A European Commission study published on 1 February 2010 counsels setting up a dedicated European body to oversee the execution and enforcement of ECU waste law. The study is a part of a collection of steps being taken by the Commission to enhance waste management and guarantee it meets the standards set by ECU legislation to guard voters and the environment.

Illegal discarding of waste continues on a big scale, many landfill sites are sub-standard and in some Member States basic waste infrastructure is still missing. Illegal waste shipments are also a concern.

A second report made public today explains nearly one 5th of waste shipments checked as an element of recent enforcement actions in Member States were illegal. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas expounded :

“Compliance with ECU legislation is crucial if we are to reach the overarching objective of ECU waste legislation, which is to offer protection to the health of European voters and the environment. We must look at all the options, including setting up an ECU agency or body which could enable ECU legislation to supply the maximum advantages for voters, the environment and the ECU economy.”

Study counsels dedicated agency to apply waste law Overseeing the safe and environmentally sound management of waste is one of the most significant environmental challenges facing the EU today. A projected 2.6 bill tons of waste is generated in the EU every year about 90 million tons of this is filed as unsafe.

The study broadcast today counsels setting up a dedicated agency at ECU level to take on the fundamental issues of poor implementation and enforcement of European waste legislation.

The size of the issue has grown in recent times following increases in waste generated and shipped in the enlarged ECU . In 2008, the European Parliament adopted a resolution encouraging the Commission to report on the viability of creating a “Community environmental inspection force”. The agency would carry out a number of jobs like reviews of enforcement systems in Member States, coordinated controls and inspection activities. This would be mixed with the making of a particular European body answerable for direct inspections and controls of facilities and sites in major cases of failure to comply.

A European network of Member States would support the agency in a number of activities. The changes are based primarily on replies from Member State officers and shareholders thru questionnaires, interviews and informal workshops. The yearly cost for carrying out the changes is guessed at only over Euros 16,000,000.

As well as other waste-related benefits, full implementation of ECU waste law would reduce emissions of CO2, including methane from landfills. This would save 2.5 bln yearly at today’s carbon cost of around thirteen Euros per tonne.

Other important business benefits from reinforcing implementation include a level playing field for European firms, better encouragement for innovation and increased access to valuable secondary raw materials. A comprehensive cost-benefit analysis will be carried out this year. Further steps might be suggested during 2011.

Gaps in implementation of EU waste law Current openings in implementation and enforcement have led straight to wide-scale illegal junking and enormous numbers of landfills and other facilities and sites that don’t meet ECU standards. In some Member States, waste infrastructure is insufficient or missing ( see IP / 09 / 1795 ). Further details : http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/index.htm .

The United Kingdom (UK) has traditionally used landfill disposal as the main method of waste management. However, it has long been recognised that landfilling is unsustainable due to its long term harmful effects on the environment and public health.

Landfill also places a high long term risk on groundwater quality, which could threaten the availability of clean water for future generations.

Under the European Union (EU) Landfill Directive, and starting in 2006, member nations were required to divert biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) from landfills. The UK has also committed to the EU Renewable Energy Directive, which binds it to sourcing at least 15% of its energy mix from renewables by 2020.

Through the last decade the emphasis was on recycling, and this is still the case, but recycling will only achieve waste diversion up to a point. Therefore, to meet these targets, the UK is developing alternative waste management options as well as planning to achieve considerable deployment of renewables.

Throughout 2009 a number of aspects of UK waste management policy that have been in place for some time came together so that for the first time a genuine shift in the industry could be detected. Investors began to see the wisdom of those that have already anticipated this new vision and have committed to investment in the waste technologies, as many of the smaller more nimbly operators have begun to make profits. Where profit is to be made others will now follow to secure waste contracts for the resource that collected material provides them.

If asked what the single biggest influence on this was during 2009, I would say it as the government’s Landfill Tax escalator policy which meant that for most waste disposers, for the first time, landfill disposal actually became more expensive than recycling. You can argue around the detail here, but I had not before the summer of 2009 witnessed recycling companies able to say they could offer price competitive disposal prices when head to head with the traditional landfill operators.

