Landfill Tax Project : WREN WarringtonFollowing development work with Warrington Borough Council and WREN over the last two years, Recoup have been awarded £87,000 to introduce and promote an innovative plastic bottle collection scheme in the borough of Warrington. This will use a new type of collection bank that allows users to compact the bottles at the point of deposit. The potential benefit of this approach is that it will increase the capacity of the banks and enhance the economics of recycling bottles through lower servicing charges. The technique has not been tried before in the UK and so will be able to generate more excellent PR for everyone involved by this novel approach as well as collecting more bottles and demonstrating improved economics. To release the grant from WREN the scheme partners funded 11% of the total grant value. Scheme partners for this project include Express Dairies, Arla Foods, Dairy Crest, Tetrapak, Plysu Liquid Foods, and Warrington Borough Council.

Background

 There were no facilities for communities in the Warrington area to recycle household plastic waste. RECOUP and Warrington have worked together to develop a project to provide a collection system for plastic bottles in the area. This programme will provide both a tangible benefit to the community by enabling them to recycle their plastic containers, and valuable research on the performance and economics of this new system which it is believed will reduce vehicle movements and costs associated with servicing plastic bottle collection banks. This information will be disseminated widely to inform waste management practices. The system will be unique in the UK because it will utilise collection banks with built in compaction systems. Users are able to squash their bottles when depositing them using the built in mechanism supplied by Plastic Omnium Urban Systems. It is estimated that this will significantly increase the number of bottles the bank can hold before a service is required and will make plastic bottle recycling increasingly affordable. The whole methodology is focused on lowering and documenting the costs of bottle recycling: if successfully demonstrated this work will enable a new level of operational cost-effectiveness and “best practice”. “We are delighted to be able to bring this new scheme to Warrington. Recycling and improving our environment is one of our key priorities and we are determined to make sure that this new scheme makes a positive difference to the way we recycle plastics.” Cllr John JoyceChair of the Council’s Environmental Committee

Aims of the Research The aim of the research is to secure and widely disseminate accurate logistic and economic data necessary to clearly demonstrate the economics of plastic bottle collection using this new system, and information highlighting the opportunities for further enhancements to the service. The specific objectives of the research are to be completed over the two year period to enable wide dissemination of the information at the end of the project. Early data on performance and costs will be evaluated within the first 6 months of the scheme and an interim briefing report produced. This unique collection system will reduce vehicle movements necessary to collect plastic bottles for recycling by compacting plastic bottles at the point of deposit. This will further increase the environmental benefit of plastic bottle recycling compared to use of virgin plastic and will decrease the cost of servicing plastic bottle collection facilities. By demonstrating the implementation of more cost-effective collection systems for plastic bottles, this will significantly increase the opportunities for communities around the UK to benefit from local plastics collection facilities. The reductions in servicing cost and environmental impact anticipated from this system will together contribute to more sustainable waste management practice. “The Warrington scheme is an exciting new venture and we are looking forward to monitoring the progress of it. We are expecting the scheme to perform particularly well in Warrington, as the number of letters and calls the Council receives regarding plastics recycling shows that residents are highly motivated in this area.” Stuart FosterProject Manager – Recoup 

Website : www.recoup.org

Plastic Omnium is pleased to announce its support for Hinkcroft Transport’s entry into the London Wheelie bin market.  Hinkcroft Transport, trading as HTL Waste Management Services, had decided to provide wheelie bin and bag collection services to its customers as part of an ambitious expansion programme, detailed within a comprehensive 5-year business plan.  HTL chose Plastic Omnium Urban Systems to supply its range of containers and the first order was placed during the latter part of last year.  

Due to a successful sales campaign and a group acquisition, HTL are already operating several collection vehicles providing services to the majority of the Southern and Central London areas.  A key success factor for the business plan is the continual development of the capabilities of the Deptford Recycling Centre in the heart of London. HTL are seeking to provide a variety of collection and recycling processing services to both the public and private sectors in the near future.

The development and delivery of HTL’s business plans is being overseen by Derek Cornwell of Waste Innovation Solutions, an independent company specializing in providing commercial and operational support to the waste management industry.

Plastic Omnium are pleased to have been chosen as a preferred supplier by HTL Waste Management Services and wish them every success in the future.

The blue bin will be 140 litres, as supplied by Plastic Omnium Urban Systems, which is smaller than a standard wheeled bin used for other domestic waste.

 The following items of paper and card can be put in the blue bin; newspapers, magazines, card, catalogues, junk mail, envelopes and white and coloured paper and will be collected once every four weeks.   

Council Leader Jan Wilson said: “The blue bins are the biggest change to Sheffield’s household waste collection service for years.  This is a tremendous step

forward towards raising recycling rates in the city from the 5% that currently gets recycled, to our target of 18% by 2005-6.  There’ll also be less waste going into landfill.  I’m sure, by making it so easy to recycle paper and card, the blue bins will be a big hit.”

Martin Simpson from Onyx explained: “The first properties to receive the blue bin will join 6,500 properties already using a second bin for paper in the North of the City. The second phase of bins will be delivered to houses in June 2003. Onyx is keen to see this service expanded across the city.  By the end of 2003 we will have achieved this.”

Onyx in Sheffield

Onyx is the company delivering waste management services on behalf of Sheffield City Council. Over the 30 year waste management contract, Onyx will deliver a range of services to help the Council to meet its waste management obligations.

  Some of the things Onyx will do are: 

Vivendi Environment is the world leader in environmental services with 295,000 employees operating in over 100 countries worldwide. Its activities are focused on water, transport, energy and waste management.

