Bryson wins recycling award

Waste management company Bryson Recycling has won an award for its Wheelie Box recycling programme running in Northern Ireland.

The Recycling Industry Award, sponsored by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), was presented to Bryson staff at the Sustainable Ireland Awards held in the Ramada Hotel, Belfast on 3 September.

It recognised the company’s efforts to boost recycling, especially focusing on Bryson’s Wheelie Box trial, which involved a stackable three-box recycling system on wheels.

Introduced to 5,000 households in Castlereagh and Newtownabbey, the system saw recycling participation rates rise by 16 per cent and recycling rates rise by 30 per cent. (A more detailed article about how this was achieved will appear in Resource 78, coming out later this autumn.)

Speaking of the award, Eric Randall, Director of Bryson Recycling, said: “We are delighted to have our work recognised through this award. Bryson has been delivering recycling services for over 20 years and has used this experience to develop the Wheelie Box. The initial results from the trials in N. Ireland have been very positive and we have a clear endorsement from other parts of the UK who have adopted the model, in particular in Wales, where they are using our model as their blueprint for local authority recycling collections.

“We believe the Wheelie Box has enormous potential to be rolled out across Northern Ireland and the UK, helping us meet the EU recycling targets and to be at the forefront of this exciting innovation.”

Find out more about Bryson Recycling.

Biffa awarded Kent HWRC contract

Waste management company Biffa has been awarded a new six-year contract by Kent County Council to manage 12 household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) and three waste transfer stations in the county.

Estimated to be worth around £5 million annually, the new contract starts in November and includes an option for a six-year extension from 2020.

It expands Biffa’s Kent portfolio by around a third, and includes managing the haulage of recyclable materials from the sites for reprocessing and disposal.

The HWRCs involved are: Sittingbourne; Ashford; New Romney; Faversham; Sheerness; Dover; Herne Bay; Folkestone; Canterbury; Deal; Margate; and Richborough. The transfer stations are in Ashford, Sittingbourne and Dover.

Biffa Municipal Commercial Director Pete Dickson, said: “We are delighted not only to have retained the business we originally had with Kent County Council, but to have expanded it with four more HWRCs and two additional transfer stations. This is testament to all those who have provided excellent service to Kent County Council and to Kent residents for many years.”

He added: “In the longer term, this gives us the opportunity, with the large tonnages received, to assist other parts of the business on bulk haulage in the region.”

Find out more about waste and recycling in Kent.

Taylor export division grows by 40 per cent

Worcester-based steel container manufacturer Taylor has grown its export division by 40 per cent over the last 12 months, it has been announced.

The announcement comes as the company’s Sales and Marketing Director, Julian Gaylor (pictured right), is made International Sales Director in a move that is expected to extend the manufacturer’s global reach.

Taylor launched its export programme in partnership with Lord Green, the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, at the beginning of 2012. It now exports to 20 countries worldwide, has just delivered a £900,000 order to Malaysia and has received its first order from Brazil, worth £160,000.

Gaylor commented: “With a strong UK market share, the only viable route to continued growth is now overseas. And, whilst England got knocked out of Brazil in the World Cup, our latest contract win in São Paulo indicates huge potential within this country as it begins to rethink its approach to waste.

“Our strong order pipeline combined with a number of existing international contracts coming up for renewal leaves me and the team in no doubt that Taylor is about to enter a new phase of growth.”

As part of its growth plan, Taylor now aims to widen its partner network by increasing the number of distributors across key target markets, which include Brazil, Asia, India and Europe.

Find out more about Taylor.

Love Food Hate Waste 10 Cities campaign visits Cardiff

On Thursday (11 September), Love Food Hate Waste’s (LFHW) Liquid Greens Machine visited Cardiff as part of the anti-food waste campaigning body’s new UK tour.

Developed to help educate the general public about the impact of food waste, the ‘10 Cities’ campaign, which began in Birmingham in July, aims to help attendees ‘get more from budgets and food’ by encouraging them to recognise the amount of food they waste and take steps to avoid creating food waste.

As part of a partnership between supermarket retailer Sainsbury’s plc and the City of Cardiff Council, the Liquid Green Machine visited Queen Street on Thursday to demonstrate how commonly-wasted ingredients could be made into fruit and vegetable smoothies.

Attending the event was former Minister for Natural Resources, Culture and Sport John Griffiths, who said: “We can all take steps to make the most of the food that we have bought. This can mean getting creative with leftovers or just being aware of use by dates.

“The Love Food, Hate Waste campaign is full of useful suggestions to prevent waste and many people in Wales are already saving money because of their efforts.”

Councillor Bob Derbyshire, Cabinet Member for Environment at the City of Cardiff Council, added: “What we need to understand is that it takes a lot of precious energy to grow and deliver food and in these times when energy supplies are coming under pressure, we need to ensure we do not waste it.”

The next and final stop of the 10 Cities tour will be in Glasgow, which LFHW will be visiting on 30 September.

Read more about the ‘10 Cities’ campaign.

FCC Environment signs up to edoc

Waste and resource management firm FCC Environment has announced that it has signed up to the electronic duty of care (edoc) system to electronically register its waste transfer notes.

edoc, which launched in January 2014, is a free-to-use electronic waste management system that has been developed by the Environment Agency and partners to provide an alternative to paper-based waste transfer notes.

Chris Griffiths, Technical Support Manager at FCC Environment, said: “edoc is an important milestone to bring waste management, and the handling of waste transfers into the 21st century.

“The previous system was based on regulations which were introduced and written more than two decades ago. Therefore as a company we recognise the value that a modern system for managing the transfer of waste between organisations would bring.”

Chris Deed, edoc programme manager at the Environment Agency, commented: “We are delighted to see such a leading waste management company as FCC embracing edoc, and we hope that both the company itself and its customers will reap the cost and administrative benefits of recording waste electronically.”

Earlier this week FCC, on behalf of the Environment Agency, welcomed Resource Minister Dan Rogerson to its materials recovery facility (MRF) in Bletchley to aid the minister’s ‘fact-finding mission on a number of issues affecting the waste industry’.

Find out more about edoc.