Clun Carnival 2011

Volunteers from Shropshire Master Composters attended the Clun Carnival this weekend to promote home composting. This was the first time we have attended this particular event but I think we would definately consider going again in future years as (partly due to lovely weather) the turnout was very high and everyone seemed in good spirits and interested to find out more about composting and particularly wormeries seemed to generate alot of queries. A big thanks to Mike and Sue, two new volunteers from south shropshire who organised and attended this show for us.

Burwarton Show 2011

Volunteers from Shropshire Master Composters have been out and about promoting composting and recycling at this years Burwarton Show near Bridgnorth.

Despite the inclement weather, thousands turned out to see the show and we spoke to almost 300 people about how they could be greener with their waste. A big thanks to all the volunteers and staff from Shropshire Council and Veolia who helped to make the whole day such a success.

Shropshire Matress recycling firm expanding

A Shropshire company which describes itself as the ‘largest independent national mattress recycler in the UK’ has announced plans to significantly expand its network of mattress recycling centres in response to growing demand for the service.


Shropshire-based JBS Fibre Recovery Ltd - which is part of the JBS Group which also includes JBS Waste Management - opened its first mattress recycling facility earlier this year in Telford. And, over the last three months, the company says it has recycled 14,000 mattresses at the site, diverting 600 tonnes of waste from landfill. It counts the likes of the John Lewis Partnership, IKEA and local authorities among its customers.


The team at Shropshire-based JBS Fibre RecoveryNow, the company has opened another mattress recycling centre in Milton Keynes with the capacity to handle 300,000 mattresses a year and is planning to open another in Bradford in October, followed by even more plants in future months.


John Neill, director of JBS Fibre Recovery Ltd, explained: “We are absolutely delighted with our recent round of successes. Thanks to our Telford centre, over 600 tonnes of waste have already been diverted from landfill in the last three months, an achievement that surpassed even our own high expectations. The massive growth of the Telford site highlighted the need for a much greater number of dedicated mattress recycling plants across the country, and urged us to bring forward our plans for new regional hubs UK-wide.


It is estimated in the UK over six million mattresses are disposed of per year with the figure in the USA exceeding 30 million. Many recycling centres are unable to process waste mattresses because they are made from a range of components including metal, fabrics, and foam, meaning that they are often sent to landfill.


JBS Fibre Recovery Ltd’s claims to recycle, reuse or send to energy recovery all materials extracted from the mattresses it handles.

Wem Sweet Pea Show 2011

 
Volunteers from Shropshire Master Composters have been spreading the word about waste prevention in north Shropshire. 

Wem is known as the place where the Sweet Peas come from because of local man Henry Eckford, who first cross bred and developed the Sweet Pea.  Henry Eckford was a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society and for his efforts in developing one of the most wonderful garden plants he was given the Victoria Medal of Honour of the society.

The National Sweet Pea Society joins the Eckford Sweet Pea Society in celebrating its Annual Sweet Pea Festival.  The festival in July 2011 was held at The Thomas Adams Stanier Hall and in a large marquee on High Street, Wem and was attended by several hundred people.  Over the course of the day the volunteers spoke to people about how composting can improve crop yields and complement growing schemes by providing you with a free supply of soil improver.

Local AD plant recycling food waste

4Recycling Ltd, part of the 4R Group, has recently been awarded a three year contract by Biffa Waste Services to recycle digestate from a new state-of-the-art 120,000 tonne per annum capacity Anaerobic Digestion facility recently opened at Poplars, near Cannock in Staffordshire.


The contract will require them to source local farmland around Shropshire and Staffordshire to spread the compost like output on and arrange haulage. This is absolutely intergral to making sure that food waste collected from businesses and households around the West Midlands area gets recycled.


Mike Holt, Managing Director of the 4R Group, comments: "We are really pleased to be supporting Biffa on this important contract. Our team of Soil Scientists and Operational staff have decades of experience in developing recycling outlets for organic materials, delivering huge carbon savings by substituting out fossil-derived fertilizers in agriculture or bringing brownfield land back into productive use.


