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Posts Tagged ‘Skip Hire Industry News’

Councils dismiss bin collection money as ‘inadequate’

Posted on: April 1st, 2012 by Sam H

Councils across the UK are shunning a £250 million Government bid to encourage them to switch back from fortnightly rubbish collections to weekly bin rounds, a survey has suggested.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles first announced the pot of money before last autumn’s Tory party conference to improve weekly rubbish collections and reverse the trend towards picking up household rubbish only once every two weeks.

The funding is available to councils which return to or maintain weekly waste collections which Mr Pickles has described as a “basic right”, and to cut the number of bins for householders, bring in weekly food waste rounds and boost recycling.

But a survey conducted by the Press Association, before the March 16 deadline for expressing initial interest in funding, suggested little appetite for a shift back from fortnightly to weekly bin rounds, including among Tory councils.

Almost half – 26 – of the 59 English councils which responded to the poll said they would not apply for funding or were unlikely to do so, while a quarter – 13 – said they would or were likely to. Another 20 were considering whether to apply now or in the future, had made no decision or gave no answer.

Overall, 20 out of 34 responding local authorities who already run systems where residual waste is picked up every two weeks said they would not or were unlikely to apply for funding. Not one of the councils with fortnightly rubbish collections said they planned to apply for funding to increase the frequency with which they collect black-bin rubbish.

Local authorities who are turning down the cash said it would not cover the costs of a return to weekly collections and raised concerns that funding was only available for three years, although councils had to guarantee weekly bin rounds for five years under the scheme.

They also said the move towards fortnightly collections had boosted recycling rates significantly and that there was no demand from householders for a return to more frequent waste rounds.

A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “Rubbish collections are the most visible service people get from their £120-a-month council tax bill and ministers believe every household in England has a basic right to have their rubbish collected every week. The Government’s £250 million weekly collection support scheme is there to help councils retain or reinstate weekly residual waste and improve recycling services for their residents. Councils who choose to reject this fund are kicking local residents in the teeth by leaving them with a second-rate service.”

University students dive into bins to improve recycling

Posted on: March 27th, 2012 by Sam H

When students at Grand Valley State University wanted to find out how well they recycled their waste, they jumped into the bins to look for themselves!

In late February, the students of the University took a week to analyse exactly what they were throwing away and how good they all were at recycling – all thanks to an initiative which started on the Holland Meijer Campus.

The idea came about last autumn when students and staff from the University’s Green Team – a group that monitor the environmental impact the organisation have – wondered how the brand new recycling programme — a collaboration with the Holland Rescue Mission — was coming along, said Lisa Miller, spokeswoman for the Holland Meijer Campus.

“We wanted to make sure we were giving them stuff,” Miller said of the partnership through which recycled products provide money and work for the mission’s job-training program.

In order to see how many recyclables were being shipped to the mission and how many were being thrown out, the team decided to go straight to the bins around the campus. They took out the bags of waste and ripped them open. According to Miller, what they found in there was rather shocking.

About 85-90 percent of what was put into the bins as waste for the landfill could have been sent away as recyclables. To combat this, the University made the drastic move of removing all bins from all of the classrooms and offices on the Holland campus.

Within five weeks of going without bins for their waste, the team checked out the contents of their bins again this November. They found that they had reduced the amount of thrown-out recyclable materials to about 25 percent of what it was before the bin-less plan.

Emily DeLano, a graduate assistant at the Holland Meijer Campus and coordinator of the dives, said the team found that fast food cups, wrappers from confectionary items, paper and drink cans were the items thrown in the waste most often.

Students on the GVSU Allendale campus, USA, this week emptied an eight-cubic-yard waste bin to sort the contents into recycle, compost and landfill piles and came across similar findings.

“We walked away with only two bags of materials that were for the landfill; the rest could have been recycled or composted,” said Cassandra Beach, vice president of the school’s Student Environmental Coalition.

“It’s great. Just as much as Allendale is asking us questions, we’re asking them questions.”

The dumpster dive took place as Grand Valley completes the first full week of Recyclemania, a 10-week, national competition among colleges and universities in America to collect the largest amount of recyclables and the least amount of landfill waste.

Among the Michigan colleges and universities participating in the competition, GVSU was in first place for composting and second place for waste minimization. During the first week of the competition in 2010, GVSU recycled 27 percent of its waste stream, and this year it’s at 38 percent – highlighting the vast improvement the University has made recently.

Skip hire owner defiant after court victory

Posted on: March 23rd, 2012 by Sam H

The owner of a skip hire firm has said that he vows to continue with his business after winning a High Court battle against the taxman, despite the potential loss of his permit to transfer waste.

Albert Hill Skip Hire, based in Darlington, had a winding up order against them dismissed by the Chancery Division of the High Court, in London, after the court heard that the outstanding tax owed to HM Revenue and Customs had been fully paid by the business.

The company has been subject to a number of legal challenges over its operating practices and, subject to a right of appeal, faces having its licence to transfer waste revoked by the Environment Agency on March 9.

If the permit does get revoked, then the company will no longer be able to legally operate its waste transfer station based at St Nicholas Industrial Estate.

The owner of Albert Hill Skip Hire, Antony Shepherd, has said that he is continuing to operate his business and is in the process of appealing against the application to revoke his permit.

