BuilderScrap are delighted to be once again exhibiting at Interbuild at the Birmingham NEC this year.  The show runs from 18th to 21st October, and gives us the chance to meet thousands of builders and contractors.
Visit us during the show to find out how we can help you to lower construction costs and to lower the impact the construction industry is  gon the environment.  We will demonstrating how you can use the BuilderScrap website to pass on unwanted building materials, as well as to source free and low cost building supplies.
We are still finalising all the details, but watch this space for information about what stand you can find the BuilderScrap team!

Here at BuilderScrap.com we’ve been looking at some interesting information from Defra. This is an older press release from April, but we think is still relevant… Low carbon economy.   The Secretary of State for Environment Hilary Benn today welcomed the measures in the 2009 Budget which encourage investment in low carbon jobs and energy generation using organic waste.

The Chancellor announced additional funding of £10 million for anaerobic digestion and waste infrastructure and a continued increase of £8 per tonne per year to the standard rate of landfill tax up to 2013. These measures will encourage investment in sustainable waste management and will enable over 850,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent savings to be made each year, which will help towards achieving the Government’s carbon budget.

Following the Budget statement Hilary Benn said:

“The Government is committed to reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and finding alternative sources of energy. The £10 million for food waste reprocessing will play a vital role in providing alternative energy, diverting a further 316,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“In the UK we produce over 100 million tonnes of organic material every year that, through anaerobic digestion, could be used to create enough energy to heat and power over two million homes.

“And it’s not only the environment that will benefit. Increasing our anaerobic digestion capability will also stimulate a greener economy by creating skilled jobs in construction, collection and reprocessing of organic waste.”

Anaerobic digestion is the process of breaking down organic material such as food waste and farm manures and slurries to create heat and power and transport fuel.

In February Defra announced the UK’s goal to become a world leader in this innovative technology. Businesses ranging from the energy sector, water, retail and agriculture support this goal and a task group is working on a programme to implement the plans of Government and industry. The £10 million funding package announced in the budget today is in addition to the £10 million already earmarked in 2008 to build demonstration plants. From April 1 2009 Government has doubled the level of support for anaerobic digestion through the Renewable Obligation.

An increase in the UK’s anaerobic digestion capability will also help to deliver landfill targets. This was bolstered in the Budget that will continue the increase in Landfill Tax in increments of eight pounds a year up to 2013.

Mr Benn continued:

“The Landfill Tax has really helped to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and encouraging businesses and local authorities to move towards a more sustainable approach to handling waste. In the last year alone efforts by local authorities have reduced their landfill from 18 million tonnes in 2006 to 15 tonnes in 2008, and by encouraging greater recycling, carbon emissions have fallen by 11 million tonnes– the same as taking 3.6 million cars off the road overnight.”

Notes

1. ‘Anaerobic Digestion – Shared Goals’ sets shared national ambitions for anaerobic digestion, both nationally and within individual sectors.  The document and the list of organisations which have endorsed it so far are available at: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/ad/government.htm

2. Anaerobic digestion breaks down organic matter, such as animal manure and food waste, to produce biogas which can be used as a renewable energy source for heat and power, and as a transport fuel.  It produces a nutrient-rich digestate which can be used as fertiliser, and importantly it keeps organic waste out of landfill, which cuts greenhouse gas emissions.

3. Electricity from anaerobic digestion is eligible for support in the form of ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates).  On 1 April 2009, the Government introduced differentiated support levels for different renewables technologies (known as “banding”).  Anaerobic digestion is among the technologies that receive additional support in the form of multiple ROCs.  Anaerobic digestion now receives 2 ROCs/MWh (Renewable Obligation Certificates per Megawatt hour).

4. In-Vessel Composting (IVC) is a process that breaks down organic matter to produce a compost while contained in a closed environment. Food Waste is subject to the Animal By-Products Regulations that require composting to take place in closed containers or buildings with no access by vermin, and meet stringent requirements for temperature and pasteurisation to kill disease causing organisms. All food waste must be processed by IVC or AD facilities.

5. Landfill targets set by the European Union are:

* By 2010 to reduce the amount of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) going to landfill to 75% of that produced in 1995.
* By 2013 to reduce the amount of BMW going to landfill to 50% of that produced in 1995.
* By 2020 to reduce the amount of BMW going to landfill to 35% of that produced in 1995.

6. The £10 million additional funding for anaerobic digestion projects is expected to deliver around 178,500 tonnes per year in CO2 savings.

7. Increases in Landfill Tax up to 2013 are expected to deliver around 700,000 tonnes per year in CO2 savings.

Next week, BuilderScrap will be exhibiting at the Recycling and Waste Management Exhibition in the Birmingham NEC. 

The team from BuilderScrap will be looking to meet with builders and contractors, as well as people involved in the recycling and environmental industries.  Visit the team at stand 1540.

BuilderScrap around the world

Just to finish off our BuilderScrap.com recycling around the world series.  Today we’re looking at the amounts highlighted countries send to Landfill. How much waste is recycled, composted and incinerated.

This chart illustrates the point most countries could be doing to recycle.  Our thoughts are that some countries really are on the ball. Some need to implement a cultural shift, and it falls to governments and pressure groups to force the issue.