Another major driving force in UK waste management which is powering the evolution from a disposal problem to a resource optimisation opportunity are the high targets for waste diversion from landfill, and 20 year or longer integrated waste management contracts. These are public/private partnership projects which the UK government is pushing ahead with now in order to achieve those targets.

Here to, we saw a major milestone achieved while the recession was biting the hardest early in 2009. This was the successful planning application, and award of contract, for the £4 billion Greater Manchester Waste PFI Contract, the largest of its kind in Europe, and all built upon stakeholder involvement. However, the Greater Manchester PFI Contract is only the most high profile example of a procurement revolution which probably reached its peak of activity during 2009, and saw similar contracts either largely in place or planned throughout the nation.

The year also saw a number of these projects hit the headlines, and some Energy from Waste schemes being pushed back at planning (Cornwall and Edinburgh for example).

However, the trend continued and accelerated so that for all waste streams and/or locations where re-use or recycling of waste is not viable, energy recovery is being reinforced as the preferred option, with disposal used only as a last resort.

For a long while the major Energy from Waste producer has been from landfills, and it has been landfill gas (LFG) utilisation. However, the relative importance to LFG utilisation as a proportion of total energy from waste production will now be expected to decline.

Each month in the years to come we will see the rollout of new energy from waste (EfW) projects coming on-stream. However, while the adoption of new waste technologies is being supported in the UK by government departments, the perceived high risk for the PFI partnerships, has remained high. 2009 was not good for implementing the more innovative of these.

The increased cautiousness of the banks funding the private element of these projects has come at a very unfortunate time, as it has in my view severely detracted against the bankability of schemes using these new technologies. In fact, 2009 saw the shelving of quite a number of the more adventurous new waste technology options in favour of more traditional incineration technology.

During the year events also reinforced the wisdom of encouraging the use of EfW and other home grown renewable energy source, within the global scene. Most will remember that early in 2009 we saw the deep rationing of natural gas supplies to some European nations which were themselves unconnected with a producer country dispute. This held up supplies during the coldest weather and in a completely arbitrary fashion.

Most now strongly support the benefits of renewable energy for its improved energy supply security, ability to provide climate change mitigation when combined with stiff recycling targets and the highest possible waste diversion, and not least its resource efficiency.

However, good though that may be for waste as an opportunity, the main event of the year was the new found security to the recyclers which came with the attainment of the economic tipping point, whereby landfilling has become more expensive than most forms of main stream recycling activity. From now on the markets in recyclates will operate on a progressively more stable and normal economic basis.

Recycling has always made sense for the environment, but from now on it will also become a natural economically favourable option as well We can also look forward to the future knowing that the landfill tax will rise again in April 2010, taking us further into the new UK era of waste as a resource of opportunity.

Los Angeles Times: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger directed state public health and environmental officials Friday to visit Kettleman City to conduct “a thorough investigation” into the causes of birth defects in the San Joaquin Valley farming community.

Schwarzenegger’s intercession comes more than a year after activists petitioned state agencies to investigate whether a large toxic dump near the community might be causing cleft palates and other defects among the mostly low-income Latino residents.

The dump, operated by Houston-based Waste Management, is the largest hazardous waste facility west of the Mississippi.

Earlier this week, Jared Blumenfeld, the regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, launched a federal inquiry, calling the situation “a human tragedy at a scale . . . none of us would want to have to endure.”

“We will take our time and spend time on the ground,” he said, alluding to activists’ complaints that state officials had refused to visit the beleaguered enclave. “When I hear about people doing reports without going to the community, it makes my blood boil,” he said.

Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice , a San Francisco-based group that has organized the community, called Schwarzenegger’s action “long overdue” and urged him to order the state Department of Toxic Substances Control to suspend a permit application from Waste Management to expand the facility.

