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By Alan, on February 22nd, 2012
 A recycling company based in Leicester has opened a brand new Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in its home town. The Casepak facility, which can handle 150,00 tonnes per annum of recyclable materials, is located in the town’s Braunstone Frith Industrial Estate and cost the firm £21 million to develop.
This investment includes the use of modern technologies to maximise the amount of material which is recycled, cutting down on waste and improving efficiency. The Braunstone Frith site aims to recycle 95% of the materials which come its way – everything from glass and metal to paper and plastics – and any excess or non-recyclable material will be burned to provide energy for the facility.
One of the most important advancements that Casepak has included at its Leicester site is one of the latest sorting machines, from US company Bulk Handling Systems (BHS). As well as speeding up the recycling process for Casepak and its staff , the inclusion of this technology will make recycling mush easier for residents and businesses, as the machine will do their sorting for them.
Also included at the new site is a special screen for removing ink from paper and newsprint, to ensure that the recycled paper is of the best quality possible, and a special screen for scanning compacted material for any non-recyclable materials.
Local company GF Tomlinsons built the 145,000 square foot facility, which is located within easy reach of the nearby M1 motorway, but well away from any of Leicester’s residential areas. The Casepak site was opened recently, with Environment Minister Lord Taylor of Holbeach attending as the guest of honour.
Lord Taylor welcomed the opening of the new facility, adding that Casepak’s investment demonstrated the enormous business potential in the recycling industry. He welcomed the 100 local jobs that the site will create as well as the environmental impact that such a large recycling facility will have on the Leicester area.
By admin, on February 19th, 2012
Sadly, no matter how much you spend on any sort of gadget, it will more than likely break at some point in the future. It’s not something that any of us wants to think about, especially when you’ve spent a decent amount of money on the iPhone. However, it’s important that you remember that just because an iPhone might be broken, it doesn’t exactly mean that it’s worthless. As a matter of fact, it’s far from worthless. Most people don’t realise that their damaged Apple iPhone is still worth a fair amount of money. So, if you’ve got a broken iPhone, other than finding the best deals on a new iPhone, what should you do?
Firstly, you should check if your iPhone is still under warranty. There’s no point in worrying about what you should do with your iPhone if it’s still under warranty. Apple is known to be extremely helpful with helping people get their iPhone fixed as quickly as possible. In most cases, people have the standard one year warranty with Apple. However, if you’ve paid extra to extend the warranty then you’ll obviously be covered for a longer period of time. Apple will repair your broken iPhone as long as it hasn’t been water damaged or by you trying to repair it yourself and so on.
Another option that you have is to sell it online on a site like eBay. You might think that nobody would be interested in buying an iPhone that doesn’t even work, but believe it or not, there’s a huge market for broken iPhones! There are plenty of people that buy broken iPhones online to make money, most of them either buy it for parts or to repair themselves and sell on. If you aren’t too sure on what amount of money you’d get for your iPhone, you can just have a look on eBay and try to find one with the same problem as yours (there should be at least a few that have the same issue as your iPhone) so that you can get an idea of how much money you can expect to get from selling it.
Finally, if you are in any way tech savvy (or a little bit brave!) you can try to repair the iPhone yourself. Even if you don’t know too much about iPhones, there are loads of tutorials online on sites such as YouTube which will guide you through the entire process step by step but you won’t find anything at the Apple support site You’ll more than likely need to invest a tiny amount of money in to this as you’ll need a few special tools, but these can be bought online for a fraction of the cost that you’d be charged if you got it repaired professionally.
By Alan, on February 15th, 2012
 Leeds residents will soon be able to recycle broken or unwanted electrical items at the same time they recycle their paper and glass, thanks to the introduction of new bins across the city.
It is thought that seven out of ten electrical items thrown out of British homes end up buried in landfill sites, when they can be safely disposed of using much more environmentally-friendly methods.
The new bins have been funded by a new recycling scheme called ‘WEEEBATS’ (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment incorporating Battery recycling) which is a joint venture between electronics recycling company Weeelink and the city council.
Eleven bins will be placed at central locations across Leeds, including Sainsbury’s in Otley, Morrison’s in both Kirkstall & Wetherby, The Headingley Taps pub and Leeds University’s Lifton Place campus. More bins could be added in the future, according to Councillor Mark Dobson, in an effort to make sure that Leeds meets its target of a 55% recycling rate in eight years time.
Councillor Dobson welcomed the initiative, which he hopes will help the city reduce its carbon footprint even further than existing programmes have already achieved. He added that many people are put off recycling unwanted electrical goods because the centres are often out-of-town and difficult to reach, so he hoped that the initiative with Weeelink would encourage more Leeds residents to do their bit for the environment.
All small electrical household items can be recycled in the Weeebats bins, from broken toasters and kettles to defunct audio/visual equipment. Larger items will still need to be take by car to the main recycling centres around the city.