He added "4R Group technicians are continually working with clients to develop value added fertiliser replacements which are then marketed through the 4R Products business. This is an essential activity given the Government's focus on delivering a zero waste economy – developing markets for these products will be a key test for the Coalition.”


Production of digestate from the Poplars contract to PAS 110 standard is likely to commence in mid to late 2011 and 4Recycling Ltd will provide a complete technical, transport and recycling service for both solids and liquids working with local contractors and landowners to provide a continuous service for the plant.

Carbon-14 approval for EfW

Gasification, pyrolysis, incinerators and other energy-from-waste facilities using CHP are set to find it easier to claim ROCs after a simpler way of establishing the renewable content of the energy they produce was approved by Ofgem.

Up until now, very few operators of facilities which convert mixed waste streams into electricity have been able to qualify for Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROCs) support because it is difficult to determine how much of the energy is renewable. This has involved testing samples of the waste in laboratories to determine its biodegradable fraction in a process known as ‘dissolution'


Because of the difficulty of this approach, one of the only companies to successfully claim ROCs for an energy-from-waste plant to date has been Energos for its Isle of Wight gasification facility, which starting receiving ROCs in late 2010.

However, now the energy regulator has said that it is "prepared to consider Fuel Measurement and Sampling procedures that propose to use the carbon-14 technique”. This technique, which is similar to carbon dating, allows operators to test the emissions from their installations rather than the waste itself to determine the renewable content of the energy produced.

Recently living material contains a much higher proportion of carbon-14 isotopes so, by measuring the ratio of fossil carbon-12 to the amount of carbon-14, the proportion of the energy which is renewable can be determined.

The move comes after an independent report commissioned by Ofgem and another commissioned by members of the Renewable Energy Association found that results from using the technique "would be at least as accurate as the existing sampling methods used”.Ofgem stressed that, as always,all sampling proposals will be considered and agreed on a case-by-case basis.

Richard Bellingham, manager of renewables: biomass, waste and co-firing at Ofgem, said: "We see the potential for the carbon-14 technique as a positive step in terms of recognising a new method for generators to consider when setting about making an application for accreditation to us”.


Tony Grimshaw, technical director of Energos, sits on the sub-group of the Renewable Energy Association, which has been lobbying Ofgem to accept the carbon-14 technique. He explained that there were advantages in being able to sample flue gas over solid waste and that the move by Ofgem was welcome.

Bowbrook Allotments Open Day 2012

Bowbrook Allotment Community

Mytton Oak Road,  Shrewsbury,  Shropshire,  SY3 5BT

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Opening dates and times:Sun 15 July (1-5)
Admission:Combined adm £3, chd free

Facilities:

Refreshments:Tea
Contact:n/a
Postcode:SY3 5BT

Location:½m from Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. 
From A5 Shrewsbury bypass take B4386 following signs for hospital. Allotments situated ½m along B4386. (Mytton Oak Rd) on R
click here for a map
Website:www.bowbrookallotments.co.uk

Description:The 4-acre site which opened in Spring 2009 has 68 productive plots displaying wide-ranging cultivation methods. Organic techniques incl companion planting and attracting natural predators are encouraged. Green spaces throughout the site are designed to attract wildlife and encourage community involvement. Nest boxes, bat boxes and insect shelters abound. The site features an interest trail, 2 orchards, picnic area, wild flowers, wildlife areas and ‘Gardens of the Seasons’. Local environmental groups and schools welcomed. The community has a website(see above) and regular newsletters for members. Children enjoy the trail, willow den and tunnel, turf maze and sensory garden. The site boasts a compost toilet and information hut. Surplus produce is delivered weekly to the local hospice
Displays by Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Shropshire Masters Composters, Shropshire Hardy Plant Society. Children's quiz sheets

In the press:Featured in Shropshire Life magazine, Natural England Big Wildlife Garden Gold Award, RHS "Its your Neighbourhood" Level 5 (outstanding)

A big thanks to the volunteers who helped organise the event and the shropshire master composter volutneers who did the composting display