Thanks for reading.

The last part of the BuilderScrap.com recycling around the world series. Today Hamadou Tidiane Sy focuses on Senegal.

Recycling is not done on an industrial scale, but it is part of daily life for many resourceful Senegalese. Everything is recycled, from plastic bags to school exercise books, food cans, bottles of mineral water and even fruit peel. The peel is said to be collected for use in cheap perfume.
Tomato tins become drinking cups in rural areas or are used by beggars in the streets, old newspapers and administrative documents are used to wrap bread, fruit or peanuts you buy in the street. Some artisans also use metal waste to produce anything from chairs to kitchen utensils and children’s toys. Plastic bags are used to make shoes. In the old days, worn tyres used to be made into sandals, but these are much less popular now.
Recently, some smart people have started collecting all the metal waste they can find to send it back to factories in Europe.
The Swiss waste disposal firm Alcyon has signed a contract with the government worth more than $9m to collect and treat rubbish in the capital Dakar. The project is being managed by AMA-Senegal, which will remove a huge tip called Mbeubeuss and recycle much of the city’s waste.

Architectural Technologist recently carried out an interview with BuilderScrap‘s very own Eddie McGee.  This video is now on the internet and can bee seen here:

Todays BuilderScrap.com post revisits the Recycling around the world series BBC reporter Jeremy Bowen discusses Italy.

Waste disposal regulations in Italy vary from district to district. In Rome, the rules were toughened earlier this month. People who do not separate their rubbish can be fined up to 619 euros if they have a recycling bin within 500 metres of their front door.

Romans often claim that it is hard to find a bin and even harder to find one that is not full. The city council has ordered 2,500 new bins. They are colour-coded green for household waste, white for paper and blue for plastic.

The streets of the historic centre of Rome have almost no recycling bins yet. The streets are cleaned very efficiently, by vehicles that drive over waste and suck it up like enormous self-propelled vacuum cleaners.

In southern Italy local politicians claim that the waste management industry is controlled by organised crime. Last year the European Commission said it was taking action against Italy, for 28 breaches of EU laws on the environment. It said that Italy was denying its citizens the same quality of life enjoyed by people in other EU countries.

When I moved here five months ago I asked the caretaker of my building whether I should separate my family’s rubbish. He laughed and looked incredulous. “Are you joking?” he said. “This is Rome.”

We know that Athens is up in flames lets hope that the waste recycling systems they’ve in place haven’t contributed.  More from the office at BuilderScrap.com on Recycling around the world, todays country is Greece.

In the cramped offices of the Ecological Recycling Society in central Athens, Philip Kirkitsos hits us with some alarming statistics.

Every year, he says, one billion plastic drinking water bottles are thrown away in Greece, along with one billion soft drinks bottles and yet another billion plastic containers for cleaning fluids.

Almost one-fifth of the entire waste produced by this country is plastic, and yet just 1% of it is recycled. Greece, he admits, is at least 15 years behind the rest of the EU in almost all areas of recycling and is unlikely to meet EU targets for next year.

In Athens the recycling bins so common in most European cities are a rare sight. Although recently the authorities have launched new schemes, the impact so far seems to be minimal.

Recycling just is not high on the list of priorities for the average Athenian.

Most bags of household waste contain large amounts of glass, metal, paper and plastic which end up being dumped at the city’s only landfill which – not surprisingly – is now almost full.

As a result, the capital currently faces an acute waste management crisis because no alternative sites have been set up.

Ironically the city does have what is believed to be Europe’s largest recycling plant, built next to the landfill four years ago. But the plant – estimated to have cost at least 75m euros (£50m) – has stood idle.

The reason? It was badly damaged by a mountain of rubbish which collapsed on top of it.

Todays post from Builderscrap.com continues the recycling around the world series.  Todays focus is GERMANY: BBC reporter Tristana Moore gives us the details.

The Germans like to think of themselves as the world champions of the environment. There is no denying the fact that Germans take green issues seriously. When it comes to separating your household rubbish, this can be a complicated business.

As a foreigner living in Berlin, you can easily be embarrassed by your German friends who will berate you for not separating your rubbish.

There are at least five types of rubbish bin in the courtyards of apartment buildings and inside people’s houses. Luckily, the bins are colour-coded, to avoid any confusion – a yellow bin for packaging (old milk cartons etc), a blue bin for paper and cardboard, bins for glass (separated into ones for clear, brown and green glass) a “Bio” bin designed for left-over food and plant waste. Finally, there is a black bin for the rest of the rubbish (or for those people who do not bother to sort out their rubbish).

In theory, people are obliged under German law to take any “special rubbish,” such as batteries or chemicals, to a recycling centre. If you fail to do this, it could be considered an “administrative offence”, although in practice prosecutions are rare.

The separation of rubbish is not compulsory for the private citizen, but according to surveys, around 90% of Germans are willing to sort out their rubbish.

Where all this rubbish finally ends up is also complicated. According to a new law which came into force on the first of June 2005, the left-over rubbish must not simply be consigned to a rubbish dump, but it must be subjected to a pre-treatment process.