News

‘Chemical-free’ computer developed

India’s biggest IT service provider Wipro has produced a computer free from PVC (polyvinylchloride) and BFR (brominated flame retardants).

The computer named ‘Greenware’ will be the first of its kind to reach the Indian market and will cover 15% of Wipro’s total PC product portfolio.

Wipro was one of many electronics companies to pledge to remove these chemicals from their products in 2005, following a Greenpeace campaign. However, so far only Apple and Acer have succeeded in this aim, with many larger companies failing to change their products.

Toxic waste is a particular concern in India, along with other Asian countries, as a lot of the waste produced in developed countries ends up being dumped here for recycling in unregulated environments.

There is currently an ongoing legal case which involves Wipro, along with Indian electronic producer HCL, as they are calling for greater control and regulation and voluntary action on white waste management in India.

Landfill gas fuel cell unit proves a success

A new power generating system, developed and run by lifecycle power company Wärtsilä Corporation, has completed the first stage of its validation programme after operating for more than 1500 hours producing low-emission electricity for households in Vaasa, Finland. The FC20 fuel cell power unit is the first of its kind in the world, and runs on methane rich gas from a local landfill. The technology for this system has been produced in partnership with Danish company Topsoe Fuel Cell A/S.

Benefits of the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology are that exhaust gas emissions are low, there are no measurable levels of sulphur oxide or nitrogen oxide, and CO2 emissions are very close to carbon neutral.

‘We are very pleased with the performance of our first fuel cell unit being operated in the field. The entire experience has so far been very positive, and it provides an excellent platform for us to continue our work on fuel cell solutions for the future,’ says Erkko Fontell, director, Fuel Cell, Wärtsilä Finland.

Community recycling pilot project launched in Australia

A six-month pilot project has been launched in Canberra, Australia, to increase the number of recycling bins in a high density building (HDB) residential area.

This project, run by the National Environment Agency (NEA) aims to test the feasibility and effectiveness of having more recycling bins in HDB residential estates, with the goal of encouraging the community to recycle more waste.

The catchment area is served by SembWaste, which will be deploying 10 additional recycling bins to the existing four recycling bins in the area. Recyclables will be collected weekly, however, during the period of the pilot project, fortnightly door-to-door collections will be suspended to gauge the effectiveness of placing one recycling bin per block and the willingness of the residents to bring their recyclables down for depositing in the recycling bins at their own convenience.

Mr Andrew Tan, CEO of NEA said, ‘ We hope that this effort will pave the way for more innovative environmental initiatives that will help us achieve the goal of having a 70% recycling rate by 2030’.

In Brief

South Australia authorized a new Environmental Protection Policy on 18 February 2010 which is due to come into operation on 1 September 2010. Among the aims laid out in the new policy is the promotion of a waste management hierarchy to improve resource recovery. There are also provisions prohibiting the disposal of certain waste types to landfill and mandating weekly collection of residual domestic waste.

Waste Management Inc has announced plans to build a plasma arc incineration plant using technology developed by InEnTec LLC at its landfill in Arlington, Oregon. The plant should be operational later this year and will be a pilot project with the view to developing the technology to the point where it can be used on a large scale.

Waste paper imports through south China’s Guangdong ports are up 13.3% over the 2008 level, it has been revealed. The growth in paper imports, which topped 10.33 million tonnes last year, has been attributed to strong paper demand following some economic recovery in the area, and a decline in paper pulp production in China. In December, waste paper imports at Guangdong went up 17.1% year on year to 859,000 tonnes, but was down from the 1.02 million tonne annual peak last June.

Valpak has launched the largest closed-loop battery recycling system in the UK with help from paper-based packaging manufacturer Smurfitt Kappa. The launch coincided with the UK’s start date for compliance with The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009.

Futuresource conference programme announced

Futuresouce has announced the programme for its upcoming conference in April 2010, which will include debates on policy surrounding zero waste targets. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘More or Less’.

Sustainability in the UK, Europe and worldwide is the focus, and on the first day of the conference programme UK government ministers will be present, with representatives from European countries, to discuss waste management policy.

WRAP will also be present, and on the second day of the programme will be discussing how to make more efficient environmental services across the UK.

The third day will focus on the challenges of choosing funding and delivering the right treatment infrastructure to complete the conference programme.

New waste-to-energy conversion project

A project to convert domestic and industrial waste to energy is being commissioned in Scotland by Ascot Environmental Ltd and will be operated by ScotGen Ltd.