By Alan, on February 15th, 2012
 An unusual recycling scheme, which involves waste producers working hand-in-hand with local farmers, could end up benefiting from an announcement by the deputy Prime Minister that he wants to promote ethical programmes which also involve sound business thinking.
The Land Network started recycling bio-waste in the 1990s and has now turned that into a profitable business, by selling the recycled material to farmers as an alternative to the usual fertilisers. In fact, the farmers don’t really pay for natural compost at all, instead paying the Land Network a fee for delivering the product; in return farmers are often the main source of the bio-waste which the Land Network needs in order to keep running at a profit.
Along with the obvious green benefits that products are being recycled and reused more often, the Land Network programme also cuts down the amount of heavy goods traffic on country roads and has even lead to biofuels being grown with the help of compost made from recycled bio-waste.
The farmers who use the scheme are even given shares in Land Network, and experts believe that the scheme could be saving the British agricultural industry over £2 million every year by cutting spending on commercial fertilisers.
There are Land Network centres all over the UK, each run by a local company. The proceeds are split between the local farmers and the Land Network, with the former owning 90% and the latter just 10%. There is one farm in the UK that has turned over more than 15,000 acres of its land to the scheme – and the amount of recycled biowaste, currently standing at around 20,000 tonnes each year, is increasing all the time.
By Alan, on February 10th, 2012
 The recycling service that is in the borough of Melton is going to be expanded and there is going to be a switch to a system that involves wheelie bins. The recycling boxes are going to be replaced with brown wheelie bins which will take all material that can be recycled.
The system of mixing recycling is known as co-mingled recycling and residents now do not need to sort plastic, glass, cardboard or paper. It is expected that the amount of recycling that is going to take place will increase because people have to make less effort to sort their waste.
Collections are still going to take place on a fortnightly basis and the normal waste collection service is not going to be changed. The current contract is for Melton Council is with Biffa and this is going to be maintained as the new service starts.
The council is no longer offering its garden refuse collection service however, and residents are going to have to subscribe to a club that is operated by Biffa which costs over £30 a year. Those who subscribe to the scheme are going to be given a green wheelie bin which would be collected fortnightly. For those who do not have such a large need for garden waste disposal it is still possible to take this type of waste to the local tip for no charge.
It is expected that the new waste collection services offered by Melton Council are going to reduce the cost from the current figure of about £2.5 million. The leader of the council as Byron Rhodes who has commented, “After long negotiations we have been able to reduce the cost of a contract in order to meet funding cuts passed down from the government. Furthermore, the new system is going to make recycling easier.”
By Alan, on February 9th, 2012
 The recovery and resource specialists, Axion Consulting, have recently stated that plastic recycling is going to be a new focus of the waste industry in the UK during 2012. The consultants have said that there is going to be new work done on the recycling of HDPE and PET bottles.
Currently around 50 percent of dairy and drink bottles that are made out of plastic are being recycled. Keith Freegard, the director of the consulting company, has stated that new technology investment is going to mean there is a major improvement in this figure.
He also stated, “Local authorities are making increased efforts to collect plastics from households and this is going to be a focus of the industry in the future. The UK needs to focus on finding a new technology that is going to help deal with plastics that have been mixed together. Just collecting the plastics is not enough and there have to be better ways of coordinating and sorting out these plastics to improve the overall recycling figure.”
Axion Consulting expects that for the growth to continue new investments must be made into the industry and this is the only way that capacity is going to increase. Mr Freegard continued, “New waste streams need to be established and this is something that people are realising.
We want to create a way for mixed waste to be sorted so that it can be recycled in the most efficient way possible. For example, some materials will be sent to provide energy while others can be reprocessed and washed.”
The company expects that if fundamental changes are to occur in the recycling industry then new technologies need to be investigated. The only way for these investigations to take place is for people to realise the importance of plastic recycling and encourage funding in the area.
By Alan, on February 5th, 2012
 The Facilities Show by UBM is going to be working with the waste management partner this year the first time and they are hoping that this will bring the idea of waste management to their increasingly diverse and large audience. The partnership is going to be with a leading resource management and recycling company, SITA UK.
The partnership will see SITA provide 15 recycling points all around the event where those attending the show will be able to dispose of waste. The director of sales for the company is Adrian Clarke who has mentioned the importance of waste management companies remaining in touch with facilities management companies so that they are aware of the changes that are occurring in the industry, both technological and legislative.
Mr Clarke commented, “We are very pleased to be involved with the show this year and we understand that facilities management companies are playing an increasingly important role in the waste management and recycling in large organisations. We are already working with many large companies to deliver effective solutions.
“Waste management is a very complex process and it requires all organisations to keep up with ever-changing legal requirements. There are also new technologies constantly being introduced into the sector which all firms have to be aware of. We are one of the leading waste management companies in the UK and we are proud to showcase our many solutions at this event.”
The Facilities Show is a trade event for many companies who are involved with facilities management, it is run through a partnership with the British Institute of Facilities Managers. This year it is due to take place in the middle of May in Birmingham and is going to showcase the latest services and products available in the industry as well as offering an opportunity to share best practice techniques.
