News in brief

Insurance firm Catlin to withdraw from waste market

London-based Catlin yesterday (April 3) took the decision to withdraw from the sector with immediate effect.

The company, which had only been operating in the waste market for around five years, has said that it will no longer be seeking any new business from waste firms, although existing policies will be honoured.

Concerns were raised in late 2013 that the number of insurers willing to offer property insurance, including buildings, contents, machinery, and business interruption cover, had declined and that premiums are being pushed up.

This is largely due to a number of high profile fires that have hit the sector over the last 12 months leading firms to increase premiums for insuring waste activities, or to pull away from the sector altogether.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Colin Panzetta, senior class underwriter at Catlin, said that the firm had taken the decision not to underwrite any waste management operations further, as the sector was no longer profitable for insurance firms.

He said: It is true that we are withdrawing from the sector, a decision was made yesterday. We are not quoting for any new business but we are honouring deals that have already been made.

Mr Panzetta went on to say that the company had opted to pull out of the waste management market as it had been losing money. There are very few people that are left offering policies to the waste sector. It is a very difficult and a very unpredictable business. There have been a huge number of fires over the last 12 months that have been damaging.

Work to ensure that the waste industry is more resilient against the threat of fires in the future has been ongoing wit the Chief fire Officers Association (CFOA) currently seeking to draft a roadmap on how to best prevent fires at waste sites (see letsrecycle.com story).

Approval for Tradebe and SITA joint venture

The Competition Commission has formally cleared the completed healthcare joint venture between Tradebe Environmental Services Limited and SITA UK Limited.

The new clinical waste business, Tradebe Healthcare Holdings Limited, said that it expects the approval deal to mean there is increased competitiveness in the healthcare waste market due to improved efficiencies of the merged healthcare divisions.

Tradebe Healthcare Limited will provide nationwide services to customers requiring collection, transport, treatment and disposal of Healthcare waste, as well as ancillary services related to compliance and training.

The company will consist of 6 alternative treatment (AT) plants and 3 incineration (I) plants situated at 7 locations: Doncaster (AT), Birmingham (AT), Avonmouth (AT), Rochester (AT), Enfield (AT), Wrexham (AT and I), Salford (I) and Redditch (I). In addition, the company will operate a specialist truck depot at Sevenoaks, Kent. The combined operational capacity is between 55,000 to 65,000 tonnes of healthcare waste per annum.

Tradebe Healthcare will also have access to the incinerator based at Fawley, Hampshire (not part of the joint venture), which is licensed for treatment of healthcare waste. This will give our customers an incineration outlet for their waste on the South coast

Richard Brown Tradebe Healthcare General Manager commented: Over the past 6 months, we have closely worked with the Competition Commission to provide all the required information for their investigation. We are delighted to hear that the joint venture has been approved and strongly believe that the new joint venture will provide a strong business acting in the best interest of our customers, employees and shareholders.

Ellard steps down from Viridor board

Viridor today (April 4) announced that Howard Ellard, business development director, is stepping down from the board with immediate effect leaving him free to pursue other interests.

Mr Ellard was appointed to the post in January 2012.

Ian McAulay, chief executive, said: We thank Howard for his service and contribution to the company over nearly 20 years.

The board change comes as part of a review of the organisation of Viridor which is currently underway in line with the companys stated and developing strategic focus on transforming waste and in the delivery of its business plan.