With news on: South Lakeland service change; Ealing recycling growth; Scottish circular economy fund, and; HZI acquisition.
South Lakeland expands plastic and card collections
South Lakeland district council is continuing the roll-out of an expanded recycling service to households across the borough this month (November).
The roll-out of the new services includes the delivery of blue recycling bags to homes in anticipation of the start of kerbside collection of plastic bottles and pots, tubs and trays and cardboard from homes in Windermere and Bowness.
Bag collections are to commence in Windermere and Bowness
Around 4,000 properties across the district are among the latest in the borough to receive the new service, which has been rolled out across the year.
The plastic and card kerbside collections have already been rolled-out in areas including Kendal, Ulverston, Kirkby Lonsdale and Milnthorpe, with around 65% of households in the district now thought to be covered by the service.
A spokesman for South Lakeland district council said: “This is one of the largest and most complex areas that we deliver to. We had previously announced that we would be introducing the plastic and card collections in these areas in the autumn, to avoid the main tourism period in the summer.
“But these are still busy areas even at this time of year, with many commercial holiday lets and houses in multiple occupation, so we are taking extra care to ensure we try to deliver bags to all the properties entitled to the new kerbside collections.“
This is the latest phase of an expansion of kerbside collections that will eventually take in the whole district by the end of March 2017. To support the roll out of the service a new fleet of smaller recycling vehicles is also being introduced, which will allow the service to be provided to the more remote areas and where access is restricted.
Householders in South Lakeland currently receive a collection of cans and paper through a blue box system, with a separate box for recycling glass alongside a green wheeled bin for collecting organic waste and a grey wheeled bin for residual material. Under the new collection system plastic will be collected alongside cans in the blue bags, whilst cardboard will be added into boxes alongside paper. Glass will remain separate.
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Ealing reports ‘highest ever’ recycling rate
The London Borough of Ealing has reported that its combined recycling and composting rate hit 53.43% in the first quarter of 2016/17 – the highest figure recorded for the borough during the period.
Ealing rolled out a blue-bin commingled recycling service in June
This performance during the June to August 2016 period beats the performance registered during the same quarter in 2015, when a total of 45.39% recycling and composting rate was recorded.
The reported improvement in performance comes after the council switched from a kerbside-sort to a commingled recycling collection system early in June (see letsrecycle.com story).
An increase in tonnage of separately collected food waste was also seen, Ealing council said.
Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for transport, environment and leisure, said: “Thank you to everyone who’s doing their bit to help us boost our recycling rates here in Ealing. We simply can’t afford financially or environmentally to throw away food to landfill or valuable recyclable materials. The new system makes it easier to do the right thing and I’m delighted that we’re well on course to hit our ambitious 50% recycling target by 2018.”
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Scottish minister opens circular economy fund
Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change, Environment and Land Reform, Roseanna Cunningham, has announced that bids for funding under the £18 million Circular Economy Fund are open.
Roseanna Cunningham, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform
Delivering the keynote address at the Community Resources Network Scotland’s annual conference in Perth last week (3 November), the minister said that the fund will seek to reward businesses and social enterprises developing ‘innovative ways of re-using and repairing products’.
Ms Cunningham said: “Reuse and repair activities are among the strongest ways to keep valuable materials in circulation for as long as possible and support a more circular economy. Reusing and repairing products can prevent harmful greenhouse gas emissions, support local jobs and provide affordable, quality goods and services.
“Scotland has a strong network of SMEs and social enterprises who can benefit from the opportunities of a circular economy, and I am delighted to announce that Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Investment Fund is now open to bids for innovative reuse and repair projects.”
The fund will seek to support collaborative projects, which implement ‘new solutions’ to re-use and repair activities, and that test and deliver new services.
Funding is available for small and medium sized enterprises operating in Scotland as part of a programme led by Zero Waste Scotland and supported through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
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Hitachi Zosen Inova acquires gas conversion company
Switzerland-based energy from waste specialist Hitachi Zosen Inova has acquired the business of ETOGAS GmbH, an energy conversion company whose products include gas-to-grid technologies.
The deal will allow the Stuttgart-based business – which has operated primarily in the German market – to operate more widely on an international scale.
Commenting on the acquisition, Franz-Josef Mengede, said: “With the acquisition of ETOGAS, we are addressing this trend and setting a further milestone in the renewable energy supply sector. HZI’s acquisition of ETOGAS once again demonstrates our commitment to finding sustainable solutions.
“We are proud to be taking the ETOGAS activities forward, and to open up possibilities for this leading technology to develop internationally. Thanks to our wealth of experience in plant construction, we can also offer our customers the security they need with regard to having their projects delivered on budget and on time, and with the technological expertise and safety they expect.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com General
