Kier was fined £160,000 for safety failings yesterday (January 8) after an employee suffered ‘life-changing injuries’ at a household waste recycling centre in Essex. The 29-year-old man, who does not wish to be named, was crushed between a skip loader truck and a skip when he was preparing for a pick-up at the then May…
DetailsPlans to change the permitting rules for sites handling combustible material such as wood waste and refuse derived fuels have been outlined by the Environment Agency, in a bid to quell the ‘unacceptable’ number of fires involving waste. The Agency action comes as some in the waste sector and government feel that control of illegal…
DetailsWe have all seen the ever growing use of plastics in vehicles which is balanced by an ever reducing amount of metal. Plastics have never offered the values to justify their removal, sorting and baling but times are changing. A Lincolnshire based plastics recycler, Luxus Limited has been pioneering the use of recycled material for…
DetailsA sand and gravel supplier has been ordered to pay around £250,000 after exceeding by almost 19 times the storage limit on its waste licence. Rory J Holbrook Ltd admitted at Norwich Crown Court operating a facility at Blofield, Norfolk, without the necessary permits. The company was fined £30,000, and ordered to pay costs of…
DetailsWood recyclers are to lobby to change rules limiting the amount of time that waste wood destined for biomass burning can be stored, arguing that a three month limit is unlikely to prevent fires in the sector. The Environment Agency last month launched a consultation into changes to standard permitting rules for the storage of…
DetailsSlick organised criminals are targeting ‘isolated’ landowners in order to dump huge quantities of illegal waste, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has warned. The association argued that many criminal ringleaders have ‘a very legitimate front’ – meaning it is difficult to tell whether operators are genuine. It follows a notice from the Environment…
DetailsTwo Kent companies have been ordered to pay a total of £44,294 for illegal waste disposal on flood plain near the River Medway. In action brought by the Environment Agency, construction firm Fastrac Contractors and Utilities Ltd was found guilty in its absence of illegal waste activity and fined £40,000 with £1,650 costs at Sevenoaks…
DetailsThe Environment Agency’s failure to listen to tyre recyclers on stack sizes could inadvertently increase the risk of fires on waste sites. This was the message from the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) today as it urged the Agency to amend its controversial Fire Prevention Plan guidance. Currently the Environment Agency is undertaking a periodic…
DetailsThe falling price of scrap metal is adding to the impact of reduced commodity prices in the local authority sector and causing concerns in the WEEE sector. Local authorities are having to face up to reduced prices for light iron and other metals while some recyclers of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) consider that…
DetailsA fatal incident at a Merseyside woodchip factory – described by one HSE inspector as his “most horrific case” – has seen two firms ordered to pay combined costs of £624,000. Portuguese-owned Sonae Industria (UK) Ltd and equipment specialist Valmet Ltd, which took over Metso Ltd in 2013, were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court…
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