Telford firm up for national recycling award

Following a string of prestigious achievements over the last 12 months, Shropshire based waste management experts Reconomy are delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for the National Recycling Awards 2012.

Shortlisted in the category of Waste Management Company of the Year (SME), the recognition is testament to the hard work and commitment of all Reconomy staff.

The award winners will be announced on the 3rd July at the Industry's prestigious awards ceremony in London.

Reconomy are a national firm of waste brokers based on Stafford Park in Telford, Shropshire.  Wherever you are in the UK, they can help organise recycling collections for your business.  Fore more information visit http://www.reconomy.com

Shropshire Organic Gardeners

Shropshire Orgnanic Gardeners (SOGs) are a local group of amateur horticulturalists who organise events and visits to educate people about the benefits of organic gardening. 

This naturally complements the work of Shropshire Master Composters of course because home composting is the cornerstone of any organic garden.  In fact many of the members of SOGs are also volunteer Master Composters in their spare time too and vice versca!  We can often be seen alongside one another at flower shows and village fetes around the county and we would together in partnership to encourage more people to grow their own and compost more, all of which helps protect our environment. 

Below for example is an event at Welshampton Green Fayre where we both exhibited side by side recently which allows us to "germinate" some great joint-ideas and "share best practice" for composting and gardening tips.

For more details on their group visit their website http://www.shropshireorganicgardeners.org.uk/ 

Scrappies in Stretton this Summer!

Shropshire environmental education charity "Scrappies" (The Shropshire Childrens Recycling, Art, Scrap Store) are dedicated to re-using hard to recycle waste streams to inspire young people and artists in Shropshire.  Every year they collect tonnes of bits of fabric, plastics and all manner of left overs from local businesses and residents and use it for arts-based educational work. 

Schools, teachers, artists and parents from all over the county can visit their "Aladins Cave" in Church Stretton and buy reclaimed materials.  They also offer school visits and art workshops all with an environmental theme to encourage the next generation to reduce, reuse and recycle more and more of their waste.

This year, thanks to a grant from Shropshire Council, Scrappies will be able to put on a programme of children’s workshops during the school holidays, starting with this year’s summer holidays. These workshops are always very popular and advance booking is essential. Call them on 01694 722511 to book a place for your child.  The dates for the workshops are as follows:

• 2nd August 2012 – ‘Bug Boxes’
• 9th August 2012 – ‘Windsocks and Windmills’
• 23rd August 2012 – ‘Butterflies and Dragonflies'30th August – ‘Fantasy Fish’ 
• 30th August 2012 – ‘Fantasy Fish’
  
  
  
  

Get composting this summer

Shropshire Master Composters are reminding all residents in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin that you can get discounted home composting bins from Get Composting.  A range of different types can be bought via  www.shropshire.getcomposting.com

Healthy eating & waste reduction

Now these may not seem like normal bed fellows, but as part of the Love Food Hate Waste Campaign volunteers from Shropshire Master Composters have been helping to encourage the public to reduce food waste.  And the campaign is now being backed by the Councils Sure Start Centres who work with young people and their families to improve socio-economic outcomes.

One thing that both want to deliver is improved cooking skills in the community which can benefit both objectives.  As such we have been working in partnership to stage public cookery demonstrations and give out recipe cards to families who attend the Sure Start Centres as a way to encourage people to think about food and cook from scratch.

 

Hopefully this will improve awareness of food generally and make people value food and acquire the basic skills to re-use and preserve food, therefore this should mean that less and less food ends up in the bin.

For more information about reducing food waste including recipe ideas, storage advice and tips to help you save money on your shopping visit http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

Composting garden waste in Shropshire

Shropshire On-farm Composting

In most areas garden waste which is collected from your garden waste bins gets taken for composting on local farms in Shropshire. We use three main sub-contractors for this;

• Oswestry Green Waste in Whittington, near Oswestry
• Agripost in Ford, near Shrewsbury
• Greenacres Farm in Shifnal, near Bridgnorth

What happens to the waste?