Schwarzenegger emphasized that the investigation would “include interviews with families,” as well as “a scientific review of soil samples and a full examination of medical records.” Officials would also review the overall birth defect rates over a 22-year period in the region.

Community members say that five babies out of 20 live births in a recent 14-month period had facial deformities. A review by the Kings County Public Health Department found that six of 63 babies born over the same period to mothers living in the town had various birth defects.

The community of 1,500 sits in a region heavily polluted by pesticides and fumes from diesel-powered trucks.

Waste Management said in a statement it is “pleased” that the state will investigate the birth defects in a “coordinated interagency approach.” It added, “We believe our Kettleman Hills facility is highly protective of human health and the environment.” More …

Venue: Northamptonshire UK, 23 -25 February 2010

‘I found the content really informative, as a beginner in waste it was a great course’
Lorraine Milan, Finance Officer – Surrey County Council

Are you required to deal with your company’s waste? Are you new to the waste industry or need to understand the waste industry in order to change career paths?

This course will provide those new to the management of wastes with an introduction to sustainable waste management within the UK and an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of those involved from waste production to ultimate disposal.

What’s in it for me?

By the end of the course you will:

• understand the importance of the management of wastes and the relationship to sustainable development
• appreciate the principles of best practice with respect to wastes management, and the relationship to the conservation of resources, and the risk of pollution
• have an understanding of the national waste strategy and the principal legislative and fiscal controls related to wastes management
• appreciate the nature and scope of the wastes management industry and understand the duties, responsibilities and powers of those involved in the management of wastes
• understand the sources of wastes, their nature and classification in the UK and Europe
• understand the options available for the minimisation, recovery, re-use, treatment and disposal of wastes
• appreciate the systems of collection, transport and transfer of wastes
• understand the hazards posed by wastes during their collection, storage, transport, treatment and disposal, and how these risks can be minimised.

This course is designed for anyone needing an overview of sustainable waste management. This includes waste producing businesses, planners, regulators and waste management industry personnel.

A more practitioner-based course aimed at waste management industry personnel ‘Practical Waste Management’ is also available.

Structured Education and Training: CPD Hours: 18 Hours

View the course programme: T: +44 (0)1604 620426 E: training@ciwm.co.uk W: www.ciwm.co.uk/training

Waste management and energy recovery company, Waste Recycling Group (WRG), has entered into an exclusivity agreement with chemical company Solutia UK Limited to build an Energy from Waste facility (EfW) on land at Solutia’s headquarters, off Corporation Road, Newport, South Wales, UK.

The proposal is in response to the requirements of Prosiect Gwyrdd (Project Green), which aims to provide the five local authorities of Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Caerphilly, Newport and Monmouthshire with a solution to the long-term management of its municipal waste while reducing the reliance on landfill.

The Project has begun a procurement process, inviting private companies to bid for the contract, offering their own individual solutions to the problem. The complex process is expected to take two years, with Prosiect Gwyrdd discussing companies’ bids with them until the summer of 2011 before announcing a preferred bidder that autumn, and planning for the winning project beginning in 2012.

Modern EfW incineration is an essential part of sustainable waste and resource management strategies. Apart from helping the five councils to meet their waste management targets, the scheme will also offer benefits for the Government’s renewable energy and carbon reduction commitments.

EfW is a safe and effective way of diverting residual municipal waste from landfill and produces valuable and renewable energy by reducing the use of fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and gas for generating power.

Modern, efficient EfW incineration is used extensively across Europe to meet the challenge of driving more value out of waste and resources. Waste policy at European level and in the UK supports the approach of setting high recycling rates together with the use of EfW incineration for the waste that remains after recycling. Currently, EfW plants in Europe can supply 12 million people with electricity and 11 million people with heat.

The scheme being considered by WRG has the potential for supporting a district heating system by using the steam created through the burning of the local municipal waste, and Solutia itself has expressed an interest in receiving electricity and steam generated by the plant once it is up and running.

