News in Brief

Clinical waste firm Stericycle International has been told to sell all or part of the competing business it acquired earlier this year, the Competition Commission has said.

In its final report on the acquisition of the Sterile Technologies Group, the Commission confirmed the provisional announcement made this autumn that the acquisition may have resulted in a “substantial lessening of competition” in the healthcare waste market (see letsrecycle.com story).

Initially, Stericycle will be allowed to sell the incinerators at Salford, Redditch, and its incinerator and alternative technology plant at Wrexham. The Commission will vet buyers to ensure they will compete with Stericycle. Failure by Stericycle to carry out the orders will see the Commission appointing an independent trustee to sell the business.

Bedfordshire county councillor Tom Wootton showing Bedford councillor Don Clarke how the low level containers make recycling easy

Bedfordshire county council has upgraded its civic amenity site at Barkers Lane in Bedford – to nearly twice its original size.

In a bid to push average recycling rates for such sites in the county over 60%, the facility has been made much easier to use. The county has already increased its overall household waste recycling rates to near 40%, 10 times the level seen in 1998.

Re-opening the site yesterday, Cllr Tom Wooton, he said: “Gone are the days when customers had to climb steps to recycle their household rubbish, as the new centre has low level waste containers, so you can literally drop-in and go. I hope this will encourage people to recycle even more in the future which, in turn, will reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill.

A food supply company in Oxfordshire has been ordered to pay 26,000 in fines, costs and compensation for avoiding its producer responsibility to recycle packaging waste.

Fresh Direct, based in Bicester, pleaded guilty to 10 charges related to its failure to pay for packaging recycling from 2001 to 2005. Bicester magistrates heard that the company would have saved about 19,000 by not registering with the Environment Agency or purchasing recycling evidence notes from reprocessors.

Environment Officer Sue Gebbels said: “The company has since joined an Environment Agency accredited compliance scheme and co-operated with us throughout the investigation. The money raised from compliance with this legislation goes directly to the recycling industry and the company's failure to ensure it was registered means there was less investment in the recycling industry during this period.”

Cardiff Woodwaste Recycling has invested in a new wood shredder and loading shovel

Cardiff Woodwaste Recycling has taken on a new Liebherr wheeled loading shovel and a high-speed Jenz shredder.

Owned by JayCee Rentals, the company processes between 450 and 500 tonnes of wood waste each week into woodchip for the chipboard industry and biomass energy generation. The company is now at an “advanced stage” in planning a national hire service for contract work processing all types of wood and green waste.

Commenting on the new Liebherr machine, David Watkins of JayCee Rentals said: “The Liebherr build quality is excellent, as is the product support, but one of the major influences on our buying decision was the fuel consumption – it works all week on just one tank of fuel.”

Eric Illsley MP has put forward an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons recognising the UK packaging industry's contribution to the economy, including recycling activities.

The motion was announced at a Parliamentary reception for packaging industry.

Packaging Federation chief executive Ian Dent, who is retiring at the end of the year to be replaced by the former PIFA chairman Dick Searle, said: “I am delighted that I am leaving with this parting shot for the sector, as it is the first time to my knowledge, that an EDM has been laid down in favour of, rather than against, packaging.

“It is vitally important that we do not lose this momentum and call for all manufacturers and users of packaging to get behind this EDM and encourage all of their constituency MPs to sign this EDM and secure an Adjournment Debate on the same theme,” Mr Dent added.