Business in Brief

Prosper De Mulder is to rebrand on 1 March

Prosper De Mulder (PDM Group), a waste management company to the food industry recycling services, has announced that it is to rebrand on 1 March. It will change its name to SARIA, after its majority shareholder.

Other brands within the PDM group will also change name, including:

Chettle and Granox (pet food brands) and ‘category 3 rendering brands’, which will become SARVAL; and
Granox Ltd, JL Thomas, Clutton and Frome Vale and other ‘category 1 rendering businesses' will operate under SecAnim.

However PDM’s food waste recycling and anaerobic digestion projects will continue to operate under the ReFood UK brand.

Philip Simpson, Commercial Director at PDM Group, said: “The move marks a real milestone for the business. We are investing over £90 million in all our UK operations to modernise our sites and ensure that we deliver the highest standards across the board. Our aim is to set the benchmark for quality and high standards across the industry.”

“As we move forward, we will retain the essence of what our reputation has been built upon and work hard to maintain and further develop the very strong customer and partner relationships that we have established in the UK.”

Find out more about SARIA.

Clyde Shopping Centre recycles 100 per cent of food waste

Clyde Shopping Centre, located just outside of Glasgow, is now recycling 100 per cent of its organic waste following the installation of a new composter.

The A900 ‘Rocket’ composter, designed by food recycling product manufacturer Tidy Planet, was installed at the shopping centre in September 2013, allowing all retail outlets in the mall to use the recycling service.

It currently processes over 300 litres of food waste a day from food retail outlets including Costa, Dominos Pizza and Subway.

Andy Forrester from Clyde Shopping Centre, said: “The Rocket [composter] was the next step in our recycling strategy to enable us to have a sustainable, self-sufficient recycling system. As well as complying with new legislations coming into force and the financial benefits, the Rocket allows us full control of the waste collection ensuring a well organised operation.

“The compost produced … is then used on the landscape in and around the Centre”.

He added that local schools are also visiting the site to see the composter and learn about environmental and recycling issues.

Find out more about Tidy Planet’s Rocket Composter.

FCC’s micro-turbine begins operations

Recycling and waste management company FCC Environment has begun operating a micro-turbine at its Deerplay landfill site in Burnley, Lancashire.

The micro-turbine, a Turbec T100 that can be combined heat and power (CHP) enabled, has been supplied and installed by Cheshire-based company Newenco.

FCC Senior Environmental Manager Shaun Trigg said: “The move to using a micro-turbine provides viable power production long after conventional power generation has ceased, delivering considerable energy efficiencies and reduced emissions compared to a gas engine.

“There are only one or two other examples of micro-turbines operating on landfill sites in the UK and ours is the most modern and efficient… Micro-turbines are likely to become more numerous in the future simply because of the efficiencies they provide.”

Find out more at FCC Environment.

Screening technology increases efficiency at wood recycling centre

New screening technology installed at a wood waste recycling centre on the Cheshire and Merseyside border has helped to increase output by more than 30 per cent.

The Terex Finlay 883 Spaleck, supplied by product developer Finlay Plant Northern, has a heavy duty vibrating screen that has a processing range of one millimetre (mm) to 120mm and is used at A.W. Jenkinson’s site in Runcorn to screen bark and mulch.

The machine can also be used for slag, construction and demolition waste, shredded metal, ores, coal and soil.

Charlie Nairn, Director of Finlay Plant Northern, said: “The Terex Finlay 883 Spaleck is producing three sized products plus 60mm, which is shredded down again for reprocessing, 60mm to 10mm, which is used for power station fuel and minus 10mm, used for peat in compost.

“This is the first screener of this type we have supplied and we are really pleased with its performance.”

Dylan Jones, supervisor of the A.W. Jenkinson facility, said the plant is allowing the company to produce three loads an hour, up from two loads an hour previously.

Grundon Waste Management installs VUE road safety technology

Waste management company Grundon Waste Management has introduced new road safety technology to its fleet of waste collection vehicles.

The in-vehicle Video Data Recorder (VDR) technology, supplied by technology company Vision Unique Equipment (VUE), provides vehicle drivers with a 360-degree view of the road around them, eliminating the hazard of ‘blind spots’. The camera feed is displayed on a screen inside the cab, and swaps between angles based on gear changes and use of indicators.

Debbie Brakspear, Insurance Manager at Grundon Waste Management, said: “Driver and road safety is of the utmost importance at Grundon and, with a fleet of large collection vehicles, we wanted an integrated solution which would give our drivers a clear view of the road and their surroundings at all times.

“We initially trialed the system on a few vehicles and, following positive feedback from drivers and excellent results, we rolled out the VUE technology across the rest of our fleet.”

Find out more about the VUE technology.

‘Green Apple Awards’ awarded to SAICA Retailers

Four shopping centres in the UK associated with recycling group SAICA Natur have won Green Apple Awards for their waste management in the last 12 months. Three of these have also won ‘Zero Waste’ awards for their commitment to sustainability.

The successful shopping centres were:

Lower Precinct, Coventry – Green Apple Gold Award;
Woolgate Shopping Centre, Oxfordshire – Green Apple Silver Award, and Zero Waste Bronze Award;
Willowbrook Shopping Centre, Bristol – Green Apple Bronze Award, Zero Waste Award and Sceptre Award; and
Clifton Down Shopping Centre, Bristol – Green Apple Award, Zero Waste Bronze Award

At the November ceremony, Lower Precinct Centre Manager Nicola Cormell, said: “Having worked with Saica previously at another shopping centre I was keen to get Brian Saunders and his team on board to address the levels of waste being sent to landfill and to look at solutions to increase the recycling. Once a site survey was completed, we agreed to implement a compactor for dry mixed recycling, remove a compactor for general waste and introduce bins for paper and general waste collections. This has resulted in a higher level of recycling with less waste going to landfill. We have also acquired an electric vehicle for the staff to utilise to make collections more efficiently.”