The Government wants to work with businesses to help them reduce their waste and increase recycling through voluntary responsibility deals, Environment Minister Lord Henley said today (16th August). Working with businesses to put in place voluntary responsibility deals on waste will remove the need for further regulation and will lead to less waste and more recycling with the added benefits of businesses saving money and helping to protect the environment.

A £650 million contract that will modernise bin collections, recycling services and street cleaning in Sandwell has been awarded to Serco (declares Sandwell Council 12 August 2010)

Three years after they were first featured as 'product of the month' on Urban Mines we have been in touch again with Eight Inch Ltd who produce Resilica, the original recycled glass worktop and surface material, and find they are going from strength to strength.

Climate Change Minister Greg Barker and Environment Minister Lord Henley are today (6th July) jointly chairing an Anaerobic Digestion Round Table with industry. This follows on from the Coalition's Programme for Government commitment to promote a huge increase in energy from waste through anaerobic digestion. Guests have been invited to discuss what actions are needed by Government to realise such an increase and how this can be done in a cost-effective way.

Ty Goddard, Director of the British Council for School Environments, has posted a reply to Michael Gove's intention to curtail the BSF school new build programme.

Based on experience in collecting and using waste arisings data (such as large scale commercial & industrial waste surveys for the Environment Agency, Welsh Assembly Government and other clients), Urban Mines has built up considerable experience in using arisings, capacity and other data to deliver sophisticated Needs Assessment models for local and regional authorities to help identify capacity gaps and direct waste planning policy.

Urban Mines are providing procurement support for the development and commissioning of a Bulky Waste Management Service for Wigan Council. OJEU procurement proceedings will soon be issued for the collection and re-use of household bulky goods and we are holding a consultation open day to launch this opportunity on 13 July, 10 am to 1 pm at DW Stadium, Robin Park, Wigan

Urban Mines, on behalf of CO2Sense, has developed an educational programme to improve the segregation of wood waste at household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) in Yorkshire and Humber. With a potential ban on wood waste going to landfill in the next few years, CO2Sense see it as important to develop different methods to improve segregation and divert wood to other end markets, and maximise value.

Working with Envirolink NW and a private sector partner, Urban Mines has developed a sophisticated computer model to quantify and map available feedstock for new or proposed waste treatment facility plants, including the ability to assess the impact of local competition, waste calorific value; changes in gate fees, waste pre-treatment, additional capacity over time, and the potential impact of imports.

The resultant interactive MS Access based model can accommodate different waste management & competition scenarios to reflect the market response and assess the affect on the availability of commercial, industrial and municipal wastes as feedstock.

Support services company VT Group is opening a full-scale waste management 'First of Class' trials facility in Wakefield as a prelude to building a new treatment centre at South Kirkby for the Metropolitan District's municipal solid waste.