The material arrives at the farms and is screened to remove any unwanted contamination. It then gets put through a huge industrial shredder. The shredded material then gets bulked up into large pyramid shaped mounds called "windrows".

These piles get turned on a regular basis to keep them well oxygenated. The process works through the 'aerobic biological degradation of organic materials' i.e. rotting.

Because of the sheer scale of the piles, they get very hot and steamy and the composting process takes place very quickly. Even by the end of the first week of composting, the windrow height reduces significantly. The active composting stage generally lasts for a couple of months.

Because this process takes place on a farm, its very important that no kitchen waste gets added to the process. This would be against the Animal By-Product Regulations and it may make the farm animals poorly.

What happens to the finished product?

The end product is a high quality earthy brown soil like substance which makes an excellent soil improver. All of the finished produce is spread on agricultural land. This helps improve the soil and reduces the need for man made fertilisers. The product is generally not available for sale to the public from these sites.

Japanese Knotweed disposal

Japanese Knotweed and even soil containing rhizome material is considered ‘controlled waste’ so it must be disposed of at a licensed landfill or incinerator.
If you have any Japanese Knotweed please do not put it in with your garden waste. This type of material must be sent for disposal with your general rubbish. For detailed information visit http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/

Anaerobic Digestion plans for mid-Wales

Ceredigion and Powys County Councils have awarded Wales’ first long-term food waste treatment contract to Agrivert. The waste will be transported to Agrivert’s Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant in Oxfordshire to be converted to fertiliser and electricity.

The new contract puts the local authorities, acting as the Central Wales Waste Partnership, moving towards the mandatory target of a 70 per cent recycling and composting rate by 2025.

The procurement process took under two years to complete and was funded by the Welsh Government through its Waste Infrastructure Procurement Programme. The Central Wales Waste Partnership has now had its business case accepted by government and funding for the AD scheme has been secured for the contract’s 15 year lifespan.

AD treatment will replace the current in vessel composting, used throughout Ceredigion and in parts of Powys, by November 2012. Although initially the organic waste will be transported to Agrivert’s processing site near Oxford it is expected that new facilities will be built locally.

Huw Morgan, Director for Ceredigion’s Highways, Property & Works Department, and the officer responsible for the project commented “This contract is a positive step in improving the environment for Ceredigion and Powys and it demonstrates what can be achieved by working together with our neighbouring authorities.”

 

New MRF for Shropshire

At a series of open days for customers, suppliers and other interested representatives it was also announced that up to 30 local jobs are expected to be created at the plant, the largest and most advanced in Shropshire.
Councillor Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, officially opened the Materials Recycling Facility facility on Tuesday 12th June 2012.

Managing director, Tudor Griffiths said: “The TG Group’s Materials Recycling Facility is Shropshire’s most progressive waste management facility and will rank alongside the very best in the country. We believe this investment is good news for our company, local employment and the environment.”

Part of the funding for the 2,000 square metres Materials Recycling Facility plant was awarded to TGG by WRAP – a government funded organisation aimed at recycling and reducing waste. In 2008 TGG successfully applied for a grant of £245,000 towards its plans for the plant.

The facility has been carefully designed and constructed in conjunction with McPhillips, the Civil Engineering and Building Development Company based in Telford. Every aspect of the plant has been carefully considered to provide environmentally sustainable features including; the use of low energy lighting, an ergonomically designed picking station, a system to harvest rainfall from the plant’s roof and use it on-site for washing vehicle wheels and making use of electricity generated from its efficient on-site power plant.

For every container of waste processed at the Materials Recycling Facility plant, more than 90% of its contents are re-claimed and recycled. Wood, bricks, metal, paper, cardboard, ferrous metal and many more materials are all separated and recycled into usable products. The soil that is removed is used for restoration projects.
Although less than 10% of the waste processed ends up on a landfill site even this is not unproductive. The landfill waste produces methane, which is captured to help produce the electricity that powers the plant and local community.