“I’ve had customers calling me up and asking what’s going on but I’m still in business. The enforcement notice does not come into force until March 9. I’m appealing that enforcement notice,” said Mr Shepherd.

“As for the winding up order, the court judgement says that the taxes have been paid and the case is dismissed.”

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “We suspended the permit for Albert Hill Skip Hire in July last year. It is still suspended but we issued a revocation notice which does not take effect until March 9.

“That means they have a permit but it is suspended, so they cannot take any waste on to the site, but they can take steps to make the site workable. They can treat waste that is already on the site but they can’t take anything else on there.”

The enforcement action by the Environment Agency came to light following a raid on the company’s premises by police and agency officers in early February. During the raid, three people were arrested in connection with offences under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 and bailed.

Metal thieves ram-raid scrap firm

Posted on: March 19th, 2012 by Sam H

Lytham St Annes Skip Hire and Gilletts Environmental Ltd in Fylde has been ram-raided and robbed by burglars who stole scrap metal and tools from the premises.

Now Andy Gillett, who owns the company, has said that he is offering a £1,000 reward in a bid to catch robbers who left thousands of pounds of damage.

Mr Gillett says raiders rammed a vehicle through the 16ft high steel gates to break into the premises on Boundary Road in Lytham. The burglars then stole scrap metal and tools, leaving the business with a huge loss of more than £3,000 and damage in excess of £2,000.

“They’ve been quite brutal in the damage they have done. They have used a large vehicle to ram the steel gates. They are 16ft high and 15ft wide and they’ve smashed them up,” said Mr Gillett, from Lytham.

“You can see skid marks on the ground where they have been ramming into the gates.

“They’ve cut the locks off the shipping containers and stolen copper, stainless steel and equipment including a boring tool.

“This is the fourth time I’ve been robbed in two years. They are taking my livelihood away from me.”

Mr Gillett, who is so determined the thieves are caught, he is offering a reward which leads to the conviction of the crooks, received a phone call on Sunday morning from another businessman on the site to let him know that the premises had been severely damaged and burgled.

He is also planning to spend £5,000 on installing extra gates and CCTV cameras at the site for more security to prevent another raid.

“I’m offering £1,000 for the conviction of whoever is responsible. I’m so angry. They need to be caught,” he added.

It is thought that the burglars broke into the premises sometime between 11.30am on Saturday and 10.30am on Sunday.

“Officers have carried out inquiries with nearby local business and made house to house inquiries. They have also been looking at CCTV and crime scene investigators have been at the site,” said a Police spokesperson.

“An incident like this has a massive impact on a business and we would urge anyone who may have seen anything suspicious over the weekend or if they have come across anyone trying to off-load the stolen goods to contact us.

“The neighbourhood policing team have been made aware and are carrying out reassurance work in the area.”

Recently, Theresa May and a group of MPs set up a Private Members Bill that called for a ban on cash transactions and an introduction of uncapped fines for people caught trading in stolen scrap metal. To read more on this, check out February’s issue of Skip Hire Magazine.

If you would like to order any back copies Contact Sophie on 0161 482 6214.

Major fire at Perth recycling plant

Posted on: March 16th, 2012 by Sam H

Perth recycling plant in Scotland has suffered a major fire, with 100 tonnes of paper and cardboard going up in flames.

Firefighters tackled the blaze as staff at Wyllie recycling and units surrounding the plant were evacuated for their safety due to the fire.

Tayside Fire claimed that their efforts to tackle the fire – which could be seen for miles around – had been “severely hampered” by exploding gas canisters. A lack of water within the area had also hindered the operation, according to the fire service.

Emergency services were called to the Inveralmond industrial estate at 07:40. At its top height, the fire caused a mile-high plume of black smoke; however the blaze was then brought under control. Another four buildings just by the recycling centre were also damaged by the heat and smoke.

Gerry Scott, 27, witnessed the incident as he was driving to work in Perth in the morning, he said he saw the smoke rising from the recycling plant in Ruthvenfield Way and pulled over to watch what was going on with other motorists and evacuated workers from the estate.

“You could feel the heat from it a long way back. Then there was a loud crack, like a car backfiring or fireworks going off, and that must have been some sort of gas canister,” said Mr Scott.

“You could clearly see bits of it flying through the air and the largest piece tore right through the roof of the factory and something like 60ft into the sky.

“As soon as we heard the bang we all legged it. People were running for their lives and it’s just as well they did because bits were landing near where they had been standing.”

Other motorists were reported to have said they could see the smoke from the blaze up to 20 miles away.

Tayside Fire and Rescue sent a combination of 10 fire engines and 70 firefighters – as well as an aerial ladder platform and a command support unit – from right across Perthshire to fight the blaze.

The blaze is not thought to be suspicious, though an investigation has been launched to discover the source.

A Tayside Police spokesman said residents who live nearby had been advised to keep their windows closed as smoke was blown across the area.

“At the fire’s height, fire units had to draw water from the nearby River Almond to help douse the blaze and up to 300 people were evacuated. All people have been accounted for and no-one was reported injured,” said the spokesman.

Scottish Water said people living near the incident may have had their water cut off or experienced low pressure, with the fire service having to tap into the mains supply for water to fight the blaze.

A spokesman Scottish Water added: “When supplies are fully restored customers may also experience some discolouration to their supply, this discolouration is harmless and will gradually disappear as the system returns to normal.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience and cooperation.”