News in Brief

Professor Mike Preston from Leicestershire council and Oadby councillor Michael Griffiths hold up Christmas trees at the revamped Oadby recycling site

Leicestershire county council has unveiled its Oadby household waste recycling centre after a 1.35 million makeover.

The site, which has been enlarged to take new waste streams such as TVs, monitors and household batteries, has also been designed on a split level with no steps or gantries. Christmas trees, glass bottles, drinks cans and other items left over from Christmas are also accepted.

Professor Mike Preston, Leicestershire's cabinet member for waste management, said: “We are delighted to have been able to work closely with Oadby and the district borough council, as the adjacent owners, in order to enlarge the site.”

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This is an excellent time of year for people to make a New Year's resolutions to recycle more, and start by bringing their Christmas tree and Christmas cards down to the Oadby site.”

New Zealand company VCU Technology is to move the production base for its in-vessel composting technology to the UK.

The company's European subsidiary, VCU Europa, has signed a deal with Lincolnshire equipment manufacturer Tong Peal to handle all European manufacturing of its Vertical Composting Unit system – which is accredited to the Animal By-Products Regulations.

Tony Gledhill, VCU technology chairman, said: “As part of the relocation of the VCU Technology head office from New Zealand to the UK, and due to the fact that our main business activities are currently in the UK and Europe, it makes commercial sense to move our production base to the UK as well.”

Gary Giddings, recycling driver at Dacorum council, poses with a caricature encouraging people to compost their organic waste

Crew caricatures spread recycling

A Hertfordshire council is pioneering a new campaign to spark interest in recycling – by painting caricatures of crew members on the side of its recycling and refuse fleet.

Dacorum borough council has introduced 25 bright yellow vehicles with cartoon-like characters of waste operatives to advertise materials which can be recycled and empower its staff. The trucks are accompanied by similar billboards.

David Austin, waste services manager said: “Our crew members are the focal point of our campaign because they are the ambassadors of the service. Our residents identify the service with the crew that pick up their refuse and recycling and so it is important to empower the staff to take ownership of the service.”

A new website has been launched to help businesses comply with legislation governing hazardous waste.

The website, www.BeCompliant.co.uk , will enable users to manage their waste records, view waste movement data and create reports for management and financial control. There are also comprehensive checklists which log business' overall progress and compliance rating.

Phil Orford, of BeCompliant, said: “This website is designed to help users take control of their waste management process. In doing so, they are better able to manage their disposal costs, compliance with legislation and importantly, minimise the risk of fines, prosecutions and environmental incidents.”

The London Borough of Greenwich has started to use a bin lift capable of running off the battery of refuse and recycling vehicles for its pilot green waste collection scheme.

A Greenwich waste operative shows off the new Ecoprocess binlift

The “Isbjorn” bin lift, from Icelandic company Ecoprocess, claims to reduce emissions but cutting fuel consumption and reduce noise disturbance to residents. It also contains health and safety features to protect operatives and pedestrians, such as padded safety barriers in the operating zone.

Councillor Rajwant Sidhu, Greenwich council's cabinet member for a greener Greenwich, said: “Health and safety is an important issue for us and we regularly carry out risk assessments and remind crews that they must keep out of the way of the lifts when they are moving. I hope that the additionally safety features will help our crews to continue in their work.”