The plant is expected to process 60,000 tonnes of hazardous and non-hazardous waste per annum with waste from domestic, agricultural and industrial sources, and will generate 6.2 MW of electrical power per year for the National Grid.

Part of the plant’s advanced thermal treatment process employs compressed air supplied from an Atlas Copco Compressors system.

The compressed air system supplies all of the plant and instrument air with its main application being in the flue gas filtration facility. Here, pulses of air are required to clean the filtration bags housed in three units on site. Air is also supplied to the continuous emission monitoring system.

Lloyd Brotherton, project director of Ascot Environmental said, ‘In view of the material we handle and the nature of the gasification conversion process, it is vital that we maintain a reliable emission monitoring system at all times.’

Battery legislation in UK

The introduction of the Battery Directive has brought the UK into line with other countries in Europe that already legislate to minimize the proportion of batteries going to landfill. Every retailer in the UK that sells more that 32 kg of batteries per year must provide in-store takeback facilities for consumers.

Dr Philip Morton, chief executive of the battery compliance scheme, e-Batt, says: ‘The recycling targets call for stepwise increases in the proportion of batteries that need to be recycled, from the present level of 3% in 2010, to 45% by 2016. The figures may look steep, but they are achievable. Belgium, for example, recycles over half of its batteries. How quickly Britain can reach this level of activity remains to be seen, but it is likely to be a challenging journey.’

London puts £28 million towards cutting landfill use

The London Waste and Recycling Board has allocated £28 million ($42.2 million) to developing waste infrastructure projects from a selected pool of ideas that it will identify over the next year. The Board has passed its second year business plan which explains the guidelines for funding to deliver the biggest impact in waste reduction, reuse and recycling.

Last year, the fund received £18 million ($27 million) from Europe and called for expressions of interest for the funding. This money went to reuse schemes, the Recycle for London campaign and a 100,000 tonne per year gasification plant among other things. The Board will now identify 20 projects which it considers to be the most effective in delivering the waste management strategy London’s mayor has set out.

James Cleverly, Assembly Member, said: ‘We have identified a clutch of projects that we could support and help fund.’

The Board’s Plan has been developed in conjunction with the Mayor of London’s waste priorities as detailed in his draft municipal waste management strategy, London’s Wasted Resource, which contains measures to boost London’s recycling rates, embrace less polluting waste technologies, make more money from waste, ensure streets are cleaner ahead of 2012 and save up to £90 million ($134.9 million) per year. This saving could be made by sending no waste to landfill, recycling as much as possible, and extracting energy from what is left over.

WEEE study in Germany shows need for action

A new study commissioned by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in Germany has shown that more than 155,000 tonnes of WEEE are exported to non-European destinations every year. This figure includes 50,000 tonnes of PC and television monitors, which include metals such as the hazardous polybrominated diphenyl ether (PentaBDE). Quite often broken or faulty equipment is being classified as ‘functional’ before being shipped to Asia or Africa.

Federal Minister for Environment Dr. Norbert Röttgen said, ‘The study illustrates the scale of illegal export of WEEE while also pointing out that further measures to solve the problem are necessary. The Federal government is calling for a decisive regulation at the European level by which exporters must provide proof that exported devices are in working order and not in fact waste, and for exporters to bear the costs of periodic checks.’

The UBA also appealed for the continued improvement of recycling standards in Asia and Africa, and the ecological design of new electric and electronic products by manufacturers.

The 18-month study produced by experts from the Hamburg Institute for Environmental Strategies has revealed the most information on the origin and volume of exported devices to date. The findings will be forwarded to affected stakeholders, municipal organizations, environmental and economic associations and the European Commission.

CORRECTION Contrary to the assertion in the article A way forward for glass recycling, Waste Management World, January-February 2009 (Volume 10, Issue 1), LCL Inc has informed us through its lawyers that in fact its MRF purification plant had not been had not been commissioned by Krysteline by January 2009. LCL is presently taking steps to ensure that LCL can commission its plant just as soon as possible so that it can produce crushed glass.

UK supermarket to recycle food waste

Biffa has signed a three-year deal with UK supermarket Sainsbury’s to recycle food waste from 40 of its stores using anaerobic digestion technology. Sainsbury’s is aiming to use AD as its sole method of food waste management by 2012, and already operates a ‘Zero Food Waste to Landfill’ policy.

