Planning permission for a new recycling plant in Shropshire has been granted. The sheet-metal warehouse, which will be located in Bridgnorth, was proposed by Veolia Environmental Services Ltd in November last year. The plans were not well received by local residents, however, who staged a protest at the proposed site and lodged around 300 objections to the idea, which they said would cause traffic problems and cause smells and noise. Veolia, however, have been given the go-ahead by Shropshire Council after claiming that the land is the only suitable site in the whole country. The company said it had revised its original ... Full Story

London Mayor Boris Johnson has officially set work in motion a new £80 million recycling plant which will see household rubbish from 15,000 homes in east London transformed into electricity. In what is the UK’s first large-scale gasification facility, 20 megawatts of green energy will be produced from 100,000 tonnes of waste when operations finally start in 2013. Speaking at the press event, Mr Johnson said that the process of miraculously turning everyday rubbish into electricity will allow Londoners to rest easily, knowing that their waste is not contributing to landfill sites or greenhouse gas emissions. Biossence East London, which is in ... Full Story

Ministers have been asked to consider launching a public review into a largely controversial decision by councilors in North Yorkshire to approve a £1bn waste contract, which includes a new incinerator. MPs opposing the proposal to construct a waste management plant between Harrogate and York are set to lobby the Government to prevent the scheme. The bid to have the approval overridden is being lead by Selby and Ainsty MP Nigel Adams along with his Parliamentary peer Andrew Jones, both of whom have been vocal against the project. Yesterday, it was revealed that county councilors agreed ... Full Story

North Yorkshire County Council has awarded the controversial 25-year waste management contraction to AmeyCespa for North Yorkshire and York. The decision follows Government approval to use part of the funds allocated in PFI credits – a type of grant – to pay out the contract. The solution proposed by AmeyCespa will include recovery of nonrecyclable waste and will allow York and North Yorkshire to exceed their goal of 50 per cent waste recycled by 2020. Technologies proposed for the waste management include reclamation and mechanical sorting of nearly 20,000 tonnes of municipal waste each year. Anaerobic Digestion ... Full Story

A new £1m recycling facility has opened in Leicestershire village for public use. The county council-owned site sits on the edge of Moutsorrel and will replace the centre at Sileby, which has now gone defunct. Local residents first opposed the building on Granite Way as fears grew that the facility would cause noise pollution and increase traffic. The council, however, said that the recycling centre would greatly reduce pollution and allow for more efficiency than the previous site. Protestors continued to oppose the move, however, saying the building would be too close to residential areas Over a ... Full Story

Dublin’s waste will be sent to landfills across the country costing the Government €20m, pulled from taxpayer funding, because the capital’s dumpsites are now at capacity. The Poolbeg incinerator has seen a series of delays amidst a deepening waste crisis. Environment Minister, John Gormley, who has opposed the incinerator project from the beginning, continues to campaign against the facility being built. Meanwhile, rubbish trucks are hired to cart the city’s waste off to other areas of the country as the capital awaits a more permanent waste solution. The extra cost for taxpayers to send waste into up to 10 counties could reach ... Full Story

Sita announced a new scheme to build 10 plants designed to turn old plastic into diesel fuel. The Suez Environment-owned waste company will create 120 jobs and spend nearly £50m building 10 state-of-the-art facilities, which will convert ‘end-of-life’ plastic waste into oil-based petrol. The move will prevent previously unusable plastic waste from ending up in landfill. In what will be Europe’s first plastic-to-diesel plant, the scheme will see 60,000 tonnes of mixed plastics rubbish recycled in to fuel per year. The pioneering technology is made by Irish firm Cynar and marks the first commercially-capable plastic-to-diesel machinery. Chief executive of Sita, David Palmer-Jones said ... Full Story

Plans for a £20m recycling facility have been revealed in a development that will bring 30 new jobs to Inverness. According to reports, the Iverness Harbour recycling plant will create 30 new permanent positions for skilled workers and bring even more temporary jobs during construction. The facility will also reduce the amounts of waste being sent to landfill by converting it to biomass fuel. The plant will be using a new system called auto-claving and building will be strictly monitored by Scotland’s Environment Protection Agency. Although auto-claving has been used for over a century to sterilise equipment, the technique has just recently ... Full Story

A serious chemical fire at PHS Waste Management plant has resulted in three men being injured. The blaze, which followed a chemical explosion at the Tollgate Road facility in Burscough, began about 10am Tuesday morning. Taking sixty firefighters to combat the fire at its height, fire crews were able to prevent the flames from spreading to surrounding buildings. Two of the workers were taken to Whiston Hospital, where they received treatment for burns on their hands and faces. A third worker, 52, was airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital to receive treatment. During the peak of the blaze, smoke billowed up into the air ... Full Story

Burntwood’s household rubbish recycling centre has been saved in the wake of controversial plans to shut down the facility. The recycling centre, which was originally set to close its doors in July, was given temporary permission to stay open after local residents began campaigning to save the facility. Residents claimed that closing the centre would lead to increased amounts of fly-tipping in the area. In a bid to halt the closure, local residents handed in a 12,222-signature petition to the local authority. Today, Staffordshire County Council confirmed that the centre will remain open after it had reviewed original plans to scrap the ... Full Story

Adnams’ brewing waste is now used to produce biogas that feeds back into the national grid. The brewery, based in Suffolk, uses the left over methane from its malted barley to generate a biogas using the process of anaerobic digestion. With the new technology, the brewing company hopes to provide an environmental fuel for its lorry fleet as well as supply natural gas back to the grid. The plant will also utilise local food waste, including the scraps from seven local supermarkets. According to the brewery, waste from just 600 pints of beer can generate enough gas supply for one home per ... Full Story

Suffolk council is seeking new ways to generate energy using household rubbish that is not eligible for recycling schemes. In its latest bid, the council has approved a new facility that will turn waste-to-energy. Contracted out to SITA UKA, the county council has approved planning proposals for the £180m incinerator that will provide heat and electricity for residents using household rubbish. Currently, household waste not able to be recycled is sent directly to landfill. With the new facility, the council could see savings of up to £350m in landfill costs during the course of 25 years. The process will generate enough power ... Full Story