GPS awarded Hoddeston AD control contract

Imtech Water has placed an order with motor control manufacturer GPS Group to supply the control system hardware for the Hoddeston anaerobic digestion (AD) plant currently under construction for Tamar Energy.

GPS will provide motor control centres that will monitor and manage the feedstock screening, mixing, pre-treatment and digestion processes.

Due for completion in 2015, the new plant will process over 66,000 tonnes of food waste a year to generate three megawatts of electricity for 6,000 homes in Hertfordshire.

Hoddeston is the second food-waste-to-energy order for GPS this year, after it built five AD control schemes for three UK water companies including Avonmouth for Wessex Water, Beckton and Crossness for Thames, as well as Cardiff and Afan for Dwr Cymru Welsh Water.

Find out more about GPS Group.

John Lewis joins paper cup recycling partnership

Simply Cups, the UK’s ‘first’ paper cup recycling scheme that is set to launch on 1 August, has announced that national retailer John Lewis Partnership, catering and facilities management companies BaxterStorey and ISS Facility Services, as well as cup manufacturers Huhtamaki and Solo Cup Europe, have signed up as founding members of the partnership alongside WRAP, the Automated Vending Association and Keep Britain Tidy.

The founding members will reportedly employ the scheme ‘to begin with’ at their ‘key’ locations (i.e. The John Lewis Partnership will begin participating in the scheme at its company headquarters in Victoria as well as its Waitrose headquarters in Bracknell).

Simply Cups is a partnership formed between Closed Loop Environmental Solutions and Simply Waste Solutions to provide a recycling for those manufacturing and using paper cups. It will initially operate within the M25 and Thames Valley area but is expected to ‘quickly evolve’ into a nationwide service.

Closed Loop’s Peter Goodwin said: “At long last there is a robust scheme in place for companies who recognise the commercial value of taking their corporate social and environmental responsibilities seriously to address the increasingly difficult issue of cup recycling.”

Read more about Simply Cups.

DS Smith increases ownership of Italmaceri to 100 per cent

Fibre and packaging recycling company DS Smith has acquired the remaining 50 per cent of Italian recycling company Italmaceri Srl (Italmaceri) so that it now owns the company in full. DS Smith acquired the first half of the packaging and paper recycling company as part of the acquisition of SCA Packaging in 2012.

Italmaceri currently handles in excess of 500,000 tonnes of recovered fibre per annum and has its headquarters in Torino, with operations in Ancona, Casarile and Novara.

Miles Roberts, Chief Executive of DS Smith, said: “The purchase of Italmaceri is consistent with DS Smith’s strategy to lead the way in recycling. It builds on our market-leading position in Europe and will allow us to grow our closed-loop recycling model in Italy, where we already have packaging and paper operations.

“We want to provide our customers not only with excellent packaging, and a world-class recycling service, but solutions to all elements of their supply cycle.”

Find out more about DS Smith.

Weighsoft merges with Isys Interactive Systems

Online management and data reporting company Weighsoft Limited has merged with waste management software firm Isys Interactive Systems (Isys).

All of the 14 Weighsoft employees have retained their positions, while Weighsoft’s Managing Director, Chris Kings (pictured, right), has become a shareholder in the company and Isys’s new Sales Director.

Isys will continue to operate Weighsoft’s headquarters in Horsham, West Sussex, and all of Weighsoft’s products will now be integrated into Isys’s software suite.

The company also plans to create more jobs in its customer support department, while investing further in research and development.

Richard Bowers, Managing Director of Isys, said he hoped the deal would “provide the platform to deliver the strongest software solution in our market”.

He said: “Isys stands to benefit greatly from the addition of the talented R&D team at Weighsoft and their industry-leading products, while Chris will bring a wealth of experience to bear on our operations right across the board.”

Find out more about Isys Interactive Systems.

Marine Conservation Society seeks 10,000 volunteers to tidy UK beaches

UK marine charity, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), is calling on members of the public to sign up to this year’s beach tidy participation event ‘The Great British Beach Clean’.

The event, which will run from 19-22 September, aims to see 10,000 volunteers on over 400 beaches picking up litter and recording what it is and where it came from, so that MCS can approach specific manufacturers and retailers to see if they can work to reduce the amount of rubbish reaching the seaside.

MCS Beachwatch officer Lauren Eyles said:“Beach litter is a serious environmental problem, but the solution is in our hands. The first step is to register as a volunteer. We want the ‘Great British Beach Clean’ weekend to offer a snapshot of what the future could look like for the British seaside if we turned the tide on litter.”

The first 500 volunteers to register will be entered into a prize draw to win one of two Love2Shop vouchers worth £50 each.

Find out more about The Great British Beach Clean.