Just when will the government wake up to the need to get the construction industry working again?

(The following is an excerpt from the NCE Magazine)

According to the NCE article at least £300M set aside to fast-track crucial transport improvements and boost the economy is languishing and remains unspent, NCE can reveal.

In November 2008, Chancellor Alistair Darling outlined his £20bn stimulus package designed to rescue the failing UK economy.

Of that, £1bn was specifically for transport-related schemes of which 700M was allocated to three projects: £300M for new train carriages and £400M going to the Highways Agency to fast-track Active Traffic Management (ATM) schemes and for dualling the A46 between the A1 and M1 (NCE 27 November 2008).

The remaining £300M for transport was designated for three road schemes and one rail scheme, which transport secretary Geoff Hoon claimed would “remove bottlenecks and increase capacity on road links to key airports and ports”.

NCE understands that this £300M remains unspent and projects vital to keep both consultants and contractors in business have not progressed significantly in the six months since the announcements. In some cases the money might not be spent for three years.

Contractors reacted angrily to the news. “The government accelerated infrastructure investment to support both the construction industry and the wider economy during the current downturn,” said Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) national director Rosemary Beales.

“However, six months on from this announcement, the results have been a mixed bag at best. While there have been undoubted successes, such as the acceleration of the A46 scheme, most CECA members have yet to feel any benefit from this fiscal stimulus.”

RAC Foundation director Stephen Glaister added: “If the government wants to increase expenditure, then it must spend the money, putting it into the pockets of employers. The sooner it spends the sooner that money can be used. This does show the difficulty of ramping-up and a DfT spokesman said the schemes were not part of the700 fiscal stimulus money, despite appearing in the same DfT announcement. He said allocations relied upon matched spending from regional transport authorities to proceed: “They decide which schemes they would like to fund. These schemes must pass through a statutory process.”

Of the remaining monies, work on the A46 will begin next month, and Highways Agency chief executive Graham Dalton said in the introduction to the Agency’s 2009-2010 business plan, published in March, that the money earmarked for ATM would be brought forward for advance works and asset renewals.

So at least some of these projects will get started soon: The Waster

The old look has now been digitally consigned to the trash bin, and we have a whole new look for the Autumn.

We hope you like the look. A big plus should also be that the site should be much more accessible for visitors to post comments and get involved, from now on!

We will now revert to a more frequent posting rate. You are welcome to comment on the new look. Is it an improvement? Can you find our posts more easily etc.

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…

London Wednesday 17 September 2008

‘Treasure from Trash’

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

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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
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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 •

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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.

The consultation concerns the sampling and testing needed to achieve adequate quantitative monitoring of the reduction in biodegradability in the treated BMW.

The consultation should be available shortly at:
The Environment Agency’s current consultations page.

The Wasters Blog subscriber base has grown by about 30% during the year – so clearly this blog (and blogger!) is providing a useful service.

As we have a lot of international subscribers we will continue to search out beyond the UK for waste management and landfill articles news and events, to include in our posts.

Thank you, all of you that have loyally continued to read these postings/FeedBlitz Newsletters.

Thank you, also all of you that have emailed me with comments and suggestions through the year. I would still be delighted if more of you would send emails and comments. It is only by receiving your feedback that I can understand what my subscribers are really interested in, and improve the service.

If you have news which would interest our readers, then please do send it me via my email contact form. It can be found on the Contact page, on the www.wastersblog.com at the very top right of the page.

• ‘Local Environmental Management (Streetscene)’ and
• ‘Waste Carriers and Related Controls’.

They have also re-launched 3 additional courses,

• ‘Leachate Monitoring’ (developed and delivered by Howard Robinson),
• ‘Introduction to Waste Legislation’, and
• ‘Geology, Hydrology and Hydrogeology for Waste Management Facilities’. 

For more information on all these courses we recommend contacting their training team on 01604 620426 or see the website ciwm.co.uk/training" rel="nofollow">www. ciwm.co.uk/training.

ARE WEEE SORTED?
Monday 9 July 2007 at The Crown Plaza Hotel, Birmingham. For further details see http://www.ciwm.co.uk/weee or e-mail the events department on events@ciwm.co.uk. Tel. 01604 620426

THERMAL TREATMENTS- SATISFYING DIVERSION TARGETS AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION
Monday 17 September 2007 at Hamilton House, London. For further details see http://www.ciwm.co.uk/thermal or e-mail the events department on events@ciwm.co.uk Tel. 01604 620426

The companies will now engage in competitive dialogue with the waste disposal authority with the expectation of appointing a preferred bidder in autumn 2008.

Cheshire’s PFI bidders:
- Amey Ventures Ltd
- Corus UK Ltd
- Covanta Energy Ltd
- Elliniki Technodomiki TEB AE
- Global Renewables UK Ltd
- Ineos Chlor. Ltd
- Scottish and Southern Supply Ltd
- Shanks Group plc
- SITA UK Ltd
- United Utilities Contract Solutions Ltd
- Veolia ES Aurora Ltd
- Viridor Waste Management Ltd
- Waste Recycling Group Ltd

A shortlist of two or three bidders should be decided by Spring 2008.

The pre-qualified companies for the contract include five traditional waste management companies – Shanks, SITA, Veolia, Viridor and WRG. It also includes Australian MBT specialists Global Renewables and US-owned energy-from-waste specialists Covanta Energy.

Outside the specialist waste field, support services firm Amey Ventures Ltd is joined by electricity/water firms Scottish & Southern Supply Limited and United Utilities Contract Solutions Ltd in the bidders’ list, as well as the Greek construction and energy firm Elliniki Technodomiki TEB A.E.

Two materials companies – steel firm Corus UK and plastics firm Ineos Chlor. Ltd are also on the Cheshire pre-qualifiers’ list.

Contract
The contract, supported by £40 million in government Private Finance Initiative credits, will involve the building, financing and operation of new waste management facilities to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill over a 25-year period.

The county, which is in the process of applying for unitary status, includes the city of Chester as well as the boroughs of Congleton, Crewe & Nantwich, Ellesmere Port, Vale Royal and Macclesfield. More at LetsRecyle here…

WRATE (Waste and Resources Assessment Tool for the Environment), is designed to be a user-friendly tool helping to identify the life cycle impact of waste treatment options. It attempts to identify and quantify all the emissions from managing the waste—from the type of containers used, such as wheelie bins, right through to final recovery or disposal and including all the transport methods used to transfer the waste.

“We have to divert millions of tonnes of waste from landfill over the next few years. While we need to reduce the amount of waste we create in the first place, we must also ensure that we manage the waste we do produce in the most environmentally responsible way,” Environment Agency head of waste Liz Parkes said.

“WRATE will help those managing household waste, particularly local authorities, by comparing the potential environmental impacts such as global warming, acid rain or the nitrification of our rivers and how these impacts can be altered by changing the way they manage the waste. This could include the way it is collected, stored, sorted, transported and then recycled or disposed of.” More from the ICE web site.