Solutia has already installed two 2.5-megawatt wind turbines on the site as part of a plan to source its energy needs in ways which will reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and lower its carbon dioxide emissions, and has welcomed the WRG initiative.

“Anything which helps reduce our operating costs in this difficult economic climate will also clearly contribute to the security of employment on the site,” said a spokesperson. “So whilst it is still very early days, there are many good reasons for being excited about the potential of this project.”

WRG aims to submit a planning application in the summer of 2010 for the proposed facility, which would potentially be ready to start operation in 2014. WRG and Solutia are committed to ensuring that there will be full public consultation with local residents, statutory bodies and other interested groups.

Copyright 2009 IPPTS Associates

Clients have named Enviros the best consultancy in four categories in the 2009 Edie Awards for Environmental Excellence after being shortlisted for all nine consultancy awards.

• Best Consultancy for Climate Change and Renewables 
• Best Consultancy for Waste and Recycling
• Best Consultancy for Due Diligence
• Best Consultancy for Water and Wastewater.

 

Leading engineering, sciences and project delivery firm Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) has acquired Enviros, a multi-disciplinary sustainability, environmental and health and safety consultancy in the UK.

Enviros has leading capabilities in climate change and renewables, compliance management, health and safety, sustainable development, and waste and resource management. The firm works across many industries in both the public and private sectors.

Since 1996 SKM has completed 57 mergers and acquisitions which have been central to the firm’s strategy to grow with its clients and deliver the world’s leading skills locally.

SKM Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Paul Dougas said: “The synergies are powerful and obvious. Our growth continues to be driven by the expansion of our clients’ needs and operations. We remain in a perfect storm of economic, social and environmental challenges. Helping our clients meet those challenges and making the most of the opportunities they represent is part of our DNA.

“The fact is that Europe leads the world in sustainability, climate change and environment, and Enviros is a leading firm in this space. This expands our strategic consulting capability which we already export globally through our virtual teaming approach and many centres of excellence.”

Peter Portlock, Enviros Managing Director said: “I am delighted that Enviros has joined the SKM Group. Business needs and cultures are perfectly aligned with this transaction. The Enviros mission to ‘help our clients do business today and have the world they want tomorrow’ fits perfectly with SKM’s business, culture and values.”

Recent feedback from SKM clients indicated that almost half think that climate change is a significant short-term risk, with this concern increasing to seven in ten when a 10 year time frame is considered. This acquisition is an immediate response to client need and expands SKM’s capabilities, with Enviros people bringing great skills in sustainable development, climate change and strategic consulting generally, and bolstering the firm’s European presence.

More about Sinclair Knight Merz: SKM is a leading engineering, sciences and project delivery firm, founded in 1964. Its purpose is to deliver a positive and enduring impact on the world. With 6,500 people in offices across Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the Middle East, South America and Asia, it serves clients in the Buildings & Infrastructure, Power & Energy, Mining & Metals and Water & Environment sectors. SKM has been operating in the UK since 1997 and employs 350 people across eight offices in the UK and Middle East. Website: www.skmconsulting.com

More about Enviros: Enviros has more than 35 years experience in providing sustainability, environmental and health and safety solutions for clients. It employs 450 people in 13 offices in the UK and Ireland, with one office in mainland Europe (Prague). Website: www.enviros.com

Their plans for assistance in “Helping businesses use resources more efficiently and divert more waste from landfill”, was unveiled last week as one of the top targets for the Environment Agency over the next five years.

Launched on day two of the Agency’s annual conference, the new corporate strategy Creating A Better Place 2010-2015 also outlines the key waste-related challenges that are facing businesses and communities over the next five years and what needs to be done to meet those challenges including:

Hazardous waste:

* Overview: There has been a step change in the management of hazardous waste since the banning of co-disposal and mixing pits. Government has also consulted on a proposed Strategy for Hazardous Waste Management in England – a move that will lead to further improvements in hazardous waste treatment.
* What next? Hazardous waste poses particular risks to the environment and health so it is especially important that it is managed properly. Hazardous waste needs to be designed out at source, reduced and recycled wherever possible and residues managed safety.

