1. Online tool for assessing waste-based products

A new online tool has been launched that aims to help ensure the quality of products made from waste. Run by the EA and the EU’s LIFE+ scheme (and launched at this week’s RWM exhibition in Birmingham), EQual is a ‘Quality Protocol (QP) Checker for aggregates and compost.’

The tool will allow firms to assess whether products from particular waste types meet End-of-Waste criteria, and will highlight areas for improvement. It will also be of use to regulatory enforcement officers assessing standards of production.

Gary Nelson, Director of environmental consultancy Abricon, said: "[A]ny decision tool that provides guidance for the sector and Agency officers has to be applauded. The greatest benefits, though, will be the fact that it is readily available online and the consistency of approach to compliance."

Although its use is currently limited to aggregates and compost, it is hoped that EQual will be developed for other QP streams, including waste tyres. For the moment, EQual plans to carry out further user testing on the tool.

Read more about the EQual programme.

2. Environmental Award for Novelis Korea

Novelis Korea Limited, the Asia-Pacific branch of aluminium recycling and rolling company Novelis Inc., was formally recognised as ‘an industrial leader in waste reduction and resource conservation’ at a ceremony in Seoul earlier this week. As part of the Fifth Annual Resource Recycling Day, which is hosted by South Korea’s Ministry of Environment, the firm was presented with the Prime Minister’s 2013 Leading Resource Recycling Corporation Award.

Following four months of evaluation, Novelis Korea was recognised for its performance ‘in preventing industrial waste through improved manufacturing processes and innovative green technology as well as reduction of actual waste produced by recycling and increased productivity’.

Reflecting upon the award, Shashi Maudgal, President of Novelis Korea Limited, said: “Novelis is making every effort to help its customers reduce their CO2 footprint and deliver consumer products with less impact on the environment by providing eco-friendly aluminum products”.

Read more about Novelis Korea’s Leading Resource Recycling Corporation Award.

3. Partnership between Waste Sector and Homeless Charity

A new initiative has been launched by waste management company Biffa and homeless charity StreetLink to raise awareness of people sleeping rough in refuse bins.

Biffa’s Tim Standring said the purpose of the scheme is threefold: “We are seeking to raise awareness of the issue; highlight the dangers amongst rough sleepers of seeking shelter in bins; and to encourage waste management workers and their customers to contact StreetLink if they are concerned about someone sleeping rough.”

Biffa will also be working with the Chartered Institute of Waste Management (CIWM) ‘to establish how many people are found sleeping in bins each year, in which geographic areas and what type of bins people are more commonly found in’.

In another development, Biffa has announced a change in its name from Biffa Integrated Waste Management (Biffa IWM) to Biffa Integrated Resource Management (Biffa IRM). Regarding the change, IRM General Manager Robin Chambers explained that “[a]lthough Biffa started out as a waste collection and disposal company, we are now helping customers get to grips with their resource management practices and eliminate waste altogether”.

Read more about Biffa IRM.

4. CeDo launches bin bags made from household waste

CeDo, which develops second-life disposable products, has developed a new bin liner made from residual household waste. Presented by CeDo to the UK waste and resources industry at RWM this week, the bins use a ‘breakthrough’ technology in using ‘mixed plastics film waste from UK domestic households’.

Most recycled bin liners in the UK use industrial or farm films as their primary feedstock, and CeDo has said the trademark ‘Household Waste – Saved from Landfill’ bags could be a UK ‘first’. Around 30 per cent of the bin bags are manufactured from such waste but CeDo has said that this figure is expected to rise to 90 per cent within two years.

The Household Waste – Saved from Landfillbags have taken five years to develop, requiring investment in proprietary ‘dry cycling’ technology. According to CeDO, by avoiding the ‘fresh consumption of carbon, water and fossil-based resources’ the manufacturing process uses 74 per cent less energy than the industry standard.

Read more about Household Waste – Saved from Landfill bags.

5. Textiles charity funds life-saving helicopter

Textile recycling company, BIU Group, has announced that it has raised £2 million for the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA).

The two organisations have been in partnership since 2006, with BIU donating some of the proceeds from its 300 clothing banks in Hampshireto HIOWAA.

Louise Knapton, Director at BIU Group commented: “HIOWAA is a charity run solely from donations, and relies on the generosity of the public and businesses – it costs £125,000 per month to keep the service running – so we are delighted and proud that we have been able to raise £2 million so far for the charity and are looking forward to generating more funds in our partnership together.”

To date, BIU has raised over £5 million for its partner charities.

Read more about the BIU Group and HIOWAA.

6. Cullen Packaging ‘first’ to achieve certification for compostable packaging made of recycled materials

A company based in Glasgow has become the ‘first’ in the UK to achieve certification for compostable packaging made of recycled materials. Cullen Packaging (Cullens) has made all its compostable ‘soft produce trays for fruit, veg and fungi’ out of recycled material. Certification was presented to Cullens at the RWM in Birmingham.

Cullens makes the trays using the waste from its primary business of manufacturing cardboard boxes. Supported by certification bodies, REAL and DIN CERTCO, the company is now permitted to use the Seedling Logo on the containers. This means ‘customers will be able to dispose of the trays in their food waste caddy for kerbside collection’.

Gordon Thompson, who heads up REAL’s work on compostable packaging certification, said: “There are a lot of companies out there recycling waste materials, and a number making compostable packaging, but Cullens is the first in the UK to gain certification for doing both at once, making this arguably the UK’s greenest packaging product.”

Read more about Cullen Packaging.