waste management and landfill and environment and products from waste18 Jul 2008 12:09 am

European Parliament Approves Certain Soil Re-Uses on Contaminated Land

Technology industry “very pleased” over WFD revisions
09-07-2008

The Environmental Industries Commission (EIC) - the trade association for the environmental technology industry - has welcomed revisions to the Waste Framework Directive which were approved by the European Parliament last month.

The group’s aim is to maximise opportunities for effective materials recovery without jeopardising environmental standards. 

The EIC’s Waste Resources Management Working Group - which is comprised of members who supply technology and services to waste, recycling, treatment and landfill industries - was influential in campaigning for the amended Directive to contain a process by which reprocessed materials may be ‘declassified’ as waste, in a bid to bring consistency and certainty to material reprocessors.

Speaking yesterday (July 8th) at the EIC Annual Report press briefing, Anne Harrison, a member of the working group, said that members were “very pleased” to consequently see the Directive include provisions for the exclusion of unexcavated contaminated soil and excavated contaminated soil for reuse on site, a definition of ‘by-product’ and an article on end-of-waste status (see letsrecycle.com story).

In particular, she welcomed the end of life article, because it avoided the “catch-22 of new marketable materials not being considered for an end of waste criteria because they are new and not yet marketed, but being unable to attract markets because they remain defined as waste until a market is proven.”

Ms Harrison said: “Waste management can add time, cost and uncertainty to businesses who handle waste materials. Not only is there enormous potential for the UK economy’s bottom line for waste materials to be reprocessed into clean, useable materials and sold into existing markets, but it will also contribute to the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy.”

“The group’s aim is to maximise opportunities for effective materials recovery without jeopardising environmental standards”, she added.

Tags:

No Comments »
waste technology and recycling and mechanical biological treatment and materials recycling facility04 Jul 2008 12:40 am

Transfer Stations: Dead, or Alive and Kicking Inside MRFs and MBTs?

Are They Dead, or Alive and Living Under a New Name?

Transfer Stations are in reality just conveniently situated depots where refuse collection vehicles (RCVs)discharge their loads to avoid collection vehicles travelling uneconomic and unnecessary distances to distant landfills.

The waste is picked up again and compacted into larger vehicles which may carry up to double the tonnage carried in each street collection truck.

This reduces vehicle mileage and traffic congestion, as well as avoiding collection operatives riding unproductively in the cab while their vehicle travels long distances to landfill. The transfer station gets them back on to the collection round faster.

When Transfer Stations incorporate sophisticated methods of treatment or handling such as sorting for recycling, pulverisation, resource  recovery, incineration, composting etc, and are built to high standards of construction, the transfer function is less important.

So, they are now called MRFs (Materials Recovery Facilities), or in a slightly different form where the co-mingled and sometimes residual waste is also pre-treated before it leaves for the landfill, they are called MBT (Mechanical Biological Treatment) Plants. These new names much more readily describe the primary function of these facilities to re-use and recycle waste, and pre-treat those waste streams that cannot be re-used or recycled so that their impact in a landfill is reduced.

Refuse Transfer Stations, as they were originally called, are so simple that the name is not an adequate term for what takes place at the modern facilities of today.

So, it would seem that in the UK and many other developed nations, few if any will be built in the future.

The name is dying, but the transfer station function will be present, and will be accomplished as a small part of the function of MRFs, MBT Plants and other waste technology plants.

The Waster says: Is the Waster alone in pining for those much simpler long gone days? Those halcyon days before it ceased to be politically correct to call them dust carts, and rubbish trucks? Now we call them RCVs and have to think twice to remember what we are talking about.

Tags:

No Comments »
waste technology and resource management and Composting and biowaste treatment and environmental regulation05 Jun 2008 11:43 pm

Compost Like Output Restoration Material Must go to Landfill - EA Decides

The following shows that it can be hard driving a new waste treatment technology forward as an organisation participating in one of Defra’s Demonstrator Projects, and things possibly don’t always go quite as expected.

Nevertheless, this is exactly why public money is being well spent when put into these projects.

Defra Demonstrator Projects are full scale operational demonstration projects for innovative waste technologies, with UK government funding.

The following comes as published in the Defra Demonstrator News, Edition 2:-

Recent allegations regarding the use of compost like output (CLO) produced by one aerobic digestion plant operator have been investigated by the Environment Agency (EA) and Defra Animal Health.

The outcome of the investigation was that the CLO that was to be used as restoration material at the demonstrator operator’s owned landfill sites will now be required to be disposed of to landfill.

The operator responded quickly and proactively to these findings, immediately commencing a series of improvement works to the site:

• Installation of a new temperature monitoring system.
• Installation of a heater phase in the bottom compartment of each tower which will ensure absolute achievement of Animal by Products Regulations temperature requirements.
• Application of insulation to the outer skin of the non-Demonstrator metal towers to improve heat retention.
• Installation of a new trommel screen to improve the CLO segregation stage and reduce physical contaminants.

