BRIEF NEWS: Cherwell District Council To Launch Battery Kerbside Collections; WAMITAB Director General Set To Retire; And More

15 December 2011

Cherwell District Council To Launch Battery Kerbside Collections

The council currently collects about seven tonnes of batteries per year, through its 34 recycling sites, which brings in revenue of around £1,400.

But the hope is that by providing each household with a handy bag it will encourage them to send many more of their batteries for recycling rather than to landfill.

Since 2008, following a EU directive, it has been mandatory for people to recycle batteries. The directive states that by next year a quarter of all batteries must be collected but the figure will rise to 45 percent by 2016.

Residents are to drop used batteries in the bag and once it is full, put it out with their bins. Most types of household battery will be collected but car batteries are not included as they are considered hazardous because of their acid content.

When this is picked up by refuse collectors they will deliver a new bag - funded by the council's battery recycling contractor, Valpak.

Dr Lawrence Strong, WAMITAB Director General, will be retiring from WAMITAB on 31 March 2012.　

Lawrence has been with WAMITAB for fourteen years and during that time has played a key role in identifying and implementing strategic changes within WAMITAB as the industry has moved from waste to resource management.

During his time as Director General, Lawrence has worked assiduously to develop WAMITAB's standing and interaction with the waste and recycling industry. He was instrumental in WAMITAB becoming a founder member of the Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum, and he is currently Chairman of the WISH H&S Competence working group, with a remit to develop a strategy for improving H&S competence in the industry.

The WAMITAB Board is now seeking to appoint a replacement Director General.

4R Recycling, part of 4R Group Ltd, has collected the first loads of digestate from the newly operational Biffa Poplars AD facility near Cannock and delivered the organic material to nearby farms where it is to be used as a fertiliser replacement to improve ground quality for growing essential crops.

4R has collected over 450 tonnes of digestate in just three weeks from the plant and, via the 4R transportation fleet, taken the digestate to two local farms located within a 10-mile radius of the Biffa facility. The AD digestate cake will be spread and incorporated onto bare ground, which will then be seeded to grow wheat, barley or maize.

These loads mark the start of the three year contract that 4R Group was awarded earlier in the year by Biffa Waste Services to manage and recycle all the digestate from their new state-of-the-art facility.　

Colin Rudd, Technical Director for 4R Group, says, "It is great to get started on this important contract which puts a newly created organic by-product into productive use. At 4R, we continually strive to develop new recycling outlets for organic materials and it is satisfying to see our efforts come to fruition in this way."

Darrel Moore