News in Brief

The Canary Wharf Estate has achieved a recycling rate of 45% following help from market development specialists London Remade.

Canary Wharf Management Ltd, which manages the Docklands business estate that is home to a working population of 64,000 people, was working with London Remade and waste firm Bywaters to “close the recycling loop”.

Keith Allen, general services manager at Canary Wharf, explained: “We are working with a large number of our tenants across the estate to ensure that as much of their waste can be recycled as possible.”

As well as recycling waste produced at Canary Wharf, the company is encouraging businesses to buy recycled products as part of the London Remade-run Mayor's Green Procurement Code.

Markus Hertz, green procurement broker at London Remade, said Canary Wharf currently buys recycled stationary and office equipment – and on a larger scale, construction and gardening products.

Waste machinery and service provider ACM Waste Management has won a contract with a brand-new hotel near Stansted Airport.

ACM are providing waste services for the new Radisson SAS hotel near Stansted

The company pitched their services to the Radisson SAS hotel following a chance sighting of the development by one of the company's consultants flying into Stansted airport.

ACM chairman Barry Bolton said usually ACM arranges contracts with companies based on their current waste management needs, but this was the first time the company had bid to provide services for an entirely new building.

But Mr Bolton explained: “As we have a number of clients who operate hotels we took into account how we had helped each of them and created a model we could use for a brand new hotel.”

As part of its service ACM have installed a leak-proof waste compactor for general waste and a twin chamber baler for recyclable materials such as paper, card and plastic. It also implemented a programme for the collection and recycling of glass and waste cooking oil.

Cambridge city council is introducing alternate weekly recycling and waste collections for residents.

The city has a statutory target to recycle 30% of its household waste by 2005/06, but a growing population means the amount of waste generated could double by 2032, officers believe. Currently a recycling rate of 28% is being achieved.

Council officers have said moving to an alternate collection service would help achieve council efficiency targets demanded by government. It would also save money, as officers are expecting increases in the Landfill Tax to raise the council's waste bill from 2.9 million to 7.2 million by 2011/12.

It is thought that about 95 councils have now introduced collection services where recyclables are collected on alternate weeks with non-recyclable rubbish. The Cambridge system will collect green waste on alternate weeks from normal refuse.

The city's weekly kerbside collection of paper, glass and cans will continue, but officers are to add plastic bottle collections on days when green waste is collected after a residents' survey revealed overwhelming support for plastic bottle recycling.

Consultants Entec are to assist local authorities in meeting their government recycling targets after being commissioned by Defra.

The environmental and engineering consultancy will work as part of the Local Authority Support Unit, one of the eight workstreams of Defra's Waste Implementation Programme (WIP).

The Unit specialises in providing best practice guidance and is already funding 2.5 million worth of local authority recycling projects. The fund is also to provide a further 4 million of support over the next two years.

Entec is working with Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, as well as the counties of Bedfordshire, Cumbria, Dorset and Gloucestershire. The firm is also working with the districts of Fylde and Dover.

Francis Crozier, Entec's contract director said: “Local authorities need to address the challenge of improving recycling rates if they are to play their part in providing a more sustainable approach to waste management. LASU is an important part of the programme that has been put in place to help achieve this.”