(left to right) Tudor Griffiths, Managing Director, Tudor Griffiths Group, Cllr Keith Barrow, Leader, Shropshire Council, and Tony Williams, General Manager, TG Waste Services, at the opening of the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF).

Re-claimed bricks and rubble are crushed and used on construction sites helping to fulfil the growing pressure on producers and consumers to reduce the consumption of primary aggregates by switching to recycled or secondary aggregates.

The TG Group has pioneered the use of recycled materials in numerous construction projects. Concrete and masonry is screened and crushed at the Materials Recycling Facility to produce a huge range of products.

Among these products are; aggregates, fills and soils. Wood is shredded and screened and used in chipboard manufacture and agricultural processes. Some of the timber – in wood chippings form – is also used to produce biomass, a renewable energy source that is valuable for many purposes including production of electricity.

Upvc window frames are shredded to form plastic regrind, metals are shredded and melted down for further processes and cardboard and paper is baled and sent to paper mills.

An informative booklet, produced by TGG is available on request and describes the Materials Recycling Facility process and what it means to the local community.  For more information on this innovative Shropshire firm visit http://www.tggroup.co.uk/

Warning on dangerous plant

A warning has been issued after dangerous plants which cost the British economy more than £1.7 billion each year were spotted growing in parts of Shrewsbury.

The Environment Agency says Japanese knotweed is growing by the railway bridge in Shrewsbury.

This is one plant that you don't want to be composting, it can survive the composting process and go on to spread and to cause massive damage to property. 

Read more: http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/06/16/warning-after-danger-plants-spotted-in-shrewsbury/#ixzz20pQly8gt

Free composting advice

Sat 16th June & Sun 17th June 2012

Garden Organic's Ryton Gardens near Coventry will have their very own Master Composters on hand over the weekend of 16th and 17th June 2012 between 11.00 am and 3.00 pm to help visitors with all things relating to compost and soil fertility.

Jane Griffiths, Sustainable Waste Manager said;
“Good compost is at the heart of any garden and we thought that visitors might find chatting to our compost experts in the heart of our new Compost and Soil fertility Garden helpful and inspiring.”

Mark Wilkinson, Ryton Gardens Visitor Manager added;
“On Sunday 17th we have also got the Coventry Beekeepers Association on site to give advice on all aspects of bee keeping”


For further information and a copy of the FREE Ryton Gardens leaflet call 02476 303517

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Summer picnic tips to save food waste

This summer many people will be planning a picnic in the beautiful Shropshire countryside but Love Food Hate Waste is reminding us that picnics don’t have to cost the earth.

Every year in the UK people throw out millions of tonnes of edible food which would be perfect for picnics including; 5 million potatoes, 1.1 million bananas, nearly 3 million tomatoes, 200,000 packs of unopened crisps, 70,000 cakes and 1 million slices of ham.  Most of this ends up being buried in landfill sites where it rots and produces pollution.

In fact picnics are a great way to use up lovely leftovers from the fridge.  So people can save money and reduce food waste if they take some simple steps.  Here are the council’s top tips for a waste free picnic this summer:

• Use a cool box or cool bag, with ice packs, to help keep food fresh.
• Pack a few extra airtight containers before leaving the house.  Any leftovers keep much better if kept in a container rather than left to go soggy in their packets.
• Did you know you can freeze cheese?  If you grate it before freezing, and then make sandwiches straight from the bag – it will defrost by the time you are ready to eat.
• Over-ripe fruit?  Any types of fruit including bananas, mangos, apples and strawberries can be blitzed into healthy smoothies.
• If you cooked too much pasta the night before, simply stir in some mayonnaise and keep in the fridge for a perfect pasta salad.
• If fresh lemons are looking past their best, just dice them up with some sugar and sparkling water to make a refreshing lemonade.