News in brief

Shanks appoints Norbet Dentressangle for RDF export

With a fleet of 13.6 metre tautliner vehicles covering around 3,500 movements a year along specific routes and ports, Norbert Dentressangle uses R1-accredited incinerators, which the company says makes energy extraction more efficient.

Louis Calders, products director at Shanks, said: Shanks was one of the first to recognise the demand for low-carbon fuel from continental Europe, and therefore we have been at the forefront of fuel export industry since 2010.

As we operate in a highly regulated industry, we not only required hauliers that are reliable and cost-effective, but which had extensive experience in environmental compliance, and shared our vision for environmental sustainability and innovation. Norbert Dentressangle met this criteria in abundance.

Scrap car recycler hits milestone

End of life vehicle (ELV) reprocessor CarTakeBack.com has processed more than three million DVLA certificates of destruction (COD) since the launch of the DVLAs Certificate of Destruction (COD) scheme, it has been announced.

Following the launch of the COD scheme in 2006 CarTakeBack has also referred over 300,000 vehicles to the network through its CarTakeBack Collect and CarTakeBack Drive-In programmes.

The firm, which has launched a Win a Car competition to celebrates its milestone, now hopes to extend its partnership with vehicle manufacturers via new intiatives to help gain additional recognition of their investments.

Spokesman for CarTakeBack Graham Price said: We value our ATF relationships very highly and are working hard to ensure that we can retain and build on their trust for the challenging years ahead. The current trading conditions are in not in the ATFs favour and be it in either the compliance or the referral fields we are researching and seeking new ways to improve our offerings to them.

Biffa name change to highlight resource sustainability

Biffa Integrated Waste Management (IWM) is to become Biffa Integrated Resource Management (IRM) to reflect its obligation to promote resource efficiency and reduce the amount of waste it sends to landfill.

Explaining the switch, IRM general manager Robin Chambers said: Although Biffa started out as a waste collection and disposal company, we are now helping customers get to grips with their resource management practices and eliminate waste altogether.

Biffa Integrated Resource Management takes the approach that if a company is paying to have waste removed it will most likely benefit from some leaner business thinking.

The waste contractor, which provides both commercial and industrial and household refuse services, also advocated Zero Waste Week. Biffa IRM said it was encouraging the drive for waste minimisation was happening without the need for strong government leadership.

EPRO launches recycled plastics competition

A contest to raise awareness of the value and versatility of used plastics is underway for a fourth year running.

The European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations (EPRO) Best Recycled Plastic Product 2013 competition aims to boost recognition of the material as a resource rather than waste, by showcasing a range of marketable products for B2B and consumer markets.

Launched in conjunction with supporting organisations, including PlasticsEurope, EUPR, EUPC, and ACR+, the product entry needs to contain a substantial percentage of post-consumer and post-industrial plastics.

The 2012 winners were Curer with Ecolife Neo (pictured) and Filatura di Saluzzo with Newlife. The deadline for entry is September 20.

EPRO director and Recoup chief executive officer Stuart Foster said: This year for the first time, not only products made of recycled plastics from packaging can compete, as it is now open to all products made of all recycled used plastics.

FCC Environment unveils new online service

Waste and resource management firm FCC Environment has launched a service allowing organisations to research, book and pay for recycling and waste collections online.

The web tool is the firms latest bid to promote its Business Waste Solutions services and develop a plan that will allow value to be extracted from waste produced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), via recycling or energy generation.

Kristian Dales, director of sales and marketing at FCC Environment, welcomed the move as an easy solution for customers to access recycling services.

Hesaid: We know that businesses and SMEs in particular are very keen to make their operations more environmentally sustainable but can find it difficult to locate convenient and cost-effective recycling services.

This investment in the front end of our operation is matched with investment in new infrastructure which combine to demonstrate our commitment to providing high quality recycling facilities to our customers.

Skip supplier completes charity skip pull

A skip truck pull for charity was branded a success by Scottish skip supplier Recycle Fife today.

The strongman challenge, which involved the pulling of skip trucks at Glenrothes airfield yesterday (September 15), raised money for the Transplant Endowment Fund, as well as a trust fund for the one-year-old son of volunteer John Dempster.

Known affectionately to his friends as Rev, Mr Dempster was tragically killed in a collision on a rural Fife road last month.

Recycle Fife operations director Frankie Hodge told letsrecycle.com: Apart from the rain we still had a good turnout of about 500 people. We did have sponsorship for a sky dive but this has been postponed due to the weather. However, it will still go ahead.

Recycle Fife is a skip hire service in Lochgelly, Fife. The total amount raised by the events has yet to be announced.