Once these works are completed, the demonstrator operator will recalibrate and re-commission the plant. The operator also plans to install a further stage of CLO product refinement equipment later in the summer.

These changes are intended to address EA guidance on animal by-products processing requirements and the level of plastic contamination in the CLO.

These alterations at the site demonstrate some key learning outcomes with regard to new technologies for biological treatment which will add to the many invaluable outcomes of this Programme to date.

NTDP Website
For more detailed information on the Demonstrator Programme, plants and technologies go to the Defra Wip web site. For more abckground about the various Waste Technologies visit here. 

Tags:

No Comments »
waste management and Composting and recycling and waste collection and waste reduction24 May 2008 04:15 pm

Cabbage Stalks in Waste: Man Considered Recycling Offender

Cabbage stalks prompt garbage penalty
NORWICH, England, May 18 (UPI) –

Officials in Norwich, England, have tagged a man as a repeat recycling offender for placing cabbage stalks in his waste bin, the 73-year-old says.

Barry Freezer said after he placed the stalks of his homegrown cabbage into his garden waste bin, trash officials refused to empty the refuse container and he was cited as a problematic recycler under current regulations, The Daily Mail said Sunday.

Current recycling regulations state that any garden waste cannot be mixed with any kitchen waste which could have come into contact with meat.

Freezer maintains the fact his cabbage his homegrown should be proof enough that the stalks never made it into the kitchen.

“When did you last buy a cabbage with a stalk at a supermarket? It should be obvious that this was garden waste that never came into contact with the kitchen,” he said.

Freezer told the Mail that local authorities had not responded to his letter regarding the situation, which he says has become commonplace.

“The system is ridiculously complicated. People like me will be making ‘mistakes’ all the time. I could burn my garden waste but it’s not good for the environment,” Freezer said.

Tags:

No Comments »
waste management and resource management and environment and products from waste16 May 2008 08:09 pm

Carbon Storage - A Renaissance for Landfill?

The Waster always likes to hear good news about landfill. So he was delighted to be able to pass this on…

Global Warming Solution: Landfill Forests?
Study: Growing, Then Burying, Trees To Stop Carbon Buildup

The whole problem with global warming starts with digging up and burning the carbon from plants and animals, in the form of coal and oil, that has been buried for millions of years.

So two German scientists have a solution: Start burying stuff on a massive scale.

The scientists, Fritz Scholz and Ulrich Hasse from the University of Greifswald, start with a common idea: Planting forests, which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But instead of letting those trees stand (or worse burning or letting them decay so that the carbon is released to the atmosphere) the scientists have a novel suggestion. Landfill them.

By burying the trees from those deliberately planted forests, the scientists believe they might blunt the impact of global warming, or even negate all global emissions.

“For the first time, humankind will give something back to nature that we have taken away before,” says Scholz. “Whereas other environmental problems can, at least in principle, be solved by the appropriate modern technology, there are no realistic solutions for the CO2 problem.”

Disturbing soil, though, as analyses of farming and suburban sprawl have demonstrated over and over again, also releases carbon. To avoid this, the scientists suggest using old mines for their forest landfills.

More …

Tags:

No Comments »
waste management and waste technology and waste procurement03 May 2008 10:51 pm

Uncertainty Gathers Over Manchester Contract Signing UK

It is looking increasingly unlikely that the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority will sign its £3billion waste treatment contract today, despite plans for a long-awaited financial close.

“The negotiations for the new contract are progressing in a positive manner towards a close and the start of the new contract”; said Pam Taylor, GMWDA.

On April 11, the Authority said that it was on course to sign the long-term deal with preferred bidders Viridor and Laing on April 29.

This followed months of the Authority pushing the signing back, from an original date of June 2007.

However, today, the Authority would not comment on when the contract would be signed and remained tight-lipped over its progress.

Echoing a statement from earlier this month, a spokeswoman merely said that the authority was making good “progress” in its negotiations.

Pam Taylor, communications support officer for the GMWDA, said: “The negotiations for the new contract are progressing in a positive manner towards a close and the start of the new contract. As soon as any further information and pictures are available, these will be sent out.”

The GMWDA contract is hugely dependent on sending refuse derived fuel to an energy from waste plant being proposed by chemicals firm Ineos Chlor, which is still awaiting planning permission.

The application is currently being decided by John Hutton MP, secretary of state for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, but is not thought that it will be decided imminently - which could have contributed to the delay.

The Treasury is also adjusting the rules by which authorities and contractors have to adhere to in order to issue a promissory note for £100 million of PFI funding, already approved by Defra.

Under Viridor and Laing’s proposals, around 600,000 tonnes of Greater Manchester’s waste which cannot be recycled will be taken to five new mechanical biological treatment and anaerobic digestion plants located in Salford, North & South Manchester, Oldham and Stockport.

See letsrecycle.com story.

