As this week is National Recycle Week it’s a perfect opportunity to remind you of the importance of recycling and how Wastecare has been servicing the UK’s recycling needs. Wastecare via our BatteryBack compliance scheme continues in its communication campaigns to help change the battery recycling behaviour of the public. This year this included consumer…
Category Archives: Waste
Metals prices continue to fall
Scrap metal prices saw further falls in October adding to uncertainty in the metals sector which has also seen the closure of the SSI steelworks in Redcar and proposed job losses at Tata Steel. And, the price reductions are having a knock on effect in the WEEE recycling sector and for local authorities who are…
Government seeks to cut red tape in waste sector
A review to identify unnecessary barriers to growth and productivity in the waste sector has been launched by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). The department is seeking evidence of barriers in the law, how it is implemented and enforcement activity which is carried out on the ground. The review is part of the…
Landfill tax revenue tops £1 billion
Over £1.1 billion was raised by the Treasury through Landfill Tax in 2014, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure is almost 10 times the income of £113 million generated from the tax when it was first introduced in 1996. The landfill tax was initially set up to help…
Tougher fines given out for pollution offences
Waste companies have been warned that they could face fines equivalent to 100% of their pre-tax profits if convicted of pollution offences in future. The warning from the Environment Agency comes after the Court of Appeal upheld a £250,000 fine for Thames Water Utilities Ltd in June for polluting a nature reserve. While the judgement…
Export is no solution
Almost as worrying as the practice of illegally exporting WEEE is a feeling that we are starting to become desensitised to it. Maybe we feel it is inevitable – just another inconvenient truth? I hope and still believe that this isn’t the case. This belief is based on the sound environmental, economic and commercial reasons…
Defra to cut waste role in 2014/15
Newly appointed resource minister Dan Rogerson has written to members of the waste and recycling sector to inform them of a ‘reduction of activities’ in the area for 2014/15. In the letter Mr Rogerson wrote that waste is ‘one of his priorities’ but added that from next year, the Department will focus on ‘essential’ areas…
Spilt milk
When an articulated vehicle is involved in a full speed accident on the motorway, the devastation caused can be massive. This was the case last week when 2 lorries collided on the M4 causing the busy motorway to be closed for 10 hours. Fortunately no one was hurt during the incident, however the crash had…
New Waste Minister named
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has confirmed that Liberal Democrat MP Dan Rogerson will replace Lord de Mauley as the new Waste and Resources Minister Mr Rogerson, MP for North Cornwall, takes over the waste brief following the cabinet reshuffle, while Lord de Mauley will now focus on biodiversity and the natural…
Skip hire firm convicted for multiple waste crimes
A Darlington-based skip hire firm and four directors and employees have been convicted of multiple waste crimes, following a 10-week trial at Teesside Crown Court. Albert Skip Hire Ltd, manager Raymond Anthony Stewart and his brother company director Paul Stuart Shepherd were convicted on Friday (November 8), following an investigation by the Environment Agency. Raymond,…