News in brief

Bus adverts see rise in WEEE recycling

DHL Supply Chain, in collaboration with the county council, started the campaign in July with two superhero-themed back-of-bus advertisements encouraging residents in the area to recycle their unwanted WEEE.

Karl Grieg, WEEE Services general manager, DHL said: We are all really excited to be involved in this campaign, something that we dont believe any other council has tried previously for WEEE.

The designs are original and eye catching and aim to bring an element of fun to the recycling of electrical goods. We hope the message reaches a new audience and we can encourage even more people to get involved in recycling in Leicestershire.

The bus campaign will run until July 2014, while 25 lower panel adverts focusing on the recycling of small WEEE ran until the end of September.

Biffa wins MOD contract

Biffa is managing refuse, recyclables and food waste from 10 Ministry of Defence sites on Englands south coast as part of a three-year contract.

Attending the sites since early 2013, Biffa has partnered with catering and services firm Compass to serve MOD sites at Marchwood, Southwick Park, Poole and Gosport, as well as Institute of Naval Medicine and Royal Navy training establishments.

Delivering a Zero Waste to Landfill strategy, Biffa has increased recycling rates across the MOD sites and converts all residual waste to refuse-derived fuel.

Welcoming the agreement, Biffa business development manager Mick Fairless said: Everyone at Biffa is thrilled to have been awarded top marks by the MOD to divert 100% waste from landfill from all of the south coast bases.

The MOD clearly takes its environmental responsibilities seriously, particularly as many of the sites have environmentally sensitive locations, and we are proud to be helping achieve excellent waste management practice.

Clugston Construction and CNIM build biomass plant

Building firm Clugston Construction is to consolidate its long-standing ties with process technology company Constructions industrielles de la Mditerrane (CNIM) following joint work on a 172,000 tonne-a-year biomass facility in Kent.

The two companies, which are currently building five energy-from-waste plants in the UK, have overseen construction of the Ridham Dock facility, which is due to start operations in spring 2015.

The MVV Umwelt facility will process municipal, commercial and industrial, as well as construction and demolition waste wood from regional sources, generating 23MW of electricity per year.

Paul Gouland, marketing director Clugston Construction, commented: Limiting environmental impact is high on our agenda and we are very excited to be working with our long standing partner on new biomass opportunities. Together with CNIM we have the opportunity and the resources to help deliver sustainable heat and electricity across the UK.

Mayor of London calls for biodiesel hub

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has called for an increase in used cooking oil capture rates, following a report published by LRS Consultancy.

Produced for the Greater London Authority (GLA), the report showed London had the highest concentration of food businesses in the UK, creating between 32 and 44 million litres of used cooking oil each year.

Stakeholders from across the supply chain also descended on City Hall for a biodiesel workshop facilitated by LRS, which evaluated Londons biodiesel industry potential. Transport for London is currently looking at biodiesel use in the Capitals bus network.

Mr Johnson said: By capturing used cooking oil right here in London and turning it into biodiesel we could provide 20% of the fuel needed to power Londons entire bus fleet, while saving more than 50,000 tonnes of CO2 and creating hundreds of new jobs.

Biogen complete Snowdon cycle challenge

A team from energy-from-waste specialist Biogen has successfully completed a combined charity cycle ride and eight mile trek up Snowdon.

Biogen, which undertook the event to raise funds for Clynnog Fawr Nursery, Playing Fields Association and Macmillan Cancer Support, took part alongside other teams involved in the construction of its 5 million Gwynedd anaerobic digestion (AD) plant near Caernarfon.

The first of three AD facilities to be built by Biogen in Wales, Prince Charles gave it a royal stamp of approval when he toured the plant in July (see letsrecycle.com story).

Commenting on the challenge, Biogen chief executive officer Richard Barker said: Im incredibly proud of everyone who took part. It was a tough challenge but we all pulled together to help one another complete it. Our aim is to raise over 5,000 for charity and Im confident well do this.