Biodegradable waste:

* Overview: More than 100 million tonnes of bio-waste is produced in the UK every year. Much of this is recycled by spreading on to land.
* What next? Biowaste sent to landfill generates methane which is 20 times more potent than CO2. As well as needing to reduce biowaste production we want more of this valuable resource to be turned into energy and soil conditioners through greater uptake of anaerobic digestion.

Waste Crime:

* Overview: Hefty fines and tough sentences have been handed out to waste criminals in 454 prosecutions over the past year as a result of the Environment Agency’s crackdown on waste crime.
* What next? Waste crime is unacceptable. It puts our environment and our health at risk and undercuts legitimate businesses. We want to see businesses taking much more responsibility for the safe and lawful management of their waste – and the courts still need to make sure crime does not pay.

Head of Waste and Resources Liz Parkes said: “Last year the total environmental costs of waste sent to landfill and incinerators in the UK rather than being recycled were £336million.

“But the latest estimates are that UK companies could save in the region of £6.4 billion a year by using resources more efficiently. Collaborative work by the Environment Agency and WRAP to set new quality standards for waste recovery could result in 17 million tonnes of waste being diverted and over 2 million tonnes of carbon and 14 million tonnes of raw materials being saved.

“Good progress is being made towards municipal waste and packaging recovery targets. Regulated companies have also reduced the amount of waste they produce by 14% since 2005. But more can be done.

“The bottom line is population growth and consumption patterns are placing an unsustainable burden on the planet’s resources. Add climate change to the mix and we have no choice. Businesses must treat waste a valuable resource. In turn, we are working to make it easier for businesses to do the right thing and taking tough action against those who flout the law.”

Full article at The Environment Agency web site.

Interestingly, we already know that the nation does not intend to go the easiest route toward maximised reduction of Biological Municipal Waste (BMW) sent to landfill by building lots of incinerators. In fact it has limited the proportion of incineration treatment facilities to prevent very many of those being built.

The nation has already seen sweet success in its waste diversion policy, and most importantly, met the current landfill diversion target 18 months early, to the delight of the politicians. Now, it must start driving towards its zero waste target, and must put a wide range of measures in place which must deliver, in a very short space of time.

The targets laid out in the draft plan include 70 percent recycling by 2025, no more than 25 percent of municipal waste going to energy from waste facilities and no more than five percent of waste being landfilled by 2025.

This is truly very challenging, and isn’t going to happen unless every sector of the waste industry and the waste producers get together and al pull together. They must help each other and innovate as they go if the ideal is to become reality.

Zero waste is not new as a concept and has for sure been the goal for Scotland for some years now. The recent launch of the draft Zero Waste Plan serves only to reinforce Scotland’s determination to achieve that ultimate target.

Zero waste does not, we stress, mean the elimination of all waste, but rather the elimination of waste from the unnecessary use of materials, and will include waste prevention, re-use, recycling and sustainable design, to name but a few of the methods in the toolbox.

So far, things are looking good. However, the reports available suggest that in terms of the 40 percent target set for 2010, Scotland was at 34 percent as of March of this year. There is therefore a significant amount to do to make the 2010 and they appreciate that it will be challenging, but it is seen as achievable.

Going onward beyond 2010, the new plan looks beyond municipal waste and turns to those in other sectors. All of them can make a difference.

Since September the Scottish government has been seeking the views of the waste industry through a consultation process on their draft Zero Waste Plan. The consultation publicity makes it clear that the Scottish government wants ideas on how different sectors and waste streams, food waste being a prime example, can have an impact.

With some very hard to meet targets ahead and with a need to look beyond the immediate and obvious sectors and waste streams, finding the ways and means to generate the discussion and new ideas needed is imperative.

So, can it all actually happen? If one looks back 10 years one would have thought such improvements in waste diversion in so short a period would be completely unattainable.