By Alan, on February 4th, 2012
 A planning committee has recently withdrawn approval of the expansion of recycling plants which was due to create nearly 60 jobs. The plant had previously been approved but the committee went back on its decision after further consideration. The application was by Bowmans Waste and was going to be an expansion to help the plant deal with commercial waste at its site in Lincolnshire.
After the decision was made in its favour it spent £250,000 and hired nearly 30 people. After it had already done this, the council reversed the decision saying that they were unsure whether the plant would be able to remove the odour it produced to a high enough standard.
Kenneth Ellis is the developer behind the project and he was unaware that the application had been revoked. He commented, “We were granted permission and we hired people and spent a lot of money on equipment, and now we have been told we are unable to proceed.
This is disappointing for the company, as well as the people who are going to have to lose their jobs. The objection they have come up with was something we dealt with at the previous meetings and now it has been brought up again without grounds.”
The waste that was going to be disposed of at the plant is now going to have to travel a long distance to be disposed of and many people are concerned that the roads are going to remain clogged. Instead of being dealt with at the facility, the waste is going to be sent to landfill in North Hykeham.
Others have been pleased that the application was refused as they were concerned that the facility would pollute the local area. One of their concerns was about the smell that facility would create.
By Alan, on January 27th, 2012
 Recycled Polymers Ltd is a newly formed company from Birmingham in the UK and it is going to be using specialist material to recycle industrial plastics that have gone to waste. The company have said that there is a granulation process which creates pellet products that can be used for moulding new plastics.
Recycled Polymers has invested over £750,000 in this new venture which includes a special machine which has been constructed in Taiwan. This is all housed in a new facility which is over 1000 square metres in size.
Funding for the project has come from several of the company’s directors including the managing director, Grant Gerry. Asset finance has also been provided by HSBC. It is expected that this new venture is going to be recycling a wide range of plastics including high-density polyethylene and ABS.
It is expected that when compared to older equipment this new machinery is going to use up to 60 percent less energy and is also going to be a clean and fast operation. Mr Gerry has stated that the savings in energy will be passed on to the price of the product they are outputting. Recycled Polymers have already said they have several major contracts to recycled plastic waste from industry users.
Andrew Selby, is an entrepreneur who is helping to mentor the business and he has proven so successful in business having sold numerous companies over the last 40 years. He commented, “We know there is an urgent need for efficient plastic recycling companies and we want to expand rapidly to meet this need.”
The machinery the plant is using has been designed in the UK and has been manufactured in Taiwan. The machine is capable of processing a large amount of plastic into special pellets which can then be used for extrusion and injection moulding. The compounding process that the machine is using is very similar to current injection moulding as additives and plastics are put into a hopper at the end of the barrel.
The recycled material is then transported along the length of this barrel and will be melted by a sheet which would be compounded into plastic. Fillers and additives are added in the process and eventually the melted plastic comes through a screen that filters out any contaminants. From there it is put onto a plate that allows any volatile material to be removed. Eventually it is cut into pellets which are cooled in water and then transferred for packaging.
The finished product looks like a black pellet and it is sold back to the companies which it comes from. Initially it was regarded as waste by them but it is returned to them as a usable product. Most of these products are then used to create things such as DVD cases, water butts, coathangers, water pipes and drain covers. The company stated that it is possible that all of these products, and more, can eventually be made from entirely recycled material and nothing raw.
By Alan, on January 19th, 2012
 The amount of municipal and household waste that is being collected by councils in Northern Ireland has fallen by nearly 5% within a year. Alex Atwood, the Minister for the Environment, has welcomed the news that the amount of waste that was collected between July and September of 2011 had dropped compared with the same period of 2010.
This in turn helped the recycling rates for both household and municipal climb to nearly 43%, an increase of almost 1% and 42%, a rise of nearly 2% respectively, as compared with the same period in 2010. The amounts of both municipal and household waste sent to the landfill sites also dropped by around 10% for the same period, meaning that between July and September 2011 54% of household and 56% of municipal waste went to landfill.
Mr Attwood has said that it is not just common sense to minimise the volume of waste we produce allowing the councils to spend money on where its needed most, but is also a boon to the environment as less waste equals less of an impact. While the phrase ‘reduce reuse recycle’ has been around for quite some time now, it is the foundation of Mr Attwood’s departments campaign ‘Rethink Waste’.
He also said that he was pleased to see a continuing rise in the rates of recycling while at the same time seeing a decrease in the amount of waste sent to landfill, and wanted to pass on his thanks to those who were doing their bit to help.
He added that by working together we can all make a difference and the challenges now for Northern Ireland were to see if we can become world leaders in carbon reduction and take their clean and green reputation to a higher level, as this is where he wants to go, and where he believes the country can go.
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A recycling company based in Leicester has opened a brand new Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in its home town. The Casepak facility, which can handle 150,00 tonnes per annum of recyclable materials, is located in the town’s Braunstone Frith Industrial Estate and cost the firm £21 million to develop.
