Northants hands Enterprise HWRC contract
The contract is set to commence on April 1 2010 and is intended to cover the 10 centres in the county. Enterprise has stated that it intends to revise and enhance site layouts under the first year of the contract as well as redeveloping sites over the operational life of the deal to take into account population growth. This will include general infrastructure changes at sites and the upgrading of four single level sites to split level along with the addition of multi-lane off-loading at Towcester, Wellingborough, Ecton and Corby.
Councillor Heather Smith, county council cabinet member for environment, growth and transport, said: “Carrying on putting the same amount of waste in landfill really isn't an option for us as not only is this disastrous environmentally, but because of new legislation, is becoming increasingly expensive. We're confident that this new contract is the best one to take us forward to meet the challenges that lie ahead and bring about more recycling in Northamptonshire.”
First ‘on-the-go' recycle zone launched in Glasgow
Located in the St. Enoch Centre shopping mall, which recently underwent the first phase of its £100 million redevelopment, the Recycle Zone will allow the public to deposit cans, plastic bottles, paper and general waste for recycling. The project has been underway with government support in England since May 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story) and is a partnership between Coca-Cola Enterprises and the Waste & Resources Action Programme, with WRAP Scotland being involved in the St Enoch project.
Mr Lochhead said: “The beginning of a new year is a good time for the public to adopt a new commitment to our environment by recycling more. This new initiative is exactly what will help make Glasgow a cleaner and greener city.”
Dorset unveils plans for £2m Swanage recycling centre
Dorset county council has submitted a planning application to develop a £2 million recycling centre for household and trade waste at Prospect Business Park in Swanage.
The application follows a public consultation held at the end of 2009 and would enable residents and local businesses to recycle their waste at the proposed Victoria Avenue site. The new household recycling centre will replace the existing smaller site located at Panorama Road, with an extension of the planning permission on this site having been granted to allow the household recycling centre to remain open while the new facility is being built.
Dorset county council cabinet member for the environment, Hilary Cox, said: “We are currently working with our contractors to allow small to medium sized businesses in and around Swanage to recycle their trade waste at the proposed site. If the planning application is successful, this will be one of the first household recycling centres in the county to do so.”
Volvo delivers eight excavators to GMWDA HWRCs
All eight of the machines have been equipped with hydraulically elevating high rise cabs, solid tyres and a range of end attachments to cater for the requirements at each site. This includes rotating selector grapples for picking and sorting misplaced materials; compaction plates and ditch buckets for compacting materials in the skips and a bespoke hook attachment for manoeuvring the ‘rollonoff' skips on site in the absence of road going vehicles. Viridor trialled the machines and received the first four excavators in 2008 before receiving the rest in the fourth quarter of 2009.
“It was imperative we trialled the machine and canvassed input from our site operators to be able to make an objective selection,” commented operations manager Patrick Killeen. “And in our opinion, the Volvo EW160C met all of the criteria we set regarding low emissions, low fuel consumption, reliability and operator acceptance. It certainly ticked all of the required boxes and more.”
Veolia launches Southwark ‘give-and-take' days
Waste management firm Veolia Environmental Services is looking to help cut the amount of unwanted items gathered over the festive period with a free ‘Give and Take' day in Southwark.
The initiative is set to take place at Charles Dickens School on January 16 2010 and will see residents able to exchange items, such as old electrical goods, furniture, clothing or other items as long as they are in good conditions. ‘Give and Take' days are organised throughout the year by Veolia on behalf of Southwark council.
The waste firm operates waste management and recycling services for the London council under a 25-year waste PFI deal. And, in September 2009, Veolia was given planning permission by the council to develop a 87,000 tonnes-a-year capacity mechanical biological treatment plant on the Old Kent Road (see letsrecycle.com story).
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