Refuse collectors beat the snow in West Somerset

REFUSE and recycling services in West Somerset were running almost as normal this week, despite the heavy snowfalls.
Somerset Waste Partnership said it was fortunate that collections in the more rural areas, such as on the Quantock Hills and on Exmoor, were not scheduled until later in the week.
Dustbin lorries had instead been able to concentrate on the urban areas, where it was easier to cope with the weather conditions.
However, the household waste recycling centres in Minehead and Dulverton were both closed yesterday as staff had difficulty in travelling to work.
The partnership’s strategy and communications leader David Mansell said yesterday: “There has been a little bit of disruption, mostly in the rural areas.
“We are going to try and catch up as quickly as we can, which could include working over the weekend, but that obviously depends on how the weather turns out.”
Elesewhere in Somerset, there was widespread disruption as refuse and recycling lorries were taken off the roads, particularly in rural areas, because of the danger of accidents.
In West Somersetr, the waste partnership’s collection fleet was fully back on the road again this morning and was focussed on today’s scheduled rounds before looking to tackle the backlog later.
Extra vehicles, such as green waste lorries, had already started on the task of clearing the backlog.
The partnership was advising residents to leave out their refuse containers and it would try to clear them as soon as possible.
The Minehead and Dulverton household waste recycling centres had also reopened today.
However, the partnership warned some garden waste might not be collected this week as the vehicles had been deployed to help catch up on missed refuse collections.
Garden waste would be collected as normal in the next cycle.
Anybody who experiences serious problems because of the deferred garden waste collections should contact West Somerset Council by calling 01643 703704.

Anger as Hinkley sends more nuclear waste for recycling in America

A SECOND batch of radioactive waste from Hinkley Point is to be shipped to America for reprocessing.
Hundreds of tons of metal from the decommissioning of the Hinkley Point A nuclear power station will be recycled by a smelting facility in Bear Creek, Tennessee.
The metal, classified as low level waste (LLW) will travel overland from Hinkley Point to docks in Liverpool, and then by ship to Virginia, US, and then on by road to its destination at the Energy Solutions plant in Bear Creek.
There, it will be processed and recycled into shielding blocks for use at other nuclear stations. Energy Solutions will dispose of any material which cannot be recycled.
The operation is part of a groundbreaking means of recycling valuable nuclear power station metals which has been devised by the team carrying out the Hinkley A decommissioning.
It resulted in the Environment Agency authorising the shipment of up to 235 tonnes of contaminated steel from Hinkley A to the US between September, 2007, and August 2010.
The Hinkley A decommissioning team set up a decontamination plant in the power station’s former laundry building to recover and ‘clean’ the 1,725 skips holding nuclear waste in ponds and dry storage.
More than 95 per cent of the skips contained intermediate level waste which could not have been recovered without the new operation.
In just 18 months, the project team retrieved 564 skips from the dry skip store and processed almost half for the metal smelting project, with the remainder kept in temporary storage before decontamination.
A further 110 tonnes of low level rubble and debris was also removed from the dry skip store and packed into more than 500 drums.
A spokesman for Magnox South Ltd, which owns Hinkley A, said: “This will allow the continuation of a metal melt process, with up to 400 tons of LLW metal authorised to be shipped to the US for smelting and reuse within the industry.
“To gain approval, the site had to provide various facts and figures including the types of materials the site would be shipping and activity levels.”
However, the movement abroad of waste from Hinkley Point has been criticised by the anti-nuclear group Stop Hinkley.
Group co-ordinator Jim Duffy said: “This radioactive metal should be isolated from the environment.
“Magnox might save money from the long-term management of this waste by sending it for use in US nuclear power stations, but those who handle it during smelting and nuclear construction may inhale dangerous radioactive particles.”
Mr Duffy said safety issues were raised by the recycling process and there were fears that the by-products could be used for household goods.
He said: “The nuclear industry has lobbied hard to loosen the regulations on radioactive waste metal to the point where, if they succeeded, we would be cooking with slightly contaminated pots and pans made from recycled radioactive metal.
“The UK scrap metal industry has voiced its concerns at handling it, but this move takes us a step further in a process where the public may unknowingly get contaminated.
“This adds to the new risk from allowing low level radioactive waste being dumped in local council landfill sites.
“The Government has run out of options for securing this waste, mainly concrete, which is accruing in huge volumes from cleaning up nuclear sites like Hinkley A.
“So, the Environment Agency has appallingly caved in and granted licenses to dump the waste in our municipal landfills."
“Shipping contaminated waste thousands of miles might be one of the reasons the Environment Agency says the nuclear industry’s carbon footprint increased by five percent last year.”
More than 950 skips were sent from Hinkley A to Bear Creek in the first phase of the LLW recycling initiative.

