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NEWS April 2015 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 5 FOR MORE NEWS AND ANALYSIS VISIT www.edie.net /waste LARAC has slammed the DCLG over its decision to press ahead with legislation that bans councils in England from charging residents for using household waste recycling centres (HWRCs). Consultation was carried out over a four-week period (22 Jan to 18 Feb) because of a concern over a trend by councils towards charging for non-statutory services. Half of the respondents welcomed the proposal to prevent councils charging for use of HWRCs, while the other half did not. LARAC chief executive Lee Marshall said: "The Government response to the consultation submissions is very disappointing and appears to cherry-pick the bits it wants from the responses to uphold its stance. "The fact that there was no clear majority view shows that LARAC was right in suggesting roundtable discussion with Government to take the matter forward. The fact that this offer has not even been acknowledged, along with the undue haste with which this had been railroaded through, gives the impression that this was a consultation in name only." LARAC slams DCLG over 'hasty' HWRC decision Closure of a 'great UK institution' prompts recycling target concern Industry heavyweights have expressed concern over the UK's ability to meet its recycling targets, following the closure of Aylesford Newsprint. Aylesford Newsprint, a paper manufacturer which specialised in recycling paper for re-use as newsprint, went into administration in February. More than 200 staff were made redundant at the Kent-based firm. Aylesford manufactured around 400,000 tonnes of recycled newsprint from 500,000 tonnes of recycled fibre waste. It had a turnover of £139m in 2013 but administrators KPMG said the business had "been loss-making for a number of years". 360 Environmental director Phil Conran said: "It's very sad to see what has been a great institution for UK recycling disappear so suddenly. We have yet to see the real impact of this news. This was the great major user of UK news and pams. This could make it difficult for the paper industry in the UK in the challenge to meet our national recycling target of 50% by 2020." LARAC chief executive Lee Marshall said the news poses "bigger questions about the ability of the UK to meet recycling targets without reliance on exporting materials as the reprocessing in the UK seems to be taking a bit of a hit at the moment and we are losing capacity across a number of materials". He added: "The short and medium- term impacts are going to be difficult for local authorities, prices are likely to fall and there will be oversupply in the market, so LARAC would be concerned about the ability of local authorities to find markets for all their paper and the drop income that will also result." The Kent Resource Partnership said it had concerns that a "national trend may be developing where recycling businesses are facing such intense pressures that they either diminish operations or cease to continue as going concerns". In a statement, it added: "Whilst there seems to be a wide range of pressures on each material stream (paper, plastic, glass and metal) which need to be better understood, the common goal must surely be to ensure that recyclates collected by councils have outlets to be recycled." SITA UK rebrands SITA UK, the resource management subsidiary of the global SUEZ Environnement Group, has announced that it has joined the rest of the group in uniting under a single and a new global positioning. SUEZ operates in more than 70 countries around the world and previously had in excess of 40 different brands. The various names and trademarks within the group, across water and waste management activities, will join together under the SUEZ brand name. Physical changes to branded assets, such as vehicles and the company website, will be made over the next few years. SUEZ chief executive officer of recycling and waste recovery UK David Palmer-Jones said: "The new positioning of our group places the circular economy at its heart and this is a concept that we, in the UK, have transformed our business around in recent years." Industry experts have expressed sadness at Aylesford's collapse THE FULL MONTY – Recycling firm Biowise has announced that it has raised more than £4m in funds to develop a new in-vessel composting facility in Willerby, near Hull, with support from Yorkshire Bank.

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