Tags:

No Comments »
Uncategorized and waste technology and materials recycling facility and incineration03 May 2008 10:43 pm

US Waste Handling Equipment Manufacturer to Restructure & Close Plants

May 2 — Wastequip, a Cleveland-based company that manufactures equipment and containers for use in the waste handling industry, has announced a restructuring plan that will close several older plants while implementing environmental initiatives.The company hopes the efforts will reduce costs, energy use and carbon dioxide emissions.

Wastequip operates 35 manufacturing facilities nationwide. The company has not announced how many plants might shut down as part of the restructuring. However, company spokesman Jerry Samson said fewer than 10 facilities will close.

“At this time, we´re still evaluating that,” Samson said. “All we really know is we´re going to have it complete by the end of the year. Right now, we don´t know the exact number of facilities because we´re still in that process, but we´ll probably have a pretty good idea of that in the next 45 to 60 days.”

Wastequip said it would offer the workers affected by the closings relocation opportunities or assistance in finding employment in their local communities.

The plants Wastequip closes will be among its older and least efficient facilities, according to the company. Efficiency improvements at newer plants have resulted in production capacity gains that eliminate the need for the less efficient plants, according to the company.

Wastequip also plans to benefit from green initiatives at its remaining plants that will include increased use of energy efficient lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning [HVAC] controls. The company´s Winamac, Ind., plant already has put those measures in place and received an environmental stewardship award from the Indiana governor´s office. More…

Tags:

No Comments »
Uncategorized and waste management and landfill and resource management and recycling and products from waste19 Apr 2008 12:42 am

Treasure from Trash - Landfill Mining Conference September UK

Global Landfill Mining
Conference and Exhibition

London Wednesday 17 September 2008

‘Treasure from Trash’

Register your interest in attending now - click on the link below.
——————————————————————————–

From its origins in the 1950s, Landfill Mining is an idea whose time has come. Even aside from their valuable methane resources, landfills should now be seen as valuable repositories for a wealth of higher value materials. Landfill mining can recover valuable metals, produce high quality fertiliser and construction materials, and can make available real-estate that was once considered lost forever.

Attendence will allow landfill operators to extend their business models, and to extract the maximum value from their assets. Networking opportunities at the event will be superb, and the adjacent exhibition will allow operators to source the most cost-effective equipment and advice for landfill mining and monetisation.

——————————————————————————–

Crucial information

This conference and exhibition will give delegates the latest information on the following crucial areas:

• Legislative status of landfills and future legislative trends;

• Reclamation versus mining;

• What’s in our landfills (and how has it changes since burial)?;

• Methane evolution and monetisation;

• The mechanics of landfill mining: Recovery, separation and beneficiation

• Product-stream utilisation and monetisation

• Post-mining site remediation and value optimisation
——————————————————————————–

Who will attend?

Local authorities • Landfill operators • Legislators • Stakeholders • Equipment providers • Academics • Hydrologists •

Resource users including Cement producers • Lime producers • Power producers • Metals producers • Chemicals producers •

——————————————————————————–

Visit the GLM Conference web site, click here.

Waster: The word is that if you are quick there may still be time to put in abstracts for good relevant papers.

Tags:

No Comments »
landfill and resource management and waste reduction08 Apr 2008 12:29 am

UK Waste to Landfill IS Reducing EA Says

The Environment Agency has released Waste Data Update from 2006. The Waste Data Update shows nearly 20 percent less waste has been sent to landfill since 2000. Waste Data Update 2006 is an annual report produced using data routinely collect by the Environment Agency from waste management sites it regulates. 

For the press release see http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/1999144. 

For the report see http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/waste/1031954/315439/1933625/?lang=_e 

The Waster is not happy: He was born to landfill, or so they say! (But, the Environment Agency must be much relieved!)

Tags:

No Comments »
waste management and landfill29 Mar 2008 07:50 pm

Waste Management Inc. sues SAP Americas

US company Waste Management Inc. has sued SAP Americas Inc. and its German parent, SAP AG, alleging that they fraudulently induced it to purchase software for running its business that was “undeveloped, untested and defective.”

Houston-based Waste Management says in the lawsuit, which was filed last Thursday in district court in Harris County, Texas, that it invested more than $100 million in buying and installing the software.

Waste Management (NYSE:WMI) is asking for actual and punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, other costs of the lawsuit and pre-and post-judgment interest.

An SAP (NYSE:SAP) spokesman said SAP doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation. SAP Americas is based in Newtown Square, Pa.

In the suit, Waste Management alleges that in late 2004 or early 2005, SAP learned it was looking for software to replace the software it was using to run its business.

SAP, the suit says, knew that Waste Management wanted software that didn’t have to be heavily customized and could be installed rapidly.

According to the suit, SAP represented to Waste Management that it had such software, when what it actually had was “software still in development and utterly incapable of running the operations of an American waste and recycling company.”  More here…

Wasters Comment: This is a serious matter, but not uncommon in the UK that software systems fail to achieve their intended purpose. Does anyone remember that all patient National Health Service records were due to be available to all in the UK via a National Health Service web site? Well it never happened did it? Maybe it is time that someone in the UK took the software suppliers to court?

Tags:

No Comments »

— Next Page »