Our photograph shows work on the decommissioning of Hinkley Point A. Photo by Maxnox South Ltd.

Plastic and cardboard recycling starts - but not for us

PLASTIC bottle and cardboard recycling collections are being launched next week by the Somerset Waste Partnership – but West Somerset will miss out on the new service.
The partnership is trialling the much called-for service only in parts of Mendip, Taunton Deane, and Sedgemoor.
The Wiveliscombe and Bishops Lydeard areas also miss out on the Taunton Deane trials.
Those residents who are involved in the pilot rounds, which run until March of next year, will receive a new green box for cardboard and plastic bottles which has been designed to stack neatly on their existing green box used recycle paper, glass, food and drinks cans, foil, clothes, shoes, and car batteries.
The pilot service has been named Sort It Plus, and a series of roadshows to explain it will be held in the Taunton area on May 15 and 16.
Somerset county councillor and waste partnership chairman, Councillor Nigel Woollcombe-Adams, said: “The Sort It Plus trials will build on the success of current recycling collections in Somerset, by testing new service options and new collection vehicle designs.
“It is important local residents covered by the trials understand the new system, so all will be sent a service leaflet to explain the trial arrangements and we will hold roadshows to answer questions face to face.”
Taunton Deane Borough Council environmental services portfolio holder, Councillor Melvyn Mullins, said: “A lot of people ask about adding plastic bottles and cardboard to our kerbside recycling collections and the trials will influence the collection system introduced across Taunton Deane.”
The new service involves the collection of cardboard and plastic in addition to the existing collection service which comprises:

• Weekly collections of food waste
• Continued recycling collections for paper, glass, cans, foil, clothes, shoes, and car batteries
• Fortnightly collections for refuse
• Optional charged composting collections for garden waste

The Somerset Waste Partnership provides waste and recycling services on behalf of all local authorities in Somerset: Mendip, South Somerset, Sedgemoor and West Somerset District Councils, Taunton Deane Borough Council and Somerset County Council.

Explorer Sir Ranulph pledges to do more recycling

WORLD famous explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who lives on Exmoor, near Exford, has become the latest celebrity to sign up to the Somerset Waste Partnership’s ‘Pledge to Recycle’.
Sir Ranulph (pictured) has pledged to help reduce the ‘mountain’ of waste created each year in the UK by making greater efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle his waste.
He chose to give his support to the campaign and to sign up to the pledge online.
Sir Ranulph said: “I know how important it is to look after our environment.
“Recycling is an easy and effective way for us all to do our bit and I for one have joined up and pledged to recycle.”
The ‘Pledge to Recycle’ campaign was launched last year by Somerset cricketers Marcus Trescothick and Neil Edwards, and aims to encourage people to reuse, reduce, and recycle their household waste.
‘Pledgers’ can choose to receive a regular ‘e-recycle’ newsletter providing hints and tips on reducing and recycling household waste.
The newsletter also features competitions offering a range of environmentally-friendly prizes.
Councillor Nigel Woollcombe-Adams, chairman of the Somerset Waste Partnership said: “Over 2,300 people have already signed up across Somerset, and we believe that it is a great way for residents to be kept informed on all the new recycling schemes that will be coming up throughout the year.”
To join in and sign up to the ‘Pledge to Recycle’ scheme, log on to www.recyclesomerset.info