EA visits Remondis hazardous waste site

Compliance officers from the Environment Agency (EA) visited a hazardous waste transfer and recycling facility run by waste firm Remondis UK in Prescot, Merseyside, earlier this month to help establish standards across the sector.

The site, which has just celebrated its first anniversary, has the capacity to process up to 69,000 tonnes of material each year.

Jill Rooksby, Technical Advisor on hazardous waste at the EA, said: “The event was both interesting and enlightening and I think all of my colleagues will take a lot from our session…. The lessons learnt will certainly go some way to helping us achieve consistent standards across the whole of the waste industry.”

Marcus Bauer, Managing Director of Remondis UK, added: “Remondis is passionate about setting the very highest of standards so we’re always delighted to help promote the development of both technical resilience and knowledge within the industry so that, in turn, consistency of regulation within the sector can be maintained.

“We hope that this visit goes someway to shaping a better, higher quality future for the waste industry in the UK.”

Read more about Remondis UK.

Hadfield Wood Recyclers make approved fuel suppliers list

Hadfield Wood Recyclers has been named as an official Biomass Fuel Supplier on a new government-approved list.

The Biomass Suppliers List (BSL) allows individuals and businesses to find companies who are compliant with the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme – which pays participants for generating and using renewable energy to heat their buildings – when buying their biomass fuel.

Hadfield Wood Recyclers has been recognised as providing fuel sourced from sustainable and auditable wood fuel supplies and made up of at least 90 per cent biomass.

Matthew Howarth, Logistics and Chip Sales Manager for Hadfield, said: “This is fantastic news for us and for people looking to source biomass fuel.

“Being included on the list shows we are a credible company producing good quality biomass fuel which is from a sustainable source.”

The company also recently renewed its Health and Safety certificate with the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme (CHAS) Accreditation.

Read more about Hadfield Wood Recyclers.

VEKA Recycling achieves EuCertPlast accreditation

Kent-based Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) recycling company VEKA Recycling, has achieved EuCertPlast accreditation, the European certification scheme for post-consumer plastics recyclers.

The certification works to the European Standard EN 15343:2007 and aims to encourage environmentally-friendly recycling of plastics by standardising procedures, particularly focusing on the process for traceability and assessment of conformity and recycled content of recycled plastics.

Simon Scholes, Business Administration Manager for VEKA Recycling, commented: “This is an important step for us as the scheme assesses the good practice and the output quality done by the audited recycler.

“Given there is strong demand from the recyclates buyers for a guarantee on the product they buy, we can assure customers of our full compliance with environmental obligations and the high quality of our PVC-U pellet and pulver derived from post-industrial or post-consumer window frame material.”

VEKA’s sister plants in France and Germany are also similarly certified.

Find out more about VEKA Recycling.

British Heart Foundation shops win Environmental Services Waste Prevention Award

British Heart Foundation (BHF) charity shops have been awarded with the Environmental Services Waste Prevention Award from the first ever Manchester Evening News (MEN) Environmental Awards.

The charity won the award after running a reuse scheme with the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Under the scheme, which also partnered with Manchester City Council and Manchester Student Homes, university students and staff were urged to donate unwanted goods – such as clothes, books, and homeware – to BHF drop off points at the end of the academic term.

Running from April until June, the scheme resulted in 16,500 bags of unwanted items being donated to BHF shops, which (when resold) could help raise around £330,000 for the charity, providing funding for research into heart disease.

Karen O’Donoghue, BHF National Stock Generation Manager, said that the charity had been “overwhelmed” by the support it had received, adding: “We’re thrilled to have won the Environmental Services Waste Prevention Award at the MEN Environment Awards. It’s a great way to make more people aware of all the fantastic work that the students and people of Manchester do to help protect our environment.”

Find out more about the BHF’s work.

Recolight CEO to discuss WEEE Regulations at LuxLive

Nigel Harvey, CEO of UK waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) compliance scheme Recolight (pictured, right), will be speaking at lighting showcase LuxLive 2014 (19-20 November).

Discussing the key changes and consequences of the new WEEE regulations, Harvey will discuss how the law will affect delegates and how they should comply with them.

The presentation will take place at Tech Theatre Two in London’s ExCeL at 1pm on Wednesday, 19 November.

Harvey commented: “It is crucial for us to be present at such a prominent event. The lighting industry is changing rapidly leading to an increased need for producers of new light fittings to provide their customers with the means to recycle both lamps and fittings.

“It is vital that we are able to communicate upcoming changes and solutions to key influencers within the sector so that we can all work together to increase UK recycling rates”.

Find out more about Recolight or LuxLive 2014.