New Welsh Household Waste Composition Study confirms Rising Trend in Organic Content (1 March 2003)
The Welsh Assembly Government has reported on the findings following a study to establish compositional data for the waste being sent to landfill by Welsh householders. 174 tonnes of waste were analysed during all 4 seasons showing 69% of the 17kg per week per household that being disposed of via landfill is organic in nature and could be recycled or composted. This confirms the trend toward rising organic content seen elsewhere in the UK over the past 10 years. See http://www.wales.gov.uk/subienvironment/recent-e.htm
£2.5m for Scottish Farm Biogas
The Scottish Executive is funding a £2.5 million pilot project to introduce biogas and composting technology to up to ten Scottish farms near bathing waters. The main contract has gone to a consortium of Enviros and Greenfinch - which heats greenhouses in Ludlow with biogas from the anaerobic digestion of kitchen waste.
The Scottish Executive hopes that farmers will be able to benefit from renewable energy production as well as being able to use treated slurry on fields. Farm scale biogas production has failed to take off in the UK, but some companies are exporting digestors to as far away as Japan (See ENDS Report 329, pp 7-8  ).
The project is part of a wider initiative, announced by the Executive in June, to tackle diffuse pollution on Scottish farms.
Project to seek markets for food industry waste
In a £1.9 million project the consultancy ADAS is seeking a range of food processing and catering businesses in north-west England to participate to find markets for waste materials.
The aim is to bring waste producers into contact with composting and recycling businesses. Sectors including vegetable and meat processing, bakeries, dairies and ready meals are among those which will be targeted.
The intention is that by putting in place the recycling infrastructure for a few large food manufacturing businesses, the project aims to confer benefits for smaller food operations. "Once provided with the crucial kick-start, these recycling operations will grow organically and take in waste streams from other food producers," ADAS says.
The project forms part of a wider Transformation of Waste to Products initiative managed by Envirolink Northwest. Alongside ADAS' work with food businesses, Enviros and Entec will be working with the chemicals and paper sectors. Manchester's UMIST is also involved. Details from andrew.urquhart@adas.co.uk
WRAP funding helps local authorities to engage the general public, will be managed by Enviros
Local authorities now have access to new funding to help them communicate their recycling and waste minimisation messages. The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has launched its new Local Communications Fund to provide direct support for local communications initiatives throughout England.
Under DEFRA's Waste Implementation Programme, £30M funding has been made available to WRAP for communications and awareness work directly focused on increasing participation in recycling and waste minimisation initiatives. A very significant proportion of the total budget has been allocated to the new Fund, which is targeted at communications projects delivered at local level, primarily by local authorities. Enviros will be managing this fund for WRAP under a contract.
"Raising public awareness about waste and recycling is essential if local authorities are to secure increased participation and meet their recycling targets," says WRAP Chief Executive Jennie Price. "We need to harness the public's enthusiasm for the principle of recycling, and convert it into action. Householders need to know exactly what they can do to contribute to increasing recycling, and this is a message which can only be delivered at a local level, as it needs to be tailored to the recycling infrastructure which they can access."
The new fund will be split into three tranches:
- up to £1.7M to support the continuation or expansion of existing local communications schemes that have had a demonstrable effect on household participation in recycling or well developed campaigns that can be ready to be rolled out in the New Year. The competitive process to allocate this funding will begin on 8 December.
- up to £8.5M for communications programmes directly supporting new recycling infrastructure funded by DEFRA under its national Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund. The allocation of this funding will be aligned with the process for evaluating bids to DEFRA's Fund, and a further announcement will be made on this very shortly.
- up to £8.5M to fund other communications activity delivered at local or regional level. This element of the fund is intended to assist those authorities which have not received infrastructure funding through the current DEFRA process, but which nevertheless have an opportunity to use communications to boost recycling, for example by increasing participation or yield rates in existing schemes. The competitive process to allocate this tranche of funding will begin early in 2004.
The purpose of the competitive processes is to identify those proposals which represent best value for money, offer the best prospects of increasing active participation by the public in recycling and waste minimisation schemes, and are most appropriate for delivery at a local level.
Further details including eligibility, evaluation criteria, timetable, application forms and guidance notes for the initial competition for the £1.7M are available from the WRAP website at www.wrap.org.uk or can be obtained by contacting WRAP's fund management team on 0161 874 3663, email wraplcf@enviros.com
Enviros Completes GLA Review Work on available best practice guidance for the London Waste Collection Authorities
Enviros has recently completed work for the Greater London Authority, assessing available best practice guidance for the London Waste Collection Authorities. As part of this work Enviros reviewed 50 reports covering diverse topics from kerbside collection, to CA sites, communication and waste prevention.
The link below provides a brief summary of the reports' content and indicates the best way to get hold of copies (most are available free over the web).
http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/waste/best_practice.jsp
Enviros speaks at 8th Annual Composting Conference (18 October, 2003)
Phil Wallace, Consulting Group Manager of Enviros' Market Development team is speaking at the 8th Annual Composting Conference on 'Assessing the benefits and efficacy of compost use'. Phil's talk will cover the benefits of organic matter, nutrients and beneficial micro-organisms contained in compost, together with an assessment of the use of compost in agriculture, landscaping and horticulture.
The conference is organised by The Composting Association and takes place on 3-4 December 2003 at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham. The keynote presentation is being given by John Burns, Head of the Waste Management Implementation Programme at DEFRA. Phil will be speaking in the 'Benefits of using composts' session on the morning of the second day.
For further information on the conference visit www.compostingconference.co.uk
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