John Redmayne appointed ERP UK General Manager

The European Recycling Platform (ERP) compliance scheme has announced that it has appointed John Redmayne as UK General Manager.

Redmayne was previously the director of his own environmental consultancy Redmayne Resources and has also held roles at waste management partnership Project Integra, environmental consultancy Eunomia Research & Consulting, and social enterprise CREATE UK.

Remayne said he was “very excited to be joining such a leading and respected company in the producer compliance sector” and looked forward to “helping the business grow even further in the UK”.

Pointing out Redmayne’s 20 years of experience in the industry (“covering compliance, environmental services and waste management"), ERP’s Regional Director Scott Butler said that the appointment came “at an exciting time”, as ERP looks to develop its “business and service offer across WEEE [waste electrical and electronic equipment], batteries and packaging”.

Butler added that although he will continue to oversee and support the UK and Ireland teams as Regional Director, he will be focusing more time on “developing [ERP’s] EuropePlus services and group strategy”.

Find out more about the European Recycling Platform.

PCRRG creates new Supporter Membership

The Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group (PCRRG) has created a new level of membership to ‘extend the reach of the group to organisations indirectly associated with the paper cup supply chain’.

Supporter Membership has been created as a free membership for organisations that ‘do not specifically influence the production, purchase or recycling of paper cups, but which share in the group’s vision to enable the diversion of post-consumer used cups back into the supply chain’.

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and biofuel company bio-bean have been announced as the first two supporter members.

Brendan Hunter, Key Account Manager for Hospitality & Food Service at WRAP, said: “We have been supporting and watching the PCRRG with interest and are pleased to now officially become a Supporter Member and look forward to sharing our best practice with the group and engaging our stakeholders about the group’s sustainability projects.”

Starbucks Coffee Company has also been announced as the group’s first new member of 2015.

Find out more about the Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group.

Luxus secures £600,000 EU grant for polymer work

Plastic compound recycling company Luxus has been awarded a grant of approximately £600,000 from the European Commission’s Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (part of the Eco-Innovation Action Programme) to commercialise its Hycolene™ range of lightweight polypropylene (PP) compounds.

Made up of around 60 per cent recycled content, Hycolene aims to help the EU automotive industry meet its recycling and emission targets.

Luxus will be collaborating on this project with twin screw manufacturer Coperion to help with complex processing; moulding supplier IAC for materials trials; and Jaguar Land Rover for end user guidance.

Luxus Managing Director, Peter Atterby, said that the investment will enable Luxus to “make a fundamental step change in [its] technology”.

The company will use the grant to purchase a new twin screw co-rotating extruder to ensure ‘optimise the materials properties demanded for this project and at the same time ensure the expected tonnage is achieved’.

Find out more about Luxus.

Sunderland Partnership makes Circular Economy Awards shortlist

The Sunderland Partnership, a member organisation that aims to ‘improve the quality of life for people in Sunderland’, has been announced as a finalist of the Forum of Young Global Leaders’ 2015 Circular Economy Awards.

The partnership has been named as a finalist in the Circular Economy Cities/Regions category of the 2015 awards, which recognises organisations and companies who innovate to enable customers and users to do ‘more with less’.

Specifically, the Sunderland Partnership has been chosen for its development of a WARP-it (Waste Action Resource Portal) network that redistributes surplus equipment and furniture to partner organisations such as the University of Sunderland and the NHS Foundation Trust.

Ken Bremner, Chair of the Sunderland Partnership said: "Sunderland has a track record of partnership working and WARP-it is a fantastic example of collaboration between the public, private and third sector…all significantly reducing costs and waste in their organisations."

The other finalists in the category are the City of Atlanta, Denmark, New South Wales, The Western Cape and Tokyo.

The winners of the Circular Economy Awards will be announced on 20 January 2015 in Davos, Switzerland.

Find out more about the Sunderland Partnership, WARP-it, and the Circular Economy Awards 2015.

ALS Environmental and Biffa sign two-year contract extension

Analytical service provider ALS Environmental has signed a two-year contract extension with waste management company Biffa Waste Services.

The extension means that ALS Environmental will continue to provide analytical services, such as samples from landfill sites, to Biffa Waste Services.

The two companies have been working together for more than 20 years.

Dr James Taylor, Business Development Manager for ALS Environmental, said: “The extension of our working relationship with Biffa Waste is excellent news for both parties.

“We have been working in unison to develop registration tools, reporting formats and analytical methods to support Biffa as we progress through this contract and look forward to many more years working together.”

Mark Robson, Senior Category Manager at Biffa Waste Services, said that ALS had a “track record of delivering analytical data in a timely and efficient manner” and that the company looked forward to “strengthening [its] excellent working relationship for years to come”.

Read more about the ALS/Biffa contract.