News in Brief

Biffa awarded packaging firm recycling contract

The Halifax-based firm, which is owned by packaging company Sonoco, turns recycled material into cardboard for use in the manufacturing of tubes and cores, and currently operates 31 plants and six paper mills throughout Europe. The deal with Biffa will cover the management of the company's non-recyclable waste in the UK. As part of the contract, it will provide Sonoco Alcore with data on the amount of waste it produces in order to allow Sonoco to take steps to reduce it.

George Farrell, site manager at Sonoco Alcore, said: “The recovered paper and cardboard we get is often contaminated with plastic film or polystyrene. And while we have a sophisticated screening process to remove this 'un-recyclable' material, the process can generate a significant amount of waste.”

Ethos signs construction waste management deal

Recycling and skip hire firm Ethos Recycling has signed a five-year deal to provide waste management services for construction company Wates Group.

Under the preferred trading agreement, the Uxbridge-based recycling firm will now cater for Wates building sites across a number of counties in the South-East of England as part of Wates' 2010 target of achieving zero non-hazardous waste to landfill. The recycling firm, which was previously known as Sweeney Environment before being rebranded in January 2007, currently boasts a 90% recycling rate of waste intake and holds the waste management contract for the newly built Terminal Five at Heathrow Airport.

Surrey construction firm Wates currently handles projects across the public, education, heritage and commercial sectors, as well as dealing in PFI.

Third sector project renamed after name clash

Third sector organisation REconomy Community Interest Company has changed its name after a legal challenge from a commercial recycling company.

The partnership between reuse and recycling organisations has been rebranded REalliance after London-based Reconomy Holdings claimed the activities of the third sector partnership could be confused with theirs. The company, which was formed to develop a presence in waste management for private equity firm Englefield, trademarked the word ‘reconomy' shortly after WRAP announced a £5 million partnership with the organisation in June to develop third sector capacity in a programme over the next three years. The newly-named REalliance said it does not have the resources to fight any dispute over the original name.

Matthew Thomson, managing director at REalliance, said: “We regret the name-change because we think supporting third sector activities is quite different from delivering recycling services and we were not in any way seeking to misrepresent our activities.”

UPM expands recovered paper procurement team

One of the largest recovered paper recycling firms in Europe, UPM, has announced that it has expanded its team to support its procurement operations within the UK.

Based at Shotton, the new team led by Craig Robinson, head of recovered paper procurement in the UK, is intended to provide customer support and service across five regions of the UK. The new additions are: Dawn Hepton (North West & North Wales), Mike Hendy (South West & South Wales), Julian Phipps (Midland and Mid Wales), Mike Burgess (North East & Scotland), and Robbie Warden (South East & East England).

Mr Robinson said: “In a challenging and changing market place, helping our customers achieve their paper recycling targets is essential. The new team offers a wealth of experience and knowledge in procurement and we aim to keep our position as the front-runner in paper recycling.”

Sheffield to seek residents view on recycling spending

Sheffield city council has launched a consultation to gauge how much residents want to spend on recycling facilities by outlining the impact it will have on their Council Tax.

Due to be launched on November 28 and run until January 30 2009, the consultation will outline four options ranging from continuing with the existing blue bin scheme to introducing a three bin system, with the additional council tax each measure would cost explained alongside it. The 230,000 questionnaires are part of plans to develop a new Waste Strategy outlining proposals to manage waste in Sheffield up until 2020, which is due to be received as a cabinet paper by May 2009.

Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, Liberal Democrat shadow cabinet member for local environment, said: “This new way of consulting will give local residents a key role in deciding how waste is collected and managed in the future. The consultation will be coming through letter boxes shortly and you can also take part on the council's website. I would urge as many people as possible to take part.”