News in Brief

Councillors in Uttlesford have decided to take waste service provision away from the private sector once the current contract ends in 2006.

The current contract, run by waste management company Verdant, is making a loss according to council officers. The contract expires at the end of July 2006.

Councillors agreed unanimously that the refuse and recycling service would be provided by staff directly employed by the council from August 1 until determined otherwise.

Although some staff will transfer to the new in-house team at the Essex district, there were concerns among the councillors that the new team would have insufficient skills to manage the operation. The council is to form a new management structure and look to other councils that run similar operations for advice.

A new waste strategy is due to be finalised by the end of December, 2005.

Oxfordshire firm Agrivert has launched a new recycled surfacing product for the construction of roads, storage areas, vehicle parks and compost sites.

Agrivert's surfacing product is made from recycled and crushed stone

The product is made from either recycled or crushed stone through a process that also uses cement produce a solid durable surface. The company said its product is best suited to areas in excess of 2,000 square metres, but can be laid quickly while slashing the cost of using traditional wet concrete.

Graham Andrews of Norfolk wood recyclers TMA Bark was one of the first companies to lay the new product, for a storage site with a 179,000 square-metre area.

He said: “The Agrivert surface has enabled us to expand our operations quickly in response to market demand – it was only 10 weeks from original contact to the area being fully operational.”

Staff at two civic amenity sites in Essex have been praised for their work by in the county council's Recycling Centre Awards.

The Maltings Lane civic amenity and recycling centre in Kirby le Soken, operated by Premier Recycling, was named “Best Site” out of the 12 sites in the north of the county. The Castle Road civic amenity and recycling centre in Rayleigh, operated by Cleanaway, came top out of the 11 sites in the south of Essex.

The award, based on monthly site inspection reports by Essex county council's site superintendents from December 2004 to May 2005, was presented to the staff by Cllr Peter Martin, cabinet member for planning, environment and culture, at a ceremony at County Hall.

Cllr Martin said: “The staff at these sites have provided an excellent service to local residents, as well as helping us towards a greener Essex.”

Wiltshire-based Thamesdown Recycling is receiving assistance from steel reprocessor Corus to expand its collection services in the south of England and the Midlands.

Corus’ Garvin Freeman and Thamesdown Recycling’s Jeremy Freeth celebrate expansion

Thamesdown Recycling has expanded its recycling operation by installing two purpose built facilities at its site in Swindon. Advice on the equipment used to upgrade its operation came from Corus Steel Packaging Recycling, Corus’ centre of expertise on steel can recycling. Corus supplied a baler to allow Thamesdown Recycling to bale steel cans after sorting.

The company already recycles approximately 3.25 million cans every month through kerbside collection schemes and bring sites, but this is expected to double with the expansion.

Garvin Freeman, recycling development representative for Corus in the south and south west region, said: “Steel cans are actually one of the easiest materials to recycle and kerbside collection schemes are having a positive impact on the volume of steel being recycled.”