Neil Sachdev, Sainsbury’s commercial director, said, ‘We are the industry leader in the use of anaerobic digestion and with this additional capacity provided by Biffa, we put ourselves even further ahead.

Biffa and Sainsbury’s have been working together since October 2005. Biffa provides a comprehensive range of recycling and waste management services to almost 600 stores, and manages specific waste streams at the remainder of Sainsbury’s stores nationwide.

Ukraine amends waste law

The Ukraine government has amended its municipal waste law, which among other changes, has introduced a separate municipal waste collection system in the country.

The introduction of this waste collection system obliges the developers of real estate (of all types, including residential, administrative and manufacturing) to create special sites for containers to store and collect municipal waste and also requires the property and land owners/lessees and the waste collection companies to ensure separation at source and separate collection of municipal waste.

Waste incineration is also restricted to energy generation purposes only, under the new law which also prohibits the development, construction and exploitation of municipal waste landfills which are not equipped with underground water protection and biogas and filtrate collection and treatment systems.

Violation of waste legislation will also be subject to an increased administrative fine two to three times greater than previously at about $43-$170 for individuals, $106-$213 for private entrepreneurs and companies’ officers.

Winter Olympic medals made from WEEE

Medals handed out to winners at the winter Olympics in Canada this year were made from metals recovered from processing the circuit boards of end-of-life electronics.

Teck Resources Limited (Teck) was the exclusive supplier of the metals used in the production of the over 1000 medals to be awarded. The Canadian resource company provided 2.05 kg of gold, 1950 kg of silver and 903 kg of copper sourced from its operations around the world. Teck’s process for refining the metals involves recovering metals contained in cathode ray tube glass, computer parts and circuit boards through smelting.

Historically, metal for the medals has been sourced only from mineral deposits that are mined from the earth and refined later for commercial use.

Taiwan drafts new waste act

The Taiwan government’s Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has merged the Waste Disposal Act and the Resource Recycling and Reuse Act into one Waste Resource Recycling Promotion Act.

Taiwan currently manages waste and renewable resources through two acts. The main aims of this new draft act are as follows:

• strengthen source reductions including green design, green production, manufacturers’ recycling responsibilities, green consumption and green procurement.
• re-evaluate waste resource sorting methods, and classify reusable and recyclable materials as ‘reusables’, and non-reusable and non-recyclable materials as ‘waste’.
• implement management of enterprise resource recycling, adopting a dual-tier system based on fee collection principles and enterprises recycling their own materials.
• implement polluter-pays principle by collecting funds for disposal and treatment of industry waste resources.
• re-evaluate waste disposal responsibilities and establish reasonable waste disposal responsibilities.
• strengthen reuse management methods – with exceptions announced by the central competent authority for materials that are inappropriate for reuse due to being hazardous to human health or potentially polluting the environment. Reuse organizations should obtain a permit from competent authorities, who are required to strictly manage such affairs.
• make sure the original principles of environmental protection and sanitation in waste management have been retained with an additional focus on environmental sanitation.

Scottish councils hit recycling targets early

The majority of Scottish councils will meet a recycling target, according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

The latest statistics showed that, between October 2008 and September 2009, a total of 35.9% of all municipal solid waste – 1,167,372 tonnes – was either recycled or composted.

The figures also revealed a recycling rate of 39% for July to September last year.

During that three-month period, 18 of Scotland’s 32 councils exceeded the goal of recycling more than 40% of their waste. But the amount of waste recycled varied from 21.8% in the Shetland Islands to 51.2% in Clackmannanshire.

Councils have been given targets of recycling 50% of their waste by 2013, 60% by 2020 and 70% by 2025.

Veolia in Westminster

A £518 million ($790.5 million) contract for waste, recycling and street cleansing with Westminster City Council in London has been awarded to Veolia Environmental Services (VES).

This will mean 650 staff will work every day of the year on the contract.

Danny Chalkley, cabinet member for city management said: ‘We have an unrivalled reputation for the cleanliness of our streets and take a great pride in the fact that in our area street sweepers and binmen are a regular and welcome sight, wherever you may live or work.’

Zero Waste think tank papers available

Zero Waste, the think tank which advised the Scottish government on its plans for zero waste has made its minutes and papers available on the Scottish government’s website.

Plans for a Zero Waste Scotland, including new targets to increase recycling and reduce landfill, were outlined on 24 January, 2008.

