Bulky Bob wins Liverpool contract extension
Bulky Bob, which is based in Brunswick Dock in the south of the city, has been collecting bulky material in Liverpool since 2000 and the award of the six-year contract means it will continue to collect a wide range of bulky household waste from Liverpool homes for free, with collections booked through Liverpool Direct. Bulky Bob aims to reuse or recycle over 60% of the weight of everything collected and is now working with Liverpool city council's Children's Services department to help families in crisis access urgently-needed furniture for free.
Commenting on the contract, Shaun Doran, chief executive at Bulky Bob, said: “Even though we knew we had done an excellent job over the past nine years collecting, reusing and recycling Liverpool's bulky household waste and have won a number of national awards, we were not complacent and knew we had to pull out all the stops to make sure we were successful.”
Name change for London Community Recycling Network
The London Community Recycling Network has said it hopes to show a change in the organisation's focus by renaming itself the London Community Resource Network (LCRN).
The change in name is intended to represent that the LCRN is now “working beyond waste” and will see the third sector organisation continue to work with communities and businesses but looking more at resource sustainability. The not-for-profit LCRN explained that its work was focussed on actions such as extending the life of things, doing more with less and preventing and avoiding waste, and bringing people together to do this, as it looks to help tackle the 20 million tonnes of resources disposed of annually in the capital.
Matthew Thomson, chief executive of the LCRN, said: “We must all take stock of London's use of resources in order to build a sustainable future for our city. We believe that London can dramatically reduce the amount of waste it produces, increase the amount of resources it reuses and recycles and redistribute goods more fairly.”
Rhondda unveils plans for zero waste village
The aim of the project, which is set to start on October 24, is to ensure that 95% of residents recycle both dry recyclables and food waste and it will also see the council work with businesses and clubs to ensure they recycle bottles and cans, food outlets recycle their food waste and convenience stores ban giving out plastic carrier bags. The initiative is also set to include a crackdown on fly-tipping and littering and ensure that all dog owners are signed up to a good owners guide. The project is aimed at helping and supporting the efforts and improvements already made in Glyncoch and to ensure a step change approach to the area becoming a zero waste village within 18 months.
Councillor Anthony Christopher, deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for frontline services, said: “The decision to turn Glyncoch into a zero waste village is our most ambitious to date but I'm confident that with the support of each and every resident and business, along with the excellent work of our council staff, we can aspire to make this a reality.”
Viridor installs seven TiTech systems at Ford MRF
Waste management company Viridor has installed seven TiTech sorting systems at its £6.6 million materials recycling facility at Ford in West Sussex.
The Taunton-based firm, which signed a £500 million, 25-year waste management deal with West Sussex in 2004, has developed the highly-automated facility to sort 100,000 tonnes of household material each year. Technology provider TiTech installed equipment which checks paper and mixed polymers for contaminants using four systems after it has passed through the pre-sorting stages of the MRF. The machines remove plastics from the paper line, redirecting these materials for further sorting, while three further TiTech systems are dedicated to sorting the resulting polymer fractions, which are currently programmed to isolate clear and coloured PET and clear and coloured HDPE.
Benjamin Eule, project manager for Viridor, said: “The new MRF in West Sussex has been designed to optimise the quality and quantity of the materials we are recovering from the municipal waste stream. The TiTech systems are a critical part of this process and enable us to achieve much better recovery rates than we ever could using manual checking.”
NLWA kicks off MRF sorting contracts
The two contracts, which were launched this month and are set to run until December 2014, will see the two companies handle 40,000 tonnes of dry recyclable material a year each and allows the NLWA to offer collection of mixed plastics – including yoghurt pots and margarine tubs and plastic bags, shredded paper and waxed cartons for the first time. The contracts, which were officially announced in July (see letsrecycle.com story), will see material sorted by Bywaters at its Bromley-by-Bow MRF, while Greenstar intends to bulk material at its Edmonton site before sending it to its 'super-MRF' at Aldridge in the West Midlands for sorting.
Councillor Clyde Loakes, chair of the NLWA, said: “In the current climate getting the best value solution for managing waste has to be a priority and we are delighted that through these contracts we have been able to achieve this. We look forward to working with Greenstar and Bywaters over coming years as we work towards achieving our targets for a more sustainable north London.”
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