News in Brief

ASDA renews Norbert Dentressangle recycling contract

The regional Service Centre network handles returnable transit packaging, card, plastic, food waste and returned goods from other 400 ASDA stories nationwide. Norbert Dentressangle was originally appointed to manage the network in 2002 and is responsible for all activities within the centres, including equipment washing, packaging waste baling and equipment sorting. The operation currently handles more than 126 million trays a year and recycling more than 170,000 tonnes-a-year of card and plastic and 30,000 tonnes-a-year of food waste. Volumes are expected to increase by between 5% and 10% with ASDAs recent integration of 147 Netto stores.

ASDAs Distribution director, Ian Stansfield, said: This new five year agreement with Norbert Dentressangle demonstrates our continued ambition to be environmentally sustainable across Distribution and the wider business. NDL have partnered ASDA in our ASC operations since 2002 and have helped us to reduce our operating cost at the same time as supporting our sustainable aspirations.

WRG submits application for High Wycombe transfer station

Waste Recycling Group (WRG) has submitted a planning application to Buckinghamshire county council to develop a waste transfer station at the High Heavens waste management complex in High Wycombe.

The facility would be one of two waste transfer stations which would serve the large-scale energy-from-waste facility at Calvert which the Northampton-based company is seeking to develop in the county to treat the county councils residual waste. WRG was confirmed as preferred bidder for that 30-year contract in February 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/councils/bucks-confirms-wrg-as-frontrunner-for-efw-deal). The other waste transfer station would be within the London Road East waste management depot, south of Amersham.

The proposed development at High Heavens would involve the construction and operation of a facility that would receive, bulk and transfer both municipal solid waste and commercial and industrial waste. The project covers various works on roads at the site, dedicated gated site access, the transfer building itself, parking, and a number of security measures, as well offices and two weighbridges.

Closed Loop to recycle plastic bottles from London Tube

Plastics recycling company Closed Loop Recycling has formed a partnership with London-based waste management company to recycling plastic bottles left on the London Underground network.

The agreement, which is supported by the Greater London Authority, means that around 500 kilogrammes a year of plastic bottles collected on the Tube and then sorted at Bywaters Bow materials recycling facility will be sent on to Closed Loop Recyclings Dagenham plastics recycling facility. Closed Loops facility has the capacity to reprocess 35,000 tonnes-a-year of mixed PET and HDPE plastic bottles, producing 11,000tpa of rPET and 6,000tpa of rHDPE a year for new food and drink packaging.

Chris Dow, managing director of Closed Loop Recycling, said: This is not only fantastic news for Closed Loop ahead of our planned expansion, its great news for Londoners who will now be able to see their used bottles being recycled virtually on their doorstep into brand new packaging by some of the UKs biggest brands. Its a big boost for British recycling.

College students produce recycling DVD for Bassetlaw

Bassetlaw district council has enlisted the skills of students from North Notts College to produce a DVD to promote the recycling message to schools and community groups.

A group of 13 Media Studies students at the college designed, scripted and produced several short animations, as well as acting out videos, all of which aim to highlight the ease and important of recycling in the Nottinghamshire local authority area, as well as the benefits to the environment. The films are aimed at children, young people and adults, and follow a similar project undertaken by students last year.

Bassetlaw district councils Portfolio holder for Environment and Leisure, Cllr Julie Leigh, said The recycling message is very important. Following on the success of a DVD produced for the Council last year by North Notts College students, it was decided to ask them to come up with messages that would reach the different audiences who can make a difference to recycling rates in the District.

Organic Recycling move ahead with expansion plans

Organic Recycling Ltd has outlined full details of plans to expand its site at Crowland in Lincolnshire by adding anaerobic digestion and a biomass boiler as part of the 16 million of the site as the Lincolnshire Energy and Recycling Park.

The site is already home to an in-vessel composting facility and a dry recycling transfer station, but the company received planning permission in April 2011 to add to this. According to Organic Recycling, combining AD and in-vessel composting with a biomass boiler, a water treatment plant, further concrete areas for windrow composting, a dry recycling facility and greenhouses means that no other site in the UK offers this range of waste technology options. The company is targeting both commercial and industrial (C&I) and local authority sources of material.

Andrew Riddington of Organic Recycling said: We are delighted that the county council has granted permission. A single location able to handle multiple waste streams will mean significant cost savings for local authorities and businesses in the region which have a variety of waste to dispose of that currently must be sent to different locations. We will now be able to handle 150,000 tonnes of waste at the 52 acre site. It also means that we will be able to produce enough power from a renewable resource for over 1,400 homes.