With news on: Welsh councils’ recycling rates; Amey addresses safety; MPs visit Bio Collectors, and; ReFood joins Manchester Food Board.
Welsh councils report waste and recycling rise
Wales’ local authorities achieved a combined recycling, composting and reuse rate of 62% for the 12 months to the end of September 2016 figures published last week by the Welsh Government suggest.
Councils in Wales have hit 62% recycling and composting, according to the Welsh Government
The figures are based on provisional data and suggest that the country’s recycling rate has risen compared with the 58% recorded for the 12 months to the end of September 2015.
The latest data which was compiled in the three months between July and September 2016, show that 66% of local authority municipal waste in Wales was recycled, composted or reused during the quarter. This equates to an increase of 5 percentage points when compared with the same quarter of 2015.
According to the data the total amount of local authority municipal waste generated in Wales increased, with the tonnage rising by 3%, from 411,000 to 425,000 tonnes, compared to the same quarter of 2015.
But, the residual household waste generated per person decreased by 3%, falling to 49 kilograms per person in July to September 2016, compared with the same quarter of 2015.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Amey to address safety with pilot schemes
Services firm Amey is piloting two schemes aimed at ensuring the safety of its waste collection and civic amenity site operatives using ‘wearable’ technology to monitor health and ‘bodycams’ to discourage abusive behaviour.
Wearable technology is being used to protect the health of Amey staff
Under one of the pilots, 28 volunteers working across Amey’s collection services operation in Wolverhampton have been wearing ‘smart’ vests that monitor heart rate, respiration, pace, posture and stress levels, aimed at understanding how the body copes during different tasks during a working day.
Volunteers from a range of roles wear specially designed t-shirts with a ‘smart box’ to capture physiological data, for an average of 10 work days each.
At the end of each shift, the data was downloaded and a discussion held to understand if there were any events that could explain any fluctuation in the data exhibited.
A detailed picture was built up of the health of each employee and their level of physical activity each day
This highlighted some areas of stress in their work including when reversing a vehicle, working on uneven ground or in fast-moving traffic. The company has said it will review the specifications of waste collection vehicles to include cameras and on-board systems to minimise the stress associated with reversing and encouraging crews to report where they have encountered uneven ground to the council. A healthy eating and lifestyle campaign directed at employees is also now under way.
The second trial, which is under way at the company’s Household Waste Recycling Centre in Northamptonshire, is taking place in response to a reported rise in verbal abuse to the company’s employees.
Amey is trialling body camera technology that is attached over our employees’ personal protective equipment (PPE). This provides clear video footage of the area in front of the employee, including audio recording.
Amey’s Managing Director for Environmental Services Rob Edmondson said: “The safety of our employees is our top priority, which is why we’re looking at how we can change behaviours and protect our workforce from abuse. The main aim of this trial is to try and prevent incidents in the first place. By knowing they are on camera we believe customers will think twice about their behaviour. Already we’ve seen some success, with employees reporting they feel safer and customers being less aggressive when they become aware of the camera.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Efra MPs visit Bio Collectors as part of food waste inquiry
MPs from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) select committee have visited Surrey-based organic waste firm Bio Collectors to discuss barriers to increasing food waste collection in England.
Paul Killoughery of Bio Collectors’ in Mitcham Surrey, with MP’s from the EFRA Select Committee
The visit, which was carried out by Neil Parish, Paul Monaghan and Kerry McCarthy, three of the MPs currently sitting on the Efra Committee, alongside Leonie Cooper, GLA member for Merton and Wandsworth, was carried out as part of an ongoing inquiry into food waste in the UK.
Mr Parish, the Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton and chair of the Efra inquiry into food waste in England, said: “Food waste is unquestionably a major issue for England as a whole. It’s clear that we need to reduce the amount entering the waste stream in the first place, and that redistribution charities need to be supported where possible.
“However, the huge volume of unavoidable food waste must not be neglected and the Efra Committee is quickly learning that the separation of food from other streams is the only way to build the circular economy and increase recycling rates in the country.”
Paul Killoughery, managing director at Bio Collectors, added: “The Efra Committee members are rightly looking at all areas of the food waste debate. We support the redistribution of waste and ultimately the reduction of waste, but there will always be unavoidable food waste and it needs to be disposed of responsibly. This is not happening in England and we’re falling behind other areas of the UK, let alone Europe.
“Segregation is without doubt the key and can provide tangible results for the country. The select committee recognises this and we hope that new legislation will be brought in by the government very soon that will mean an end of food waste being sent to incineration and landfill sites.”
Last week the Efra committee heard representations from WRAP on the Courthauld Commitment and other initiatives aimed at reducing food waste (see letsrecycle.com story).
_________________________________________________________________________________________
ReFood joins Manchester Food Board
Food waste processor ReFood has joined the Manchester Food Board in a bid to help promote better waste management in the city and encourage businesses to divert waste away from landfill.
ReFood’s Widnes AD plant
The partnership follows the opening of ReFood’s Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant in Widnes in summer 2014, a facility that takes food waste from across the North West, including food that is still packaged.
The Manchester Food Board is a cross sector partnership of public, private and third sector organisations in Manchester who come together to harness the collective energy of the food sector in the City.
Chaired by Councillor Rosa Battle, Executive Member for the Environment with Manchester city council, the board works with partners to work on range of commitments to improve health and create a more environmentally sustainable city.
Trudi Derbyshire, regional sales manager for the north west at ReFood commented: “Working alongside organisations who are looking to create a more sustainable future has always been important to us. We’re delighted to be involved with this partnership, and to share our expertise about how food waste can be better managed in Manchester and the wider region.”
“Every year as a nation, we send millions of tonnes of food waste to landfill, unnecessarily. Not only is it environmentally harmful, but it’s also increasingly expensive. For food-intensive businesses, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in particular, this can be a real problem. The capacity of our Widnes site alone is 120,000tonnes, processing food waste 24/7, 365 days a year, presenting a truly sustainable closed-loop alternative to landfill.”
Councillor Rosa Battle, chair of the Manchester Food Board, said: “Our commitment to ensure a sustainable future for Manchester is designed to improve the physical, mental and social well-being of Manchester residents. Working with a range of partners and communities across the region, we are determined to make local food better, healthier and more accessible. Reducing avoidable food waste, to ensure that surplus food can be rightly diverted to those in need, is a vital part of this strategy.”
The post News in Brief (06/03/2017) appeared first on letsrecycle.com.
Source: letsrecycle.com General
