Leading UK plastic recycling firm, J&A Young (Leicester) Ltd., has opened a plastics sorting plant just outside Derby. The plant, located in South Normanton, has the capabilities to sort 78,000 tonnes of plastics bottles per year. The bottles, as well as some types of mixed plastics, will be collected from local authorities, small industrial businesses, and national supermarket franchises. J&A Young, established in 1975, currently operated two other facilities in Loughborough. These sites include a production plant designed to reprocesses plastic film into other items such as refuse sacks. The South Normanton site is set up to recycle a number of items, ... Full Story

When people go into large projects, they know that big obstacles are a distinct possibility. The members of the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) found out just how big an obstacle can get when they were informed that their £3 billion waste PFI contract may be facing up to a three year delay. The delay, possible due to problems with site acquisition, could potentially cost the Authority £405 million. The major issues facing the MWDA are the acquisition of building sites. The proposed sites will be two energy recovery facilities with the ability to process 325,000 tonnes of waste per year. ... Full Story

Image Microsystems is a Texas based company that specializes in remanufacturing computers and ink cartridges. The firm is committed to recycling these products and making the world a greener and more efficient place. "Probably fifteen to twenty million pieces of ink cartridges did not go to landfill because of this process," said CEO Alex Abadi. "Our impact that we're trying to make sure that we understand is to recover every bit of plastic that comes into this possibly where we can remanufacture it," company VP Jim Rollins added. In addition to the company's green efforts, it also provides work experience for students and ... Full Story

Beginning in September, the Household Waste Recovery Centre (HWRC) in Morpeth will close in order to undergo significant renovations designed to increase its overall size. The facility is scheduled to be operational in February 2009. The new and improved design will be a split level which will save users from climbing stairs. In addition, this will allow an increase in the amount of recyclables processed at the site. The floor plan will have a higher safety profile, providing separate access points to improve traffic flow and decrease congestion currently caused by individual and public collection vehicles. The plan will also permit ... Full Story

Wincanton, a logistics firm, has started working on its second UK WEEE recycling plant. The £5 million site's plans went before council in March, showing that the new facility would have the ability to process up to 100,000 tonnes of electronic and electrical waste per year. The new facility will be located in Daventry in Northamptonshire. Wincanton's first UK site which opened in 2006 is located in Billingham, Teeside. The work at the Daventry site will begin with administrative and warehousing facilities. Building areas for equipment and other sites will take place in October 2008. Wincanton has projected that it will be able to ... Full Story

A Spanish based firm had announced plans to build a £250m recycled paper mill in Trafford. Upon completion, the plant is expected to create 200 new jobs for residents. Headquartered in Zaragoza, SAICA is a family-owned operation that has proposed using Partington Wharfside as the UK base for what it claims will be "the world's most advanced recycled paper mill". According to SAICA, the mill is expected to produce 400,000 tonnes of 100% recycled paper that will be used in the production of corrugated boxes. The company currently recycles more than 2m tonnes of paper per annum and has an employee ... Full Story

British based New Earth Solutions Limited, a waste treatment and resource recovery company, has teamed up with Isle of Man-based The Premier Group, an investment fund provider, to launch a fund which will be used to invest in NES's recycling and waste management facilities throughout the UK. This will be the UK's first recycling and composting fund launched to attract retail investors. NES has stated that "strict landfill diversion targets for local authorities combined with economic incentives for resource recovery and sustainable energy generation presented significant opportunities to waste management companies and the investment community". The fund will invest in the existing ... Full Story

The Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service responded to a report of a fire in progress at Armstrong Environmental Services, on Chorley New Road in Horwich, near Bolton last week. Reports show that nearly 3,500 tonnes of recycled wood was damaged at the site, which collects waste for both residential and commercial clients. The height of one of the wood piles, which may have been as tall as 20 metres high, required firefighters to call for further assistance which required the use of two aerial platforms. Fortunately, there were no reported injuries. The blaze was large enough that firefighters had to ... Full Story

Approval has been granted to the Beddington Integrated Waste and Recycling Centre in south London. The Sutton council has given consent for the construction of the anaerobic digestion facility to begin. Viridor Waste Management, the company responsible for managing the Beddington Integrated Waste and Recycling Centre, received the council's permission to conduct alterations to the facility in order to increase the amount of waste currently handled by the facility. The facility currently handles 350,000 tonnes of waste. The alterations and addition of the AD facility will assist local authorities in complying with the government landfill diversion targets and will also assist ... Full Story

Recycling Action Yorkshire is set to undergo a major transformation, including a name change. As part of the transformation, the company will utilise a £9.8 million investment to expand its focus beyond recycling to encompass resource efficiency. Recycling Action Yorkshire is part of the Yorkshire Forward development agency which operates as a not-for-profit business. The new name of the organisation will now be Resource Efficiency Yorkshire (REY). REY will focus efforts on "aligning support and investment to increase demand from businesses for resource efficiency improvements, new environmental technologies and services, while at the same time boosting the number, and capacity, of service ... Full Story

A £60 million waste wood energy plant to be located at Blackburn Meadows has been approved by the Sheffield city council. The project, contracted to E.On, will be a large-scale biomass power station with the capacity to burn approximately 180,000 tonnes of locally sourced waste wood per year. The facility will be the power company's largest undertaking to date. The waste wood will be used as a biomass fuel and the proposed power station is expected to have the ability to generate "up to 25 megawatts of electricity, producing power for up to 40,000 homes". The company's regional director for climate ... Full Story

Swiss-based firm Citron SA, one of the largest battery recycling firms across Europe, has joined forces with Hampshire-based firm Loddon Recycling. Together, the companies will make battery recycling a simpler and more convenient process. Loddon chose to partner with Citron after executives saw the recycling facility first hand. They were also impressed by Citron's claims of 100% efficiency. The partnership will help the UK comply more easily with the EU Battery Directive, promoting the collection of portable batteries. The scheme, known as Citron Recycle, will promote a "UK-wide collection network" developed by Loddon. Under the scheme, batteries will be transported to the ... Full Story