LAWR

NEWS April 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 15 A rubbish purchase? A high mountain to climb? A young boy infatuated with recycling and waste bought a real-life bin lorry on eBay with his mother's credit card for £3,500. William Bateman, aged five, put in a winning bid for the rusting white truck after his mum left her account open on the computer. The youngster, who suffers from mild autism, is fascinated by rubbish and dreams of becoming a recycling plant manager, according to the Daily Mail. Bateman was so obsessed with recycling and waste that he entered a bid of £3,500 for a bin lorry on his mother's eBay account when she wasn't looking. He has a large collection of toy wheelie bins, high-vis jackets, miniature lorries and packaging. A real-life rubbish truck would have been the ultimate addition to his store. But on returning to the computer Fleur managed to persuade eBay to scrap the purchase. Fleur, from Great Paxton in Cambridgeshire, told the Daily Mail: "He's just completely obsessed with rubbish and bin lorries - and he even managed to buy one for himself. He just went onto my computer and entered the bid as I was already logged into my account. I can laugh about it now but at the time I was so shocked, I couldn't believe he'd done it." Tourists climbing Mount Everest in Nepal will be required to each bring back eight kilogrammes (kg) of rubbish from April 2014, it has been reported. The new waste strategy has been formed by the Nepalese Government due to the mountain becoming increasingly littered with waste from tourists and climbers. The news outlet Associated Press quoted the Head of the Mountaineering Department at the Tourism Ministry, Maddhusudan Burlakoti, as saying: "We are not asking climbers to search and pick up trash left by someone else, we just want them to bring back what they took up." However, this contradicts a Guardian report, which quotes the same source as saying that each expedition member must bring back eight kilogrammes "apart from their own trash". The authorities have said they will take legal action should this rule not be complied with, however it is unclear what this action will be. A Eurobarometer survey published last month found that reducing waste and recycling are the most common actions Europeans are likely to take to mitigate climate change. Conducted by TNS Opinion & Social (TNS) between the 23 November and 2 December 2013 (at the request of the European Commission, Directorate-General for Climate Action), the Eurobarometer 409 survey asked 27,919 respondents in the 28 EU member states what their perceptions were of climate change and whether they had taken any personal action to fight it. The survey was commissioned to "understand the attitudes and behaviour of the EU general population' regarding climate change to help Europe 'meet the objectives of preventing and minimising the impact of [it]". Recycling Bits and Pieces The month in resource management MY GRANDMA CAN PLAY BETTER THAN THAT- Closed Loop Environmental Solutions (CLES) and plastic packaging manufacturer Coveris have won a major contract with foodservice company Delaware North to establish closed loop programmes for plastic cups at one of their key UK sports venues, the Emirates Stadium. An initial 750,000 plastic cups made using a minimum 50% recycled PET from CLES's sister company, Closed Loop Recycling, will be supplied by Coveris to Delaware North, with the volume expected to ultimately rise to in excess of 2,000,000 per year. After use, the pint cups will be collected to be recycled again at Closed Loop Recycling's Dagenham plant. Waste and recycling company Biffa has secured contract renewals worth around £110m after seven of its local authority clients decided to extend or roll over their contracts. The agreements are with Isle of Anglesey County Council and Conwy County Borough Council Contract wins Biffa celebrates seven contract extensions YOUR ROUND-UP OF THIS MONTH'S TOP STORIES ACROSS THE INDUSTRY in north Wales, Stratford-on-Avon District Council, Norwich City Council, East Lothian Council in Scotland, and Kent County Council. The company said that its municipal division also success- fully retendered for managing a pair of household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) for a further two years for Vale of Glamorgan Council in south Wales. According to Biffa, its Isle of Anglesey con- tract has been rolled over for a further seven years. The contract was renewed last month. From left to right - David Peskett, deputy general manager, Delaware North Companies UK, Peter Goodwin, Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, Michael Lloyd, assistant stadium manager, Arsenal Football Club and Mark Durston, food service sales manager (UK & Europe), Coveris – all at Emirates Stadium) Biffa's Isle of Anglesey contract has been rolled over for a further seven years. Anglesey is an island off the north west coast of Wales. Photo: SWNS.com

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