 Gateshead councillor Ian Mearns and local resident Gillian Osborn try out the new recycling bins for flats |
Gateshead council has started to roll out a new recycling service to 3,300 flats under a new drive to divert more waste from landfill.
The local authority is placing six black recycling bins outside all Gateshead Housing Company and privately owned flats and issuing residents with blue recycling bags for their homes. Currently, flat dwellers have only been able to recycle through taking their recyclables to local household waste recycling centres.
Councillor Ian Mearns, deputy leader of Gateshead council, said: “It is a challenge to every local authority to collect recyclable material from high rise buildings. But the pilot scheme we've been running has exceeded our expectations thanks to the commitment of the people that live in those properties involved.”
North Dorset Prison to build food waste plant
Community recycling group Otter Rotters has agreed to let a North Dorset prison replicate its innovative kitchen waste processing facility.
The group, which is currently trialling a process to turn domestic kitchen waste into compost and methane at Combe Raleigh, has agreed with technology provider Bioplex to let Guys Marsh Prison and Young Offenders Institution build its own plant.
Chris Reynell, Bioplex director, said: “The community sector is fulfilling a valuable role creating opportunities at the local level. Bioplex and Otter Rotters have created a design which meets a real need in the commercial and services sector. We envisage this new facility as the first of many to be installed around the country.”
Uttlesford buys food collection vehicles
 Uttlesford council has spent 1.8 million on new vehicles for its new collection service |
Uttlesford district council has bought a new fleet of Dennis Eagle waste and recycling vehicles to support its new three-bin recycling scheme.
The local authority, which is currently rolling out alternate weekly collections of recycling and residual waste alongside weekly collections of food waste, has chosen 16 Phoenix vehicles with Terberg bin lifts. These include eight smaller vehicles for food waste which have sumps to collect moisture from the food.
A spokesman for Dennis Eagle said: “This is the perfect example of the traditional general compaction body being used to support what is a forward thinking waste and recycling initiative. We are confident that both vehicle specifications will prove instrumental in helping Uttlesford district council achieve its overall aim of increasing its recycling targets without increasing the overall amount of waste it collects.”
WRAP launches construction material recycling trials
The Waste and Resources Action Programme and Axion Recycling have launched six-month trials to encourage builders to recycle their construction waste and reduce materials sent to landfill.
Builders in Manchester, Peterborough and Lymm are being asked to segregate their waste by material type and recycle it by either dropping it at a waste transfer station, or having it collected in skips or bags.
Liz Morrish, WRAP's small and medium-sized business recycling programme manager, said: “These trials aim to establish whether this is a more convenient and cost effective way for smaller businesses to deal with their waste and to make recycling happen. Findings from the six-month project will help shape a good practise model that can be used by other businesses around the UK.”
Humber waste exchange launched on the web
 L-R: Dr David Calvert of the University of Hull, Terry Lander from the Humber Resource Efficiency Centre and Mike Woodman from the Bradford Environment Trust |
An online waste exchange to allow businesses and community groups around the Humber to advertise material they do not want has been launched by the University of Hull and the Bradford Environment Trust.
The free www. whywaste.org.uk
site, which is supported by Yorkshire Forward, requires members to register online and list their location and materials. Buyers and sellers can then simply make the relevant contacts themselves and agree collection and price.
Dr David Calvert, commercial manager at the University of Hull's Environmental Technologies Centre for Industrial Collaboration, said: “One company's waste is another company's raw materials, so this service will being substantial benefits to business, whilst making a real contribution to increasing waste recycling and re-use across Yorkshire and the Humber and beyond.”
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