LAWR

May 2015 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 17 PAWRS PREVIEW 2015 Innovations are happening in the industry. There are Dennis Eagle's new dustcarts that have several components for cardboard, plastic and separate materials. This is good news for the sector as it makes the materials easier to sort when it gets to the recycling centres. Skip hire specialist, Ron Smith, is another example of a company doing great things. Based near Heathrow Airport, the business recycles around 95% of the waste it receives (mainly construction waste). It also recycles metal and sends this to steel mills. The steel mills then turn this into steel plates. Ron Smith then buys the steel plates and uses them to make metal skips and trommels. It uses some of the trommels and produces them for other firms as well. It truly is a closed-loop operation. LAWR: What priorities would you set out for the next government? RH: The next government needs to heavily invest in waste and recycling for the future of our children. Funding grants need to be provided to help create new recycling technologies. I often wonder why the government isn't ploughing money into our universities for research to help create new technologies? Personally, I blame David Cameron entirely for the lack of investment in the waste and recycling industry. These politicians don't know much – they have never done a proper day's work in their lives. Another pressing problem is the banks not lending to small waste disposal businesses. The government pretend that this is happening, but it's not. They are not helping the man on the street. This government is also not encouraging the industry to build recycling centres. Telling a planning officer to prioritise applications for waste transfer licences is difficult – you have to pay around £250 just to talk to one, and even after you have talked to one, you don't get a straight answer. One issue that's rarely mentioned is the fact that farmers are growing vegetables and rearing animals on closed landfill sites. The Environment Agency needs to be doing more site checks at these sites because there is an issue of soil contamination that has not been addressed. Not many of these farmers are aware they are growing vegetables on a former landfill site because some closed around 30 years ago. These former landfill sites have been filled up over a period of time. If you were to take a soil sample of the land you will find that it is contaminated. This is a disaster. "We have a range of speakers that will appeal to local authority officers" Scarab Sweepers is a global frontrunner in the design, manufacturing and supply of compact and truck-mounted road sweepers. Scarab products are all designed and built to a high standard at our manufacturing headquarters in Kent, England. Our truck-mount models are built on a vehicle manufacturers chassis of your choice from 7.5 tonne to 18+ tonne GVW. Operators can select the type of transmission and power delivery system that best suits their needs.Hopper capaci es available from 5.2m3 to 8.2m3 fi ed alongside water tanks between 900 and 4200 litres. If you need something out of the ordinary our design team will work with you to build a bespoke sweeper to your requirements. www.scarab-sweepers.com Tough on the Streets - Easy on the Environment C M Y CM MY CY CMY K LAWR 2014 Merlin.pdf 1 06/06/2014 11:18:02

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