News in Brief

Hertfordshire WEEE drive yields 57 tonnes of e-waste

The campaign was hosted by the European Recycling Platform (ERP) compliance scheme, Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership (HWP) and was held at County Hall in Hertford. Over 30% of schools in Hertfordshire took part in the initiative, as did the University of Hertfordshire. The e-waste collected, including keyboards, printers, scanners, mobile phones, DVD players, kettles and toasters, was sent for recycling to Kent-based WEEE reprocessor SWEEEP Kuusakoski. Recycling and disposal services were provided courtesy of Apple.

Commenting after the event, which was held last month, Scott Butler, managing director at ERP, said: Recycling your unwanted electricals keeps them out of landfill, saves energy and allows the valuable materials in them to be used to make new products. I hope our event raised awareness among the local community and employees that all electrical waste can be recycled.

Broxborne to expand flats recycling scheme

Broxborne borough council has unveiled plans to expand its flats recycling scheme to a further 130 blocks of flats this year, serving 1,300 individual flats in total.

The Hertfordshire local authority introduced a pilot scheme for selected flats in Cheshunt in 2009. Since its introduction the pilot has yielded more than 10 tonnes of material and the council estimates that, if the facilities being used in the trial were rolled out to all flats without a recycling service, an additional 470 tonnes of material could be recycled every year. The facilities provide residents with a secure area for recycling paper, mixed glass, plastic bottles and cans.

In a statement, the council said: Expansion of the scheme will coincide with a new kerbside recycling service to be introduced across the Borough in August. The scheme will not only increase the amount of material recycled by residents living in flats, but will also allow the Council to reduce the number of vehicles needed to collect recycling from around the Borough. This will make the kerbside recycling service more efficient and reduce the Councils carbon footprint.

Waitrose and Centriforce join forces for walkway project

Waitrose and plastics recycling company Centriforce have joined forces to build and install a walkway near to the retailers headquarters at Bracknell in Berkshire, utilising plastic waste collected from its nearby distribution centres.

Liverpool-based Centriforce collects plastic waste from Waitrose distribution centres and reprocesses it into new plastic products. These include 1,750 plastic planks which were manufactured from 20 tonnes of HDPE waste and then used to create the walkway, which runs through a 4.5 acre woodland next to the retailers HQ and was laid with the involvement of its staff, or partners. The 268 metre-long and 1.2 metre wide raised boardwalk will enable the Waitrose headquarters 2,400 office and warehouse workers to enjoy year-round strolls in safety and comfort. Further work is planned to clear the woodland and build platform areas with seating for picnics or meetings.

Mike Walters, Waitrose operations director for waste and recycling, said: Plastics waste, including warehousing film and Waitrose Bags for Life, is routinely collected by Centriforce from our Bracknell and Aylesford distribution centres. Using recycled plastic products is one means by which we can come closer to being a truly sustainable business. We are working closely with Centriforce to retain ownership of our waste by identifying and developing useful recycled products that we can use in our stores and distribution centres.

Lord Smith re-appointed as Environment Agency chair

Lord Chris Smith of Finsbury has been re-appointed as chair of the Environment Agency, the body responsible for regulating the waste industry in England and Wales.

The appointment, which was made by environment secretary Caroline Spelman, means that Lord Smith, who was appointed Chairman on July 14 2008, will now continue in his role until July 13 2014. During his time as chair, Lord Smith who as a Labour MP was shadow environment minister has been particularly outspoken about the need to tackle illegal exports of waste electrical and electronic equipment from the UK and Europe to West Africa, last year calling for a cross-Europe initiative to tackle the issue (see letsrecycle.com story).

His re-appointment was accompanied by that of Dr Andrew Brown as deputy chair of the Agency. Dr Brown will hold the post until the end of his term as an EA Board Member on October 9 2012, having originally been appointed as an EA Board Member on October 10 2006 and appointed Deputy Chair on July 1 2009.

Consultation plans announced for BDR waste facility

The next stage of a 750 million project to develop new waste treatment infrastructure for the Barnsley Doncaster Rotherham Waste Partnership has been announced, with plans for the facility intended to deliver the contract being put on public show later this month.

Public exhibitions will be held on July 15, 16 and 23 to give householders a chance to view the proposals, which have been made by the preferred bidder for the councils waste contract, the 3SE consortium. The consortium, which brings together Shanks and Scottish & Southern Energy, was named as the frontrunner for the 25-year deal in April 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story). It is proposing to build a 265,000 tonne-a-year capacity facility on Bolton Road in Manvers, Rotherham, involving mechanical biological treatment and anaerobic digestion technology.

Stephen Ray, a spokesman for Shanks, said: “Once operational, this facility will enable us to deal effectively with the councils residual waste while creating energy and re-using materials that would otherwise go to landfill. Burying waste in holes in the ground is no longer sustainable, as it produces methane which is 21 times more harmful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. There are also increasing financial penalties for councils which fail to meet tough new targets for reducing landfill and these costs would have to be borne by council taxpayers.”