Environcom acquires Overton Recycling

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycler Environcom, has announced that it has acquired WEEE recycler Overton Recycling.

Overton had been set to enter administration, but the acquisition has safeguarded around 50 jobs at the West Midlands site.

Environcom has said its senior management team is working in partnership with existing staff at Overton Recycling to ‘ensure the smooth transition of the company into the Environcom fold, with no disruption to production processes’.

Sean Feeney, Environcom’s CEO, said: “We’re delighted to have acquired Overton Recycling, which will not only increase Environcom’s processing capacity but will also secure key recycling jobs in the industry. We’re looking forward to bringing it into the Environcom fold and becoming part of our philosophy to do the right thing with WEEE so it doesn’t cost the earth.”

Read more about Environcom.

Bournemouth reminds ‘keen’ residents of food waste date

Bournemouth Borough Council has had to issue a reminder to residents about the start date of its new food waste collection service, after ‘keen’ residents starting placing food waste recycling out for collection two months early.

The confusion seems to have come about as the food waste containers are currently being delivered, leading some to believe that the collection service is already running.

Georgina Fry, Waste and Resource Projects Manager for Bournemouth Borough Council, said: “We’ve had reports from our waste operatives that some new food waste containers filled with food waste have been placed in the general rubbish ‘Little Bin’ ready for collection.

“We’re really pleased that residents are so keen to use the new service, but they need to wait until the first week of March for food waste to be collected separately.”

The council added that food waste containers, which are being delivered throughout January and February, should be ‘stored in a safe place’ until the scheme starts on 3 March.

Residents wishing to learn more about the food waste collection service are asked to visit the council’s website or speak to the waste and recycling team at the following locations:

• Winton Market, 18 January, 9am-5pm
• Central Library, 29 January, 12.30pm-4.30pm
• Boscombe Library, 30 January, 3pm-7pm.

Recoup saw 12 new members join in 2013

Member-based plastics recycling organisation Recoup saw 12 organisations become new members in 2013.

The new members are:

1. SITA UK
2. RPC Group
3. Viridor
4. Machinex
5. Kent Resource Partnership
6. Centriforce Products
7. PlasRecycle
8. Ellen MacArthur Foundation
9. Ashortwalk Ltd
10. Brunel University London
11. Campden BRI
12. Milton Keynes Council

Recoup is built on a network of members who represent all sectors in the plastic supply and recycling chain and aims to help support the development of plastic recycling research and activities.

Stuart Foster, Chief Executive Officer at Recoup, said the membership growth demonstrates the “growing importance of plastic recycling and continued commitment from leading stakeholders”.

David Baker, General Manager at RPC Group and trustee of Recoup, added: “Recoup’s achievements over the past 23 years have undoubtedly made a significant contribution to creating greater awareness and understanding of plastic recycling and recyclability, and we look forward to helping to build on this success.”

Stansted Airport wins recycling award

L-R: Stansted Airport’s Kathy Morrissey, Environment and Utilities Manager and John Thain, Environment Standards Manager.

Stansted Airport has been awarded ‘Gold’ accreditation by National Recycling Stars for its progress in reducing waste and increasing recycling.

The airport introduced targets in 2010 to recycle 60 per cent of its waste and send zero waste to landfill by 2015.

According to the airport’s Environment and Utilities Manager, Kathy Morrissey, the recycling targets has already been achieved, with the landfill target ‘on track’ for 2015 (in 2013, the airport sent seven per cent of waste to landfill).

Olu Faturoti, Scheme Manager for National Recycling Stars, said: “With high footfall and multiple stakeholders, Stansted Airport faced numerous challenges in achieving its 2013 recycling and waste management goals. Its investment in technologies, along with a proactive approach to educating both staff and customers, means Stansted Airport now diverts 93 per cent of its waste from landfill – a huge achievement for a business working in such a diverse landscape.”

Morrissey also commented: “Achieving the highest award under the National Recycling Stars accreditation scheme is not just great for Stansted Airport as a business but for the wider airport community as it recognises the partnership approach taken by our cleaning contractor, waste disposal company and 190 companies and thousands of employees on-site who all play their part.”

She pointed to the food waste composting scheme and separation of plastics from general waste collections as examples of initiatives that have helped reduce waste.

Read more about National Recycling Stars.

MRWA launches £20,000 food waste project

L-R: Eileen Wallace from Children’s Food Trust, Stuart Donaldson from MRWA, Lesley Rotherham from St Aloysius Catholic Primary School, Pauline Harrison from Woodside Primary School, and Claire Hewson from The Oldershaw Academy.

Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA) and Veolia Environmental Services Community Fund have launched a £20,000 project to help reduce the amount of food wasted in the area.

Under the project, run in partnership with The Children’s Food Trust’s healthy cooking club Let’s Get Cooking, more than 40 schools will host ‘eco-friendly’ cookery workshops to help families reduce food waste.

Eileen Wallace, who leads cooking and nutrition training for Let’s Get Cooking, said: "This project aims to help families eat healthily while cutting their waste and budget. We share recipes that use up leftovers and can be batch cooked and frozen so nothing goes to waste. We also give tips and tricks for meal planning, safe food storage and reading best-before and sell-by dates, so people can make the most of their food."

Councillor Graham Morgan, Chairperson of MRWA, added: "The idea behind the project, funded by our Community Fund, is that the club leaders are trained to deliver their own workshops – that way we can reach as many families in Merseyside as possible and hopefully make a real difference."

The project launched in Liverpool on Tuesday (14 January), with a mass cooking event for school cookery club leaders working in Wirral, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Halton.

Find out more about Let’s Get Cooking and the Merseyside Waste and Recycling Authority.