During a North East Regional CIWM centre meeting, regional sales executives, Stuart Lampard and David Elliott, presented a paper on waste minimisation and recycling initiatives.  Plastic Omnium were then approached by Barry Scott and Steve Reynolds from Scarborough Council, who were looking for a medium to collect two separate waste streams, within the same container.  The waste streams to be collected from households were paper/newsprint and metal cans/plastic bottles and a number of different options were discussed, including Plastic Omnium’s split 180 litre and 260 litre units. However, it was finally agreed that a 180 litre with a 35 litre modular bin, which fits inside the wheeled container, would be the best solution.  The trial would be for over 5,000 households and the units would be collected every fortnight starting in February/March 2003.  Road shows and public meetings were held in the participating area and the feedback from these events was all very positive. The residents liked the idea of having a smaller bin within a bin, thus not cluttering up their houses with boxes or having numerous wheeled bins outside their properties. With Plastic Omnium’s ability to have the lids of their wheeled containers hot foil stamped, Scarborough Borough Council decided to have instructions placed on the lids as a constant reminder to householders of which waste items should be placed in each container.  

To encourage people to throw away less and recycle more, Three Rivers District Council introduced a new waste initiative in September 2002.

For the last six months, Three Rivers has been running a trial scheme in which a weekly ‘black sack’ collection has been replaced by wheeled bins and the fortnightly recycling service extended.

The Council selected the town of Croxley Green, as the trial area because many households already participate in the recycling service and the roads represented a good mixture of housing type and street conditions.

In addition to the provision of a grey box for paper & green box for cans & plastic bottles, Three Rivers have also introduced a black box for glass, a composter for kitchen & garden waste together with a 140 litre wheeled bin, the latter being supplied by Plastic Omnium Urban Systems.

The initiative has been supported with a leaflet to individual householders explaining the system and what wastestream to put into each container. In particular highlighting that no “side waste” would be collected, only waste within the designated containers. It was considered that a 140 litre wheeled bin would be sufficient volume for an average household of four individuals.

Gaskells Waste Services, based in Liverpool and currently servicing this area, was started in 1991 by Jonathan Gaskell. Specialising in the collection of trade waste,  its client base includes department stores, public sector buildings and large tourist attractions.

Ambitious plans to spread throughout the north-west and beyond are to be realised having just received planning permission for a huge, 2 acre recycling facility in Bootle, Liverpool, due to open in Spring 2004.

The move to recycle trade waste has been supported by Plastic Omnium Urban Systems, Gaskell’s bin supplier. “The ability to colour-code all manner of plastic bins and accessories is of enormous benefit to Gaskells and our customers. Each bin can be colour-coded for each waste stream, allowing the process to work effectively. The plant will recycle paper, glass, wood and metal with food waste continuing to biodegrade in landfill sites” commented Jonathan Gaskell, Managing Director.

Gaskells Waste Services
Telephone: 0151 933 3111
www.gaskellswaste.co.uk

The 1,100 litre flat lid containers, as supplied by Plastic Omnium Urban Systems, will help the winning schools and runners up from each region to continue recycling in the future.  Many schools commented that recycling would have been easier if they had had somewhere to store the collected cans, so the bins should definitely help the active schools. For any further help or advice on aluminium can recycling, please contact your local Alcan representative, call free on 0800 262 465 or visit www.cashforcans.co.uk

Cardiff City Council is planning to roll out its new twin bin collection scheme to all households, after the first areas under the scheme recorded a 42% recycling and composting rate.

There are currently 17,000 properties on the scheme in the Welsh capital with a further 30,000 being added during 2004 and 50,000 the year after. The scheme involves a green bin for green waste, a green bag for dry recyclables and a black bin for residual waste.

John Minihane of Cardiff City Council: “With the twin bin system we have 17,000 properties involved and are seeing a 42%
recycling rate.  We have about 17 routes in place and we are seeing 38-50% on the different routes with 42% average. We are hoping to get that when we expand the collections and if we do we will be very close to meeting our targets for 2009-10.”

He added that combined with other schemes for terraced houses, the council should have almost 100% coverage of kerbside collections by the end of 2006.

Cardiff Council has selected Plastic Omnium Urban Systems for its £3-£5 million contract to supply the 180-250,000 wheelie bins over the next five years as the city rolls out its twin-bin scheme.

Working with Staffordshire based GW Plastics Recycling, Plastic Omnium will remove any of the council’s unwanted household bins for recycling when it delivers the replacement 240 litre green and grey containers.
 

Mr. Minihane said that it was important that the successful company should include recycling of old bins. “We’ve never had wheeled bins in Cardiff, however, about 10 to 15 years ago they changed the boundaries and circa 3,000 households with wheeled bins joined our authority. So there are some quite old bins and we felt that with the new twin bin scheme it was time to replace them.”

Jon Whiley, UK Services Manager for Plastic Omnium, explained that the company would also continue to take back bins throughout the contract and provide the council with a certificate showing the amount of plastic recycled.  “This is a very big project. All the bins that are unusable, either broken or vandalized, will be taken back.” Initially, GW Plastics Recycling will granulate and recycle the 3,000 old wheeled bins.  Mark Gilbert, Sales Director for GW Plastics Recycling, said the companies were looking to work together on similar contracts in the future. ”The idea is that when Plastic Omnium tenders for a contract they include a service that means when they deliver the new bins they take away the old ones too,” Mr. Gilbert said.