Verdant handed three-year contract by East Lothian
The contract, which has the option to be extended up to seven years, will see Verdant build on the work of R U Recycling, which was awarded the contract in 2005 before being absorbed in 2007 by Verdant's parent company Greenstar UK. A partnership of R U Recycling and Verdant has carried out the contract since 2007 and helped boost the Scottish local authority's recycling rate to 40.9% in 2010. Verdant will tip the collected dry recyclables at the council's Kinwegar transfer station for onward transportation to Verdant's reprocessing partners.
East Lothian's environment spokesman, cabinet member councillor Barry Turner, said: “Verdant's experience in delivering recycling services and its commitment to improving these has helped us achieve our current recycling rate of 40%. We will continue to work with Verdant to further develop our multi-material collection services which will play an important part in achieving our next recycling target of 50% by 2013.”
South Wales public-private partnership targets mattress recycling
Since launching the scheme this week (August 11), the partnership has already recovered 200 mattresses from the University of Glamorgan, which is refurbishing its Treforest campus. And, the council is now turning its attentions to residents' needs and is urging people to make use of the opportunity to recycle old mattresses. Mattresses can be taken to the council's community recycling centres, which are then taken to the Amgen Cymru facility in Bryn Pica, Llwydcoed to be stripped and recycled.
Commenting on the service, councillor Anthony Christopher, deputy leader and cabinet member for frontline service, said: “We continually strive to recycle more waste in Rhondda Cynon Taf and reduce the amount being sent to landfill. This service is another example of the first-class work being undertaken by our Streetcare Team to reinforce our aims.”
Poots gives backing to NI furniture reuse project
Northern Irish environment minister Edwin Poots has commended the efforts of a furniture reuse scheme helping residents in Lisburn.
Mr Poots visited Voluntary Services Lisburn (VSL) earlier this week to see the work that the community group does to collect and restore unwanted furniture, which it then sells at its showroom at Haslem's Lane in the city. It is estimated that an additional 30% of household bulky waste currently deposited through council collections and Household Waste Recycling Centres in Northern Ireland each year could be reused. During the tour of the VSL workshop, the minister met with employees, all of whom were previously long term unemployed, and saw at firsthand how the furniture is being restored.
Mr Poots said: “VSL is an excellent example of how we need to rethink waste as a valuable resource – not something to be buried in the ground. We have increasingly stringent targets to meet in order to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill. Every one of us has a vested interest in this because if we fail to meet these targets we will face heavy fines that will be passed on to the ratepayer.”
Tesco and Waitrose sign biomethane-fuel deals with Gasrec
Tesco has commissioned 25 Iveco EcoDaily light commercial vehicles fuelled by liquid biomethane for its online grocery shopping and delivery service tesco.com. If the vehicles prove successful, then Tesco has said it will consider rolling out Gasrec biomethane-powered vehicles across more of its Tesco.com fleet. The first vehicles will come into use this month, with drivers being trained and familiarised with the fuel before use.
Meanwhile, Waitrose is using liquid biomethane to fuel five delivery vehicles within central London. The retailer – which is a member of the John Lewis Partnership – will be using the fuel for five of its Mercedes Sprinters and make use of an existing Gasrec-run refueling facility at Camden in North London.
One-day event on health and safety in organics sector
The Association for Organics Recycling (AfOR) in conjunction with Eco Sustainable Solutions will be holding a one-day interactive workshop on health and safety in the organics sector on September 28.
The event, which is taking place at Parley Manor House at Christchurch in Dorset, will involve delegates hearing from nationally recognised experts who have particular experience in relation to issues affecting biowaste sites such as occupational health and bioaerosols, traffic management, risk assessments and working with machines. After lunch, groups will be transported to Eco Sustainable Solutions' fifteen acre resource recovery and composting facility. This guided site tour will enable delegates to view a working site in operation.
For information on attending the event, and a breakdown of the entire programme for the day, please visit the dedicated event website or contact Leah at AfOR, or 0207 633 4522.
Register for free to comment