support to this move.

Councillor John de Mierre, the county's cabinet member for strategic planning, said: “West Sussex County Council supports all efforts and initiatives to reduce the amount of waste being generated and hopes London's councils can find a way to cut down the number of bags going to landfill. This is particularly crucial to West Sussex because an Independent Panel has endorsed a proposal by the South East England Regional Assembly that we take up to 10 per cent of London's waste exported to the South East, which will have to be landfilled.

“Quality” compost to be used on golf course development

Around 15,000 tonnes of “quality” compost will be used to construct six fairways of a golf course in Scotland.

The course in Polkemmet, West Lothian, on a former colliery, will use compost which has been accredited with the PAS (Publicly Available Standard) 100 standard, indicating it has reached a specific quality standard. Ecosse Regeneration, which owns the site teamed up with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) for the project.

Ecosse Regeneration project manager Alex Muirhead said: ” We wanted to regenerate the site in a cost effective and sustainable way so we initially trialled quality compost mixed with colliery shale to manufacture topsoil on a small section of the site. Compost provides an excellent balance of water and nutrient retention properties when mixed with screened colliery shale and we were pleased with the results from the original trial, which showed rapid and uniform establishment of turf grasses without weed problems.”