Government reviews Feed-in Tariffs to encourage AD
Announcing the review this week (February 7), the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, identified AD as one of the key technologies to be addressed, with a short study being carried out to ascertain why only two on-farm AD projects have been accredited under the FiTs scheme, rather than the six expected by this point. This is in marked contrast to the 19,854 solar PV schemes to be accredited to date. In particular, the level of tariff available for AD will be looked at to see whether it is high enough to make the technology worthwhile. The review process is expected to be completed by the end of 2011 and tariffs will remain unchanged until April 2012, unless the review reveals a need for greater urgency
Mr Huhne said: “The renewables industry is a vital piece in the green growth jigsaw and this review will provide long term certainty while making sure homes, communities and small firms are encouraged to produce their own green electricity. Large scale solar installations weren't anticipated under the FITs scheme we inherited and I'm concerned this could mean that money meant for people who want to produce their own green electricity has the potential to be directed towards large scale commercial solar projects.”
EA issues draft permit for INEOS Chlor EfW
The Environment Agency has published a draft decision to grant an environmental permit for the large-scale energy from waste facility which is being developed at chemicals company INEOS Chlor's Runcorn site as part of the Greater Manchester waste PFI deal.
The Agency has made its draft decision and permit available for public inspection and comment until March 17, after concluding that the proposals for the facility “will not cause significant harm to the environment or human health”. The plant is being developed by INEOS under a joint venture with Viridor Laing, which secured the £3.8 billion contract to manage the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority's waste in April 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story). It will act as the final destination for 275,000 tonnes a year of refuse-derived fuel delivered under the GMWDA deal, as well as potentially waste from Cheshire.
Keith Ashcroft, the Agency's area manager, said: “Although we have reached the stage where we are considering issuing a permit, our decision is not final and this last stage of consultation gives everybody the chance to see what the permit may look like, to raise any new information and check for any factual errors.”
Verdant hails Anglesey recycling success
The Isle of Anglesey county council was in second place after the first quarter of 2010/11, but then in the second quarter it narrowly pipped Denbighshire county council to claim Wales' best recycling and composting rate of 57%. In the overall year-to-date table, Denbighshire holds first place with 57.32%, followed by Anglesey with 56.96%. Verdant, which is the council's long-term waste, recycling and street cleansing contractor, attributed Anglesey's success to the introduction of food waste collections. These began in April 2009, and the third and final phase was rolled out in late 2010.
And, Verdant business manager Andy Dutton said he believed the continued impact of the food waste collections could see Anglesey top the table for 2010/11 as a whole. He said: “The island-wide waste food collection service should produce the consistent volumes of food waste that made such a difference in the second quarter,” he explained. “That should be enough to take Anglesey past Denbighshire on the final sprint to the year-end tape.”
Recycling industries welcome European raw material proposals
Organisations representing the European paper industry and metals recyclers across the continent have welcomed the role for recycling outlined in European Commission moves to tackle the challenges offered by volatile commodity markets and issues surrounding diminishing amounts of the raw materials needed by industry.
In a communication issued last week (February 2), the Commission particularly highlighted the importance of recycling more of the materials identified as “critical” to European industry. This recognition was welcomed by Frances Veys, executive director of non-ferrous metals recycling body EUROMETREC, who said: “It is important that a robust economic and technological study is conducted into the potential for recycling of each of the critical metals especially those that are used in very small quantities, for example in consumer goods in the EU, that are scrapped at their end-of-life.”
The Commission also proposed to better implement and enforce existing waste legislation, and in particular waste shipment controls and requirements for separate collection from 2015. This was well-received by the managing director of the Confederation of European Paper Industries, Teresa Presas, who said: “The European Industry must be put in a position to use the collected secondary materials, otherwise we spend money to see them exported to countries where the environmental standards are far from being met. Certifying recycling facilities for sound environmental management is an approach CEPI is happy to support”.
Recolight spreads bulb recycling message
The film, which has been created by Sam Duggan, illustrates how people can help increase recycling rates of low-energy light bulbs in their community by becoming a volunteer for the Community Bulb Recycling Alliance, or CoBRA. Under the scheme, which was jointly-launched by Recolight and CoBRA nationwide in September 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story), volunteer ‘recycling champions' take responsibility for collecting used low-energy light bulbs for recycling in their local area. They collect used light bulbs in specially designed collection containers which can be placed in community locations of their choice. The waste light bulbs are then taken to a central collection facility by the volunteers, ready for collection and responsible recycling.
Nigel Harvey, chief executive of Recolight said: “The film has been developed to show the public just how easy it is to become a volunteer – one hour a month is all that is needed. Nine out of 10 people have at least one low-energy light bulb in their home, so each volunteer is making a difference to the environment by helping to collect their community's old low-energy light bulbs.” The film can be viewed here.
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