By Accounting for Energy – (1 min read)
Accounting for Energy were recognised for their contribution to climate change at these prestigious industry awards held in London yesterday.

By Freccia Benn – (4 min read)
Since it was first introduced, the Landfill Tax Escalator has played a major role in reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. Twenty-three years later, the mood has shifted and governments are now considering a move that would have been unthinkable even 10 years ago – a ban on biodegradable waste sent to landfill.

By Accounting for Energy – (3 min read)
This month, Alupro announced that in 2018, the recycling of aluminium cans hit 75 per cent – a three per cent rise on 2017 figures. In an environment where household recycling has reached a plateau, aluminium is a success story, and one which represents value across the supply chain. As well as helping to avoid unnecessary mining of Bauxite, last year, aluminium cans averaged £1,016 per tonne.

By Travis benn – (9 min read)
Earlier this month, Britain reached a landmark in the transition away from fossil fuel reliance. For the first time since 1882, we passed a whole week without using coal to generate electricity. Aside from the important differences in pollution and carbon emissions, renewable energies differ from fossil fuels in another interesting way. Whereas fossils are widely considered as ‘resources’ in the traditional sense, the resources used to generate renewable energy often inhabit a more grey area.

By Travis Benn – (4 min read)
There are over 500 landfill sites dotted around the UK, and the majority of them – more than 450 – produce renewable energy through landfill gas technology installed on site. Although the site itself will be owned by a waste management firm or local council, the equipment belongs to an energy company, which leases a part of the site for 20-25 years, generates electricity from the gas, and earns an income from exporting the gas to the National Grid.

By Travis Benn – (4 min read)
In October, the government confirmed the rates for the next two years of Landfill Tax and also introduced a new lever in the form of a levy on single-use plastic packaging. With a number of consultations and the publication of the Waste Strategy on the horizon, it is a good time to consider the pros and cons of weight-based incentives, legislative drivers, and the rationality in calls for a more radical tack.

By Travis Benn – (3 min read)
Philip Hammond’s budget announcement last week could be described as underwhelming and non-eventful, but with the impending uncertainty of Brexit, he is clearly trying to leave himself some space to tackle whatever changes our EU departure will bring next year. There were some positives which will leave landowners with a few extra pennies in their bank and a new tax that has been well received by waste management companies.

By Travis Benn – (5 min read)
Carrot? Or stick? The argument over which method is the most effective probably started when the first donkey was yoked to a plough, but it may have gone on longer still in the recycling industry.

Ten years ago, the discussion was focused on Pay as You Throw; today, we are wrangling over extended producer responsibility and landfill bans. Whatever the topic area, the argument for legislative intervention is based on the fact that businesses and individuals are self-serving and will not act for the greater good if it conflicts with personal profit. But is this true, or do we live in a world where many companies are driving sustainable business at a faster rate than government intervention?

By Travis Benn – (3 min read)

Think of the emergency services and, for most, waste management isn’t the first thing that springs to mind, even in New York, where the city’s sanitation workers are known as ‘New York’s strongest’. However, stop to think about life without a waste collection, and it’s not hard to imagine how quickly society as we know it might fall apart.

By Accounting for Energy – (3 min read)

Now that we’re fully settled into 2018, it’s time to take stock of last year and, so far, the news for renewable energy is positive. BEIS figures declared 2017 the greenest year so far, with pre-Christmas figures showing renewable electricity generation up by 5% year-on-year. But what does this mean for investors and operators? And how does the financial case for renewables stack up against traditional fossil fuels?

By Freccia Benn – (2 min read)

This week, the CIWM, Welsh public sector and industry met at the CIWM Resource Conference to share best practice, debate current issues and consider future strategies.

By Accounting for Energy – (3 min read)

Local authority waste departments face a daunting range of challenges. Charged with driving behaviour change through communications campaigns and assessing the most efficient technologies, they also need to manage the everyday logistics of collections to thousands of households, while staying abreast of waste material trends and prices.

By Travis Benn – (2 min read)
Landfill gas is the smaller cousin to the more glamorous players in the renewables sector. Even so, in 2017, landfill gas sites added £400 million to the economy. They produced 4.07 TWh of electricity, which is enough to power every household in Northern Ireland for a year. So, are landfill site owners benefiting fully from the technology, or are they losing out when it comes to renewable energy payments?

By Freccia Benn – (2 min read)
Energy from waste is an important piece in the renewable energy jigsaw, but just how much is the UK producing and, more importantly, what is the value to the UK economy?