Materials Recycling World

Our September issue is out now - packed with news and views including a Big Interview with Biffa chief executive Michael Topham. Labour has indicated it will continue with the previous administration's backing of sustainable air fuel - and is also conducting a review of the resources and waste strategy. A crime scene investigator tells us about her efforts to cut down on plastic waste. New officers employed by train operator Avanti are helping to boost recycling rates. https://lnkd.in/efwU3XfR

The £300m Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TV ERF) will not enter full operation until 2029 after delays finding electricity off-takers. Chair of the energy-from-waste facility’s project board and managing director of Hartlepool Borough Council, Denise McGuckin, wrote to ministers this week to explain current progress. “On current timescales, Optimised Final Tenders are expected to be received by the end of this year and a Preferred Tenderer appointed in 2025,” wrote McGuckin in an open letter to energy secretary Ed Miliband. The facility is being commissioned by seven councils in the north-east - Darlington, Durham, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton - to process 450,000 tonnes of residual waste a year, generating 49.9MW of electricity. https://lnkd.in/gCAxE5Rz

Textile prices have continued to drop in recent weeks placing collectors and other operators in the supply chain under increasing pressure, prompting renewed calls for sector collaboration to stave off a collapse in the market. Some merchants have reported that the prices of charity shop rags and textile bank material is still falling, as the value of material drops and onward export prices and opportunities dwindle due to a range of factors. The price of material from charity shops reported to MRW around the end of July was typically ranging from around £50 to £150 per tonne. https://lnkd.in/gMjuxJBx

Packaging manufacturer Duo says more information is needed to understand the effectiveness of the plastic packaging tax. "The previous government promised an evaluation of the PPT and we now need clarity from the current government about when this evaluation will be available,” said director Zoe Brimelow, calling for greater clarity over how PPT revenue is being used. "The policy objective of the PPT was intended to support increased demand for recycled plastic packaging and to increase levels of recycling. The UK’s closed-loop recycling infrastructure requires investment to support these policy objectives and it would be good to see PPT monies being invested in this area." https://lnkd.in/g5nfdM7t

Unite is threatening industrial action in Birmingham following the announcement of a consultation on removing the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer role. In March, the council proposed that workers fulfilling this role would be downgraded to save £180,000 and £200,000 over the following two years. Claiming that the WRCO jobs are ‘safety critical’, Unite says around 150 staff performing the role would lose an average of around £8,000 a year under the plans. https://lnkd.in/gVu-5_Rm

Industry hails progress and clarity after 'period of stagnation' though Government warns actual fees may vary ‘significantly’ Defra has published illustrative figures for eight materials in response to industry calls for greater clarity about costs. The Government is to publish refined figures for the illustrative base fees in September and the actual rates for the first year of the EPR scheme for packaging - 2025/26 - won’t be known until April 2025. “Government recognises that obligated producers may wish to use the higher or lower estimates to assess worst and best case scenarios,” said Defra. “This is not recommended.” https://lnkd.in/gCC85tq3

Political indecision has rendered much of the resources and waste strategy out of date, says the CIWM. Having reviewed the 2018 reform programme, it said only a fifth of the policies have been fully implemented, with a further 54% only partially in place. “The ambitious scale of the strategy was never matched by the resources made available within Government to deliver it,” said Lee Marshall, director of innovation and technical services. “Whilst it is good to see that Defra has been slightly bolstered in recent years, the fact is that political indecision has left the original timelines meaningless in many cases.” https://lnkd.in/gcfizzEj

Unite trade union members at Redbridge Civic Services are to walk out for two weeks in a dispute over working conditions. Redbridge Civic Services was set up in 2018 as a local authority owned company but is described by the council as independent. Unite said workers employed by Redbridge Civic Services were “subject to far worse conditions than their council employed colleagues". It added: “Workers are unhappy with a range of workplace issues that the council has failed to address despite pleas from workers.” https://lnkd.in/gCWazq7t

The Environment Agency has accepted donation offers totalling almost £1.1m in lieu of prosecution for companies in breach of packaging waste regulations. The enforcement undertakings, from 17 companies over the period from November 2023 to 26 July 2024 period, involve an offending company offering to rectify damage caused. The largest donation for offences under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 will be £414,003.54, contributed by brewer Budweiser Budvar UK to Keep Britain Tidy. https://lnkd.in/gFWiqc3F

Suez Recycling and Recovery UK has worked with contractors on the preliminary engineering and design for two of its carbon capture projects in the East Coast Cluster. It said this was now ready for an application for funding from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. Successful implementation of these projects would pave the way for the adoption of carbon capture solution across all Suez’s EfW sites, the company said. https://lnkd.in/gvUHbqjv