However, there is strong public support for this policy and a Grass Roots willingness to recycle which has been surprisingly strong and growing even more so. Buoyed up by this waste strategies have been getting braver and more ambitious.

Scotland certainly has a lot to talk about during this consultation period, but it is a relatively small country so communication routes are smaller than in larger nations and there may be a greater flexibility not available within governance of larger nations. Scotland will, be followed by England to Zero Waste (with Wales no doubt following a similar track) it has recently been announced by the Labour Government.

As a trail-blazer on this road, Scotland has a lot to give the rest of us too when we follow them later on the same path. But the warning is out that every sector must get involved and needs to do its bit and enable the nation to embark on the journey to zero waste together as one.

Every sector needs to come up with ideas and only they possess the detailed knowledge to make this work. It all comes down to the fact that; it’s not about chasing just one route, it’s about making a difference together – there is no ‘magic bullet’.

Certainly, what the Government has to do, however, is to deliver at pace and to do that it is looking for the solutions that will make the biggest difference in the next four to five years. There are almost “millions” of things that can be done to help by the government and the waste companies throughout the industry. However, only a few will be successful enough to make big differences, so the idea is for the waste professionals to identify the solutions that will make the biggest difference, and make it quickly, and for the government to back those.

Scotland is geared for Zero Waste success, so let us all make it happen!

Global building solutions provider CEMEX is forming a partnership with the Waste Recycling Group (WRG) to produce Climafuel, an renewable fuel derived from waste, for use in cement making at the Rugby cement plant.

Last year, CEMEX submitted applications for permission to build a Climafuel manufacturing plant either at Southam or Malpass Farm in Rugby. Should planning permission be granted by Warwickshire County Council (WCC) at one of these locations, CEMEX’s agreement with WRG means that the plant would be built and operated in partnership with WRG, and the resulting fuel supplied to the cement plant.

This is welcome news as UK MBT Plants are being built which will remain risky investments unless and until a market develops in Refuse Derived Fuel like this SRF. The aim ultimately will be to produce an SRF which will be saleable for use in any boiler, but the Waster understands that for now any SRF in the UK must be classed as a waste still – and that means that stringent Waste/Waste Incineration Directive type rules still apply to the emissions from any site which burns it.

As one of the UK’s leading waste management and energy recovery companies, WRG brings to the partnership the necessary expertise and experience in the manufacture of solid recovered fuel (SRF) from residual household, commercial and industrial waste. The Climafuel plant would utilise mechanical biological treatment (MBT) technology which is widely used in mainland Europe with over 80 operational facilities, mainly in Germany, Italy and Spain. Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), the Spanish construction and services group and WRG’s parent company, brings a wealth of experience in implementing solutions utilising a range of MBT processes and technologies.

CEMEX has demonstrated the significant benefits the use of Climafuel provides in displacing traditional fossil fuels and reducing emissions. By diverting waste from landfill, the manufacture and use of Climafuel can also help local authorities to meet the stringent targets set by the European Union for reducing the volume of waste going to landfill. The use of Climafuel will further reduce the plant’s consumption of fossil fuels, such as coal, and thereby help to achieve climate change objectives.

If permission for such a plant is granted by WCC, it could make a significant contribution to the county achieving its landfill diversion targets.

Neville Roberts, CEMEX’s Technical Director, commented: “CEMEX had always planned to involve a waste management specialist in this project and in WRG we have one of the leaders in this activity in the UK and Europe. The use of Climafuel represents a ‘win-win’ situation and this new partnership will deliver tangible benefits environmentally and commercially.”

Andy Ryan, WRG’s Development Director, said: “WRG has a strong strategic focus on providing solutions for local authorities as they seek to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill, as well as improving performance on waste minimisation, re-use and recycling.

“This partnership represents an important extension to our offering. Climafuel would be manufactured to CEMEX’s tight specifications and this will produce a solid, clean and non-hazardous alternative fuel which generates valuable energy from material that cannot otherwise be recycled.”