• The Zero Waste Think Tank and its four sub-groups produced final reports:
• Zero Waste Think Tank – Final Summary Report
• Zero Waste Think Tank – Delivery Sub-Group Report
• Zero Waste Think Tank – Waste, Carbon, Resource and Energy Interactions Sub-Group Report
• Zero Waste Think Tank – Regulation and other policy levers Sub-Group Report
• Zero Waste Think Tank – Business Resource Efficiency Sub-Group Report

These are available from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/waste-and-pollution/Waste-1/wastestrategy/zero-waste-think-tank/ZWTTReports

European Commission take measures to enforce waste law

In light of its findings that waste law is not being properly implemented in many European member states, the European Commission has released a study as part of a series of measures taken to improve the situation. The study (by Milieu Ltd, AmbienDura and FFact) recommends the establishment of a dedicated European body to oversee the implementation and enforcement of waste law. Many member states are failing by allowing illegal dumping of waste, sub-standard landfill sites and a lack of basic waste infrastructure. Illegal shipments are a problem too, with another study showing that one fifth of the waste shipments inspected were illegal.

Another European body would be set up to deal with serious cases of non-compliance.

Tesco centre in UK to be run on waste meat CHP

UK supermarket Tesco’s new distribution centre in Cheshire, UK, is to be completely powered by renewable energy generated from food waste through a partnership with Stobart and the PDM Group.

The centre will use combined heat and power (CHP) to turn 230,000 tonnes of food waste, including Tesco’s meat waste, into renewable heat and electricity.

The new warehouse is part of the Stobart Group’s estate and a power link provides renewable energy straight from PDM’s plant to the neighbouring Stobart-run distribution centre on Widnes.Stobart and PDM will also be working together to offer Stobart’s customer base – predominantly food retailers – a sustainable recycling service for food waste.

Juliette Bishop, corporate affairs manager, at Tesco said, ‘This venture is an ideal example of how sustainability is at the very core of Tesco and it’s great that we can demonstrate that our meat waste is directly providing power back into our operations, helping us to reduce waste to landfill and improve our carbon footprint.’

Belgium’s success in packaging recycling

The Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging (APEAL) has profiled the Belgian packaging recycling system as part of a series of articles and found that the country recycles 93% of its post-consumer packaging – which is the highest recycling rate in the EU.

There are few different aspects which make this system such a success:

Collection – the Green Dot packaging compliance scheme means that companies have to declare the amount of packaging they put on the market and pay a fee which is proportional. Citizens are required to buy colour-coded recycling bags to use at home.

Waste management system – A mixture of kerbside collection, container parks and incinerators with magnetic extraction has proved to work well.

Sorting – the SITEL sorting centre in Liege serves one million people and uses electro spectroscopy, eddy current separation and electromagnets.

Scrap – recycled steel is cleaned and sold back to the industry.

Australia looks at best practice within apartment buildings

A steady increase in the numbers of multi-unit developments (MUDs) in Melbourne, Victoria, has led to the issuing of a guide to best practice in dealing with waste in these buildings. Resource recovery from MUDs falls far short of the recycling rate achieved by single-dwelling domestic households which can divert 50% of their waste from landfill. As the number of MUDs increases it is important that these practices are incorporated into new developments.

Sustainability Victoria has developed the ‘Best Practice Guide for Waste Management in Multi-unit Developments’ to assist those involved in building these blocks. It outlines points to be considered during the design phase. The guidelines are being revised and will be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2010.

Incineration to increase in Beijing

Beijing government officials have stated that they will continue with their plans to build more waste incineration plants, despite fears among residents and experts over the creation of pollution. These developments are the only way to tackle the city’s waste, said the mayor of Beijing, Guo Jinlong at an annual legislative meeting. The vice mayor Huang Wei said that the government considers incineration to be the most efficient way to dispose of waste in the city which has 18 million inhabitants. ‘Can anybody provide a better solution than incineration?’ he said. ‘I’ve learned that incineration plants can be pollution-free. The public should not have too much fear over the method.’ Residents all over the city have voiced opinions and protested over planned or existing incineration facilities. The Beijing mayor also said yesterday that authorities will reinforce measures for waste classification and the recycling of thousands of tonnes of food waste.

Singapore’s Environment Agency awards $4.8million to waste management

The National Environment Agency and the Environment and Water Industry Development council (EWI) for Singapore has granted a fund of $4.8 million to five waste management projects under the Environment Technology Research Programme (ETRP).

