Archive for the 'Albion Environmental News' Category

05th Aug 2010

Intro to Waste Management Legislation 2 Day Course – 15th & 16th September 2010 – Glasgow

Albion Environmental Ltd have developed an introductory Course for Waste Managers and operational staff.
This two-day course is designed to provide a basic understanding of the legislation relating to the Waste industry and provide background Knowledge and Understanding for WAMITAB candidates.
The Course has been designed for those new to the Industry, anyone starting or completing WAMITAB COTC or experienced managers who require to be kept abreast of recent changes.
"….this course was really interesting as it made me more aware of information that I wasn't 100% sure of…….the manner in which both of you put across the information was excellent and very clear." W Spence, Shanks
Objective
  • Provide evidence of the knowledge & understanding aspects required for most units of WAMITAB’s Certificate of Technical Competence (COTC’s)
  • Understand the practical aspects of:
    • The Definition of Waste
    • The Duty of Care
    • Registration of Carriers
    • Special Waste Regulations
    • Transport of Wastes (Including Dangerous Goods)
  • Provide a basic understanding of the relevant parts of The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974
For more information – click here or call Jayne on 01292 610428

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27th Jul 2010

HSE – Inspection in the Waste and Recycling Industry in 2010/11

HSE alerts inspectors to a planned inspection campaign within the waste and recycling industry during 20010/11. Inspections should be targeted at skip-hire operations and associated recycling activities, particularly those where hand sorting of recyclables ('totting') takes place, and has specific emphasis on management of workplace transport risks. Full details HERE
 
If you need any help/advice regarding your site, please contact us for an informal discussion.

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21st Jul 2010

Local Authority Waste Analysis

Albion Environmental Ltd is pleased to announce they will be conducting a second quarterly  Waste Analysis service for one of our Local Authorities. The service can be provided for un-segregated waste, segregated waste and residual waste. Detailed Method Statement and Risk Assessments are discussed and agreed with the client.
Waste analysis will be carried out as per the ‘Scottish Household Waste Analysis Methodology’ specification. This document lists 18 categories in which the waste will be sorted into. In previous waste analyses we have broken down the waste further into sub-categories which total 31 different fractions
 
Albion Environmental Ltd is an experienced Waste Analysis contractor (see attached client list) and we will provide the following as standard-
·                Provision of experienced analysis supervisor.
·                Trained and experienced staff that have completed waste analysis work before.
·                All staff will be trained as a minimum in manual handling, safe handling of waste and needle stick injuries.
·                We will also ensure that at least one member of staff will be an appointed First Aid person for the duration of the work.
·                All necessary PPE for staff as per Risk Assessment.
·                Electronic scales to allow accurate weighing of waste types.
·                All necessary equipment to complete analysis with the exception of wheeled bins to sort waste into.
A copy of our Waste Audit Procedure which includes standard risk assessment, needle stick injury procedure and COSHH assessments can also be provided for your information
Waste Analysis service is primarily geared at gaining good quality, consistent data to allow Local Authorities to continue to expand and improve their collection methods. For further information and informal discussion please contact us.

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16th Jul 2010

Continued Competence

CIWM and WAMITAB's 'Operator Competence Scheme' (the Scheme') for England and Wales only has a requirement for individuals to keep their competence up to date. Therefore all competent persons falling within the Scheme will be required to demonstrate Continuing Competence and this will be appropriate to the level of risk posed by the facility so that it remains proportional. Although this only applies to England and Wales if you wish to keep your qualification current for the whole of the UK you need to complete this test.
 
Further information relating to this scheme and how you book your test is available HERE
 
Albion has provided the following support to candidates to prepare them for completing this test.
 
We have prepared a mock test which is available HERE
This test is free to use and is available to anyone who registers and agrees to a disclaimer.
 
In addition we have also prepared a 1 day CIWM and WAMITAB's 'Operator Competence Scheme' refresher course to assist with candidate revision. The purpose of this course is to prepare candidates to allow them to successfully complete their test.
We will shortly be arranging a number of open courses around the UK further details to follow. Alternatively, if your organisation has a number of COTC holders, we would be happy to deliver the course inhouse for you up to a maximum of 16 candidates per session.
 
We trust you have found this information useful, if you wish to book an in house course please contact us 01292 610428 or online

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30th Jun 2010

Scotland Pioneer Zero Waste Plan

Scotland Debut – Zero Waste Plan
In June, Scotland become one of the first countries in the world to set out plans to become a "zero waste society", announcing a series of new initiatives and targets designed to ultimately reclassify waste as a valuable resource. (www.businessgreen.com)
The plan includes a range of new targets, including a commitment to ensure only five per cent of waste is sent to landfill by 2025 with 70 per cent of waste being recycled and the remaining 25 per cent reused or employed by waste-to-energy plants.
An additional target will aim to ensure that all waste with recycling or reuse potential is diverted from landfill by 2020.
A spokeswoman for the government said the targets would cover all waste, including commercial, construction and industrial.
"In the past the targets have only covered municipal waste, which is a relatively small part of the waste stream," she said, adding that the aim of the new plan was to create a wide-ranging framework that encourages businesses and households to treat waste as a valuable resource.
The new targets will not be enforced using fines, but the government signaled it would introduce a range of new regulations designed to boost recycling rates, including landfill bans on waste types such as glass, metal and timber.
It added that it would also roll out separate collections of certain waste types, including food waste, in order to increase recycling rates and limit the cross contamination of waste streams.
Speaking at the official launch of the zero waste plan in Edinburgh, Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead said that reducing waste levels would deliver huge economic and commercial benefits for the country.
"In recent years, the people of Scotland have made substantial progress in cutting waste but households, businesses and wider society still produces enough waste to fill an Olympic size swimming pool every 10 minutes," he said. " Viewing waste as a resource opens many doors; rather than carelessly discarding materials to landfill, we can create new products and generate renewable energy, heat and fertiliser while creating more than 2,000 jobs."
The new plan was accompanied by an immediate commitment from recycling and waste-to-energy specialist Viridor to invest up to £800m over the next five years to build new facilities in the country.
Colin Paterson, Viridor's Scottish regional director, hailed the new action plan as "rightly ambitious and visionary", but warned that the target will only be met if planning barriers to new waste infrastructure is overcome.
"We can't afford another two, three or four years of planning delays," he argued, adding that the government should now approve projects such as the company's proposed energy from waste plant in Dunbar.
If you would like any advice/assistance for planning/permits for your company or information/guidance on waste please do not hesitate to contact Albion on 01292610428 / info@albion-environmental.co.uk

