The latest State of the Nation report from the Institution of Civil Engineers is calling for a new approach to waste and resource management in the UK.
Published this morning, State of the Nation: Waste and Resource Management 2011 looks at:
- Whether the UK’s waste management policy has become too rigidly focused on meeting targets for diverting waste from landfill to really achieve this goal
- How, in a world driven by carbon reduction and global competition for resources, the UK waste sector can adapt into a sector that unlocks the real value of waste, benefitting the UK economy and the environment
- What it will take to make the UK’s waste infrastructure fit for the task
- With Defra budget cuts and the end of new central government funding for the waste PFI programme, how it will get funded.
The Report, based on verbal and written evidence from a wide range of stakeholders, was reviewed in the light of the Government's October 2010 Spending Review and National Infrastructure Plan 2010.
Anaerobic digestion of food waste is a growing source of interest to local authorities –it also offers potential new business opportunities for the water and wastewater companies who already have considerable expertise and experience in the anaerobic digestion process for sewage treatment. Under the EU Landfill Directive the UK must meet the following targets to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste being sent to landfill against 1995 tonnages of 35% by 2010, 50% by 2013 and 65% by 2020.
Scottish Water Horizons recently opened a state-of-the-art plant at Cumbernauld which transforms food waste into renewable electricity - currently the largest organic recycling facility in Scotland and the first site in the UK to combine anaerobic digestion and in-vessel composting. Food waste is digested in the plant and can be converted into 8,000 megawatt hours of ‘green’ energy each year - enough electricity to power up to 2,000 homes.
Visit http://www.ice.org.uk/stateofthenation to download the full report.
Barhale has completed work on two separate Rapid Action Taskforce Spills projects it is carrying out for Severn Trent.
Börger UK, which has firmly established itself as a leading pump brand since it was set up in Staffordshire in 2004, has moved into bigger, brand-new premises in Shrewsbury.
HUBER Technology UK & Ireland are inviting people to register for their March webinar where they will be providing information about HUBER water intake screens for municipal and industrial applications.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.