GARWER WasteXchange News

Finns unveil radical waste management plan Posted: 12 Apr 2008 02:27 PM CDT Finland has approved a new national waste management plan that aims to cut by two-thirds the share of municipal waste sent to landfill by 2016. The plan was approved by the parliament on Thursday following proposals from acting environment minister Kimmo Tiilikainen. Under the plan waste landfilling would fall from nearly 60 per cent in 2006 to 20 per cent by 2016. Waste generation would be stabilised at 2000 levels by the same deadline. Half of this would be recycled. Waste incineration would increase over three-fold to account for 30 per cent of waste. Composting and biogas production from organic wastes would also be increased. The Association of Finnish environmental enterprises (YYL) said even more could be done to reduce landfill and warned the rush towards waste incineration could "get out of hand" and create redundant incineration capacity. The Finnish association for nature conservation (SLL) also criticised the emphasis on incineration, complaining that it would work against recycling and waste prevention policies. Mr Tiilikainen said preventing waste by improving material efficiency remained the primary goal of national waste policy. New voluntary material efficiency agreements would be negotiated with industrial sectors along the lines of existing energy efficiency agreements, he added. A new material efficiency services office is being set up at the national energy efficiency agency, Motiva. On Friday Mr Tiilikainen stood down as acting minister to make way for the return from maternity leave of environment minister Paula Lehtomäki. Follow-up: See [url=http://www.ymparisto.fi/default.asp?node=17719&lan=en]environment ministry statement[/url], [url=http://www.ymparistoyritykset.fi/english]YYL [/url]and [url=http://www.sll.fi/tiedotus/tiedotteet/liitto/2008/valtsu2008]SLL press release[/url] (Finnish).

Veolia buys paper reprocessor C&C Recycling Posted: 12 Apr 2008 02:24 PM CDT The UK's largest waste management company, Veolia Environmental Services, has acquired the North-West-based paper and cardboard processing company C&C Recycling, for an undisclosed sum. The Bury firm, which employs 50 staff, currently processes more than 70,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard every year, as well as offering services relating to wood waste, plastic packaging and general office waste disposal. C&C collects 80% of its material from commercial customers across the North-West and the purchase will add to Veolia's existing commercial waste recycling operations in the region. In a statement, Veolia explained that the acquisition was "in line with its approach of building a nationwide network of strategically located commercial recycling facilities in the UK." Commenting on the purchase, Jean-Dominique Mallet, chief executive of Veolia Environmental Services' UK operations, said: "This strategic acquisition is another important development in our plans to strengthen our position as a major player in the commercial waste recycling market. "It follows the successful acquisition of Midlands-based Hollands Recycling Ltd. and will further extend our pre-treatment compliance solutions in the light of recent government legislation, as well as boosting our internal recycling capacity." Veolia completed the purchase of Hollands Recycling in December 2006, in a deal that saw it add 50,000 tonnes of paper collection and bulking capacity to its operations ([url=http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=230&listitemid=8270]see letsrecycle.com story[/url]). A spokesman for Veolia was today unable to reveal the cost of the agreement with C&C Recycling, stating that the information was "commercially sensitive". Earlier this year, Veolia Environmental Services' French parent company, Veolia Environnement, reported an increase in its net income for 2007, with its waste division - the second largest in the world - posting a 23.9% increase in operating income ([url=http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=322&listitemid=9773]see letsrecycle.com story[/url])

Italy in more EU hot water over waste Posted: 12 Apr 2008 05:24 AM CDT Italy has been condemned by the European court of justice over a breach of the EU's 1999 landfill directive. In a ruling delivered on Thursday the court said Italy was wrong to apply rules for existing landfills to new landfills that began operation during a period of nearly two years from July 2001 when Italy was struggling to transpose the law. The case was brought by the European commission, which said Italy "could have and should have" applied new stricter rules to the new landfills before transposition was complete. See [url=http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en&Submit=Submit&docrequire=alldocs&numaff=c-442/06]judgement in case C-442/06[/url].

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