1. Shanks sells Foronex wood trading

Waste management company Shanks Group plc, has announced that it has sold its Foronex wood trading business in Belgium and will rebrand its remaining core wood manufacturing activities in the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) as ‘Shanks Wood Products’.

The Foronex business, acquired by Shanks in 2008, comprised a transport business, a wood trading business and a wood dust manufacturing facility.

The sale of the non-core wood trading business to New Royalspan BVBA will reportedly allow Shanks to focus on manufacturing operations that fit with its strategy of “making more from waste”.

The 50 employees and some of the associated transport activities have now been transferred from Shanks.

Michael van Hulst, Managing Director of Solid Waste Benelux Division, said: “We are pleased to focus our activities in this area on making more from waste wood, whilst also realizing some value for our non-core wood trading business”.

Read more about Shanks plc.

2. Project Dirt partners with Crowdfunder

Project funding platform, Crowdfunder, has teamed up with green community network Project Dirt to help fund environmental projects.

The partnership aims to educate Project Dirt’s members on how they can use crowdfunding to raise between £1,000 and £50,000 for local projects.

A new fundraising 'widget' will provide a summary of the projects fundraising activity and progress against their target.

Nick Gardner, co-founder of Project Dirt, said: “We're really excited about this partnership with Crowdfunder and the opportunities it provides for hundreds of great community projects within our network. Project Dirt has always sought to innovate in the field of supporting environmental activity, and this partnership allows us to bring in specialist functionality to our existing platform in an easy and accessible format.”

Phil Geraghty, Crowdfunder MD, added: “Crowdfunding is a crucial tool in making a better future. By combining our efforts with Project Dirt we will be able to reach even more great local green projects all over the UK and help them raise the funds they need to change the world around them.”

Read more about Crowdfunder.

3. Lord de Mauley visits Continuum Recycling

(L-R) Jonathan Short, Managing Director of ECO Plastics; Lord De Mauley, Under Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and Nick Brown, Associate Director of Recycling Coca-Cola Enterprises GB at Continuum Recycling the recycled-PET joint venture between Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) and ECO Plastics

Continuum Recycling, the recycled-PET joint venture between Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) and ECO Plastics, has marked its first anniversary with the announcement that it has sorted half a billion bottles since its opening in May 2012.

To mark the anniversary, Continuum invited Resources Minister Lord de Mauley, to a tour of the facility.

Located on the site of ECO Plastics’ existing facility in Hemswell, Lincolnshire, the site reportedly processes around 50 per cent of all the plastic bottles collected in the UK.

Lord de Mauley commented: “Continuum has shown the real benefits of recycling. It has helped to cut down on waste and brought millions of plastic bottles back into use, which would have otherwise been sent to landfill.”

Read more about Continuum Recycling.

4. Manchester projects win Community Waste Fund

Eight community projects across Greater Manchester have received a part of the £70,000 2013 Community Waste Fund to help the region reduce, re-use and recycle.

The winning projects were:

• The ‘Kashmir Youth Project’ that encourages volunteers to become recycling ‘champions’ for areas with low rcycling levels;
• The ‘Taste Not Waste’ project in Stockport that offers cooking related activities to help reduce the amount of food thrown away;
• The Oldham Pakistani Community Centre that trains ‘Community Environmental Leaders’ to ‘reduce waste, improve recycling rates and recycle right’ in the East Oldham community;
• The ‘Waste Not Want Not’ project in Tameside that delivers community based activities to promote the reuse of excess and surplus fruit;
• The Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Ltd that collects unwanted, surplus paint for sale to tenants;
• The ‘Denton Refurb Limited’ scheme in Tameside which refurbishes donated furniture for use in social housing;
• The City South Manchester Housing Trust that promotes the take up of energy saving options; and
• The Coverdale and Newbank Community Association that redurbishes bikes for reusein the community.

Councillor Neil Swannick, Chair of Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) said: “This is the third year of the community waste fund and there is an interesting and diverse range of projects starting up. Through involving and supporting communities to increase local recycling and reduce waste will help achieve the aim of zero waste to landfill.”

Read more about the winning projects.

5. Straight plc in four-year YPO agreement

Bin manufacturer Straight plc has secured a position on a new four-year framework agreement with YPO, to supply a range of plastic wheeled bins from 140 to 1100 litre capacity. This adds to its three other YPO agreements, which include the supply of metal wheeled bins, recycling containers and compostable liners as well as plastic wheeled bins.

The new contract will cover YPO customers including schools, colleges and local government departments and is estimated to be worth up to £60 million across a total of six suppliers on the framework. It replaces a previous framework agreement for wheeled bins which has now expired.

Helen Wardman, Category Manager at YPO said: “Having worked with Straight for a number of years, we know first-hand that it enables us to deliver real savings to our customers combined with a high level of customer service and an exceptional quality standard. I am therefore delighted to continue our relationship and look forward to continuing to work together in the future.”

Straight has also announced that it has refinanced its existing facilities in a three-year financing agreement, that will ‘expand working capital facilities to fund future growth’.

Read more about Straight plc.

6. Lincolnshire sees 'first' in waste data management

Open Sky has customised a Waste Data Management Solution (WDMS) for Lincolnshire County Council (LCC), which reportedly represents a ‘first’ for waste disposal authorities.

By combining the ‘real time handling of stock, combining all waste information in one central location, integrating with all financial information and rationalising the WasteDataFlow process’, the system has reportedly eliminated the need for 80,000 tipping permits, recycling credit claims and invoices from 17 contractors. It has also eliminated the need for confirmation and re-confirmation of information between the disposal and collection authorities, reducing administrative and ICT infrastructure costs.

LCC asked Open Sky to design a customised WDM to replace its previous IT and invoice system that had been criticised for being prone to error, was deemed too labour intensive and failed to provide the ‘timely data on the movement of waste’.

Dave Pennington, LCC Special Projects Officer, said: “With Open Sky’s system, we will realise savings by rationalising the DEFRA WasteDataFlow reporting process, instigating new financial processes, and by being able to modernise the way we handle all our waste information.”

Read more about Open Sky.