Albion are pleased to announce that a new programme has been designed to help support the Government’s target of halving waste to landfill by 2012 by providing capital support for investment in processing capacity to enable the construction industry to recycle their waste arisings rather than dispose of them to landfill. 

The aim of the programme is to stimulate investment in additional capacity to recycle construction, demolition and excavation waste from construction sites into re-useable materials for reprocessors.    Value for money will be assessed against a number of criteria including additional tonnage diverted from landfill but will also recognise that the recovery of aggregates from inert waste is now accepted practice in England, so special consideration will be given to projects which provide capacity for recovering non-inert materials such as paper, card and wood. 

For more information click here.  If you would like to know more about how Albion can help your business receive the Capital grant, please do not hesitate  to contact us

Individual maps have also been prepared showing all operational licensed and permitted waste management facilities within each local authority area.  A full list of the facility types shown on these maps are:

• landfills;
• energy from waste plant and other incinerators;
• pet cemeteries/pet crematoria;
• civic amenity sites (recycling centres);
• metal recyclers (includes end of life vehicle and authorised treatment facilities);
• transfer stations;
• composting sites;
• anaerobic digestion plant;
• other treatment sites;
• multiple activity sites (those operating more than one activity).

 Recycling is still the most environmentally beneficial waste management option for materials such as paper, card and plastics, according to a report published March 16 2010 by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).  (www.letsrecycle.com )

Food and garden waste

On the topic of food and garden waste, anaerobic digestion emerged as the preferred treatment option, with composting and energy recovery deemed comparable in their contribution to climate change potential.

   Albion are pleased to have experience working with a number of recycling clients to achieve, assisting in the planning and implementation of in vessel composting facilities and anaerobic digestion sites. For further information (clickhere) or for contact details (contact)   

Albion Environmental Ltd Director, Alasdair Meldrum appeared live on BBC1 TV last Wednesday on their Homes Live programme.

Concern over alternate weekly collections and charging for waste collections had prompted the producers to present an item on waste management. As always with waste management the switch board was busy at the end of the programme – every one has there own good or bad story about waste and how they deal with it. Alasdair Meldrum emphasised that the main points were that everyone focuses on recycling, when the far more important steps are:-

• Reduce – do not make the waste in the first place
• Reuse – reuse, for example bags over and over again.

On the issue of charging it is all about raising a debate to encourage people to take responsibility for their waste. The waste industry is a service industry in the same way as gas or water is. We must therefore make sure the way we charge is fair and makes people take responsibility.

Albion are in the process of conducting several CA courses for local authorities. Some of these councils include North Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire and East Lothian.

We are very flexible with these courses and bring them to a venue of the client’s choice. For most of the local authorities we are running them over 3 separate days so as to take into consideration work patterns and accommodate all CA site staff.

The course is designed in a modular form and can be mixed and matched to meet the requirements of the client. The objectives, content & duration will depend on the number and choice of the modules picked. Each module is designed to last about 1.5 hours and the course is based on the core module and a minimum of 1 additional module (total of 4hrs). The modules (and objectives for each) are:

• Core Module (Intro to HRC & CA Sites): Understand the role of & current legislation regarding Household Recycling Centres & Civic Amenity sites
• Site Operations: Ensure waste is handled & stored correctly and the workplace complies with its duties under the “Duty of Care” Regulations & any Waste Management Licence requirements
• Intro to Waste Management: Understand the waste management methods for common household waste streams
• Customer Care: Understand how to deal with the public & handle aggressive behaviour in the workplace