The five projects are: 1. Nanyang Polytechnic – Led by Ms Sim Gia Wen, the project will develop lower cost Cerium Dioxide (CeO2) catalyst elements to remove gaseous air pollutants such as Nitrogen Oxides (NOx). Presently, catalyst materials are based on the more expensive Titanium Dioxide (TiO2). This innovation could lead to further improvement in air quality and lower the cost of air pollution control solutions for waste incinerators, power stations and industrial combustion processes.

2. National University of Singapore – Professor Kang En Tang will lead a team of researchers to improve the current practices in the WEEE industry to recover heavy and precious metals. The research project will develop electro-active polymers to efficiently recover precious and heavy metals from the acid solution instead of using the more energy intensive electrolysis process. This technology allows the acid solution to be recycled and little energy input is needed as the metal extraction occurs spontaneously in the polymers. It could potentially reduce the cost of operation and make WEEE companies more competitive and sustainable.

3. Nanyang Technological University – A project led by A/P Wang Jing-Yuan will convert mixed plastic waste into higher value biodegradable polymers known as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). PHA is the basic building block for making biodegradable materials, for example, in medical applications such as surgical threads. The process involves a first stage plastic-to-oil thermal conversion and second stage oil-to-PHA synthesis using PHA accumulating microbes. The research will determine and optimize the efficiency of the process in preparation for upscaling. The researchers expect PHA materials produced from waste to be cheaper than those produce from sugar or glucose and this could bring about better environmental, economic and social benefits.

4. Nanyang Technological University – Dr Yan Rong and her team will optimize the gasification and pyrolysis technology to maximise the production of syngas and liquid biofuel from mixed waste streams. It would lead to a conceptual design of a pilot scale thermal treatment plant to convert MSW including sludge into bio-energy. Such plants could potentially be scalable, achieve higher efficiency and have a lower environmental footprint. The NTU researchers are collaborating with Sembcorp in this project with a view to demonstrate and commercialise the technology.

5. Nanyang Technological University – Professor Ng Wun Jern and his team will develop technologies to accelerate landfill stabilization and to tap the landfill as a source of energy by using an enhanced biological process. Redevelopment of a landfill site can be in a much shorter time frame of 10 to 15 years instead of 30 to 40 years. It is anticipated the project will have commercial potential in regional markets as there is growing demand to rehabilitate old landfills near urban cities for higher value real estate developments.

Ireland’s economical approach to waste management

In order to streamline Ireland’s waste management system and minimize the cost to society the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has published a report called An economic approach to waste management policy in Ireland which points waste management companies and decision-makers in the right direction. The report states that Ireland has made good progress in the areas of recycling and diversion from landfill, but will find it difficult to meet its EU Landfill Directive targets in 2013 and 2016.

The roadmap for municipal waste policy developed in the Report recommends:

a. a cap and trade system be introduced to meet the EU Landfill Directive targets for 2013 and 2016;
b. the imposition of levies per tonne of municipal waste, depending on the method of waste disposal:

• Landfill: €44.24 to €54.89 per tonne
• Urban Incineration: €4.22 to €5.07 per tonne
• Rural Incineration: €.42 to €0.50 per tonne
• Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT): €0.92 to €1.45 per tonne.

c. competitive tendering for household waste collection, which would address any market power problems.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is also proposing a new waste management policy. Two vital ingredients in that policy are:

• the proposed Section 60 policy direction to cap incineration and other matters,
• the international review of waste management policy, which contains 25 recommendations.

Covanta buys out Veolia’s WTE

Covanta holding Corp, based in Fairfield, New Jersey, has completed a $450 million deal to buy Chicago-based Veolia Environmental Services north America Corp’s waste-to-energy business. The deal comprises six operating contracts for six WTE facilities, ownership of a WTE in Montgomery County and a transfer station in Pennsylvania.

‘This transaction is a perfect illustration of one facet of our growth strategy: making acquisitions that leverage our operating expertise and industry-leading Energy-from-Waste (WTE)portfolio to create value for clients and shareholders,’ said Anthony Orlando, CEO of Covanta.

TCEQ WEEE recycling scheme

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) announced the first-year results of its computer recycling program, in which computer manufacturers must provide free recycling of their own brands of computer equipment.

Under this scheme computer manufacturers have collected for reuse or recycling 12,400,000 pounds (5624.5 tonnes) of computer equipment in Texas in 2009 and hope the scheme will continue to be a success in 2010. At the moment 81 manufacturers representing 116 brands are participating.

The TCEQ is providing free print ads and web banners available for download at TexasRecyclesComputers.org.