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22nd Jun 2010

Albion to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Care in Great Scottish Run 2010

5th September 2010 – Albion Environmental Ltd have decided raise money for MacMillan cancer care whilst at the same time challenging ourselves to jointly covering just short of 40 miles competing in the Great Scottish Run. 
Jonathan & Alasdair (being the slightly slimmer members of staff!!) will complete a half marathon each and Gary & Billy will each complete 10k.
All sponsorship can be made on www.justgiving.com/albion and will be gratefully received.

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17th Jun 2010

Govt to carry out full review of waste policy in England

The Government is to carry out a full review of waste policy in England, looking at the most effective ways of reducing waste, maximising the money to be made from waste and recycling, and how waste policies affect local communities and individual households. (https://nds.coi.gov.uk)
Announcing the review at the Futuresource conference (on 15th June 2010), Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said:
“There is an economic and environmental urgency to developing the right waste strategy.
“We have been slowly moving in the right direction with recycling rates. The direction of travel is right – it’s the pace that’s the problem. We need to go faster and we need to go further.”
The review will  include:
·    the effect of waste policies on local communities and individual households, and how local authorities can best work with people to make the best decisions;
·    maximising the contribution of the waste and recycling industries to the UK economically and environmentally;
·    how we work towards the “zero waste economy”, and drastically reduce the amount of waste created and valuable resources sent to landfill, looking at the entire process from source to end of life; and
·    new approaches to dealing with commercial waste and promoting ‘responsibility deals’, reducing the amount of waste generated by production and retail.
Caroline Spelman continued:
“We need a new approach to waste – one which works for the new economy. We cannot keep putting recyclable and biodegradable material into landfill. It threatens the environment and wastes what are incredibly valuable natural resources.
“We have an unprecedented opportunity to create the green jobs, green growth, and take our share of the green jobs of the future.”

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15th Jun 2010

Continued Competence Scheme

On Monday 7th June, Alasdair Meldrum of Albion Environmental Ltd received his award of Certificate on Continuing Competence. The continuing competence scheme was developed jointly by WAMITAB & CIWM and approved by Defra & the Welsh Assembly Government.
The award provides evidence maintaining competence over time and meets the specific requirements of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2007. For further information on Continuing Competence please click.
To contact Albion to discuss how you go about updating your COTC, please click 

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11th Jun 2010

Albion host visit from 20 Romanian guests of SQA

On Friday 28th May, Albion Environmental Ltd were pleased to play host to SQA and 20 visitors from Romania. During their visit they were shown around our approved centre and received a presentation on how an approved SQA centre is run. A follow up message from SQA was emailed showing the feedback from the visit.  “You will see that levels of satisfaction were very high and that the visit was a success. Many thanks to you all once again for your support and invaluable contributions” Mike Hewitt (SQA)

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03rd May 2010

Waste Heat Pilot Project

The Scottish Government have asked Caledonian Environment Centre (CEC) as part of its Remade Scotland programme to manage a tendering, evaluation and funding project for a pilot on a heat from waste or EfW (Energy from Waste) plants. This project was suggested by the Zero Waste Think Tank for Scotland.
It is expected that suitable projects will contribute to the flexible development of waste heat use from plants in line with the Governments policy to ensure waste and EfW systems recover energy efficiently.
Specifically the project will look to cover a number of factors or issues including:
· Technical Evaluation
· System optimisation
· Scale-up costs
· Barriers
· Energy recovery – heat capture and transfer efficiency
· Innovation
Following submission of tenders for the funding an award was made in April to Gray Composting Services Ltd. The grant will be used at an existing organics treatment centre in Aberdeenshire to pilot a scheme designed to recover heat from the maturing compost and demonstrate that it can be used as an energy source.
 Albion have recently acted as main consultant/advisor to Gray Composting Services Ltd,
 The main objectives of the project were to –
  1. Demonstrate that energy can be extracted and used to replace fossil fuel sources
  2. Demonstrate that existing heat pump technology could be utilised to extract the energy.
  3. Provide a basis for scaling up this work and also provide real data to encourage best practice with similar facilities across the UK.
 
The biodegradable organic waste that was treated at this facility would have been traditionally disposed of at local municipal landfill sites. However this option is no longer available under the ABP regulations and much of this waste was being transferred out with the Region. This facility provides a local processing solution for food, fish and catering business waste, and produces a sellable PAS100 compost product.
For more information, please contact us.

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