Energy-from-Waste operator, enfinium, announces it has signed an agreement with ENGIE to provide power to homes and businesses. enfinium will supply around 390 GWh of power to ENGIE per year from 2025 to 2028, which it says is equivalent to powering 140,000 homes. The power will be supplied by enfinium’s Energy-from-Waste (EfW) Skelton Grange facility in Leeds, which is due to become operational this summer. This is the first Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between enfinium and ENGIE, a global company whose purpose is to accelerate the transition towards a carbon-neutral economy. Wayne Robertson, Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer of enfinium, commented: “This agreement highlights the benefits of using society’s…

  The Environment Agency will allow sites in England to temporarily exceed their permitted storage limits for certain wastes. The Environment Agency launched the Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) following calls from industry for more flexible storage requirements due to the current issues with the offtake for certain waste streams. The RPS applies to the temporary storage of baled and securely wrapped refuse-derived fuel (RDF), mixed municipal waste, and waste wood destined for incineration. The RPS only applies where the Environment Agency has agreed in writing. The Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA) welcomed ‘in principle’ the launch of the RPS. However, the WRA says it is also working with the Environment Agency…

  The Millerhill Recycling and Energy Recovery Centre (RERC) has announced it has treated one million tonnes of non-recyclable waste. The facility in Edinburgh, which is operated by FCC Environment, treats non-recyclable waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill. Opening in 2019, the Energy-from-Waste plant processes up to 155,000 tonnes of residual non-hazardous waste each year, approximately 135,000 tonnes of which comes from households within the Edinburgh and Midlothian regions, and the remainder from businesses. The Millerhill RERC generates up to 12MW of electricity and up to 20MW of heat, which the facility says is enough to power approximately 22,000 homes and to meet the average heating needs of…

  Two brothers and their father were ordered to pay over £50,000 by a judge after failing to comply with an environmental permit. Between June 2015 and April 2017, the three men failed to comply with the terms of their environmental permit. Though the permit allowed for the processing of mixed waste, it required a fire prevention plan which was never properly implemented. Inspections by the Environment Agency revealed that waste was being stacked too high and too closely together at the site, creating a fire risk. The waste had also become a health risk following an influx of mice and a problem with flies, the Environment Agency said. Once…

  CIWM Early Careers Ambassador Emma Copley, Senior Waste Consultant at WSP, explores what the food of the future may look like and how organic waste management can play a role in making the future food systems more circular. The Black Solider Fly (Hermetia illucens), also known as the humble fly, has distinctive eating behaviours which distinguish it from other insects. Black Soldier Flies are detritivores: organisms which obtain nutrients by eating decaying organic material. Their larvae have an amazing ability to use their mouthparts to liquefy their food rather than digesting it internally, which allows them to consume a range of organic material. Because of these unique features, the…

  Over 50 councils across the UK will receive a share of £1.2 million to tackle chewing gum litter. The grants, provided by the UK Government and environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, are part of the fourth round of funding from the Chewing Gum Task Force. Launched in 2021, the Task Force is a partnership between industry, government and funds from gum producers, which aims to prevent anti-social littering and help local councils acquire cutting-edge cleaning equipment. Bradford Metropolitan District Council plan to use the funding to deploy specialist steam cleaners. While Cheshire Council say they will hire new specialists to undertake intensive cleaning in areas with high public footfall.…

  Research published on World Refill Day 2025 shows that 74% of UK consumers want more brands and retailers to offer reusable, refillable or returnable packaging. As part of World Refill Day 2025 (16 June), environmental charity City to Sea has called on retailers and the UK Government to commit to ensuring 30% of packaging is reusable by 2030. However, despite this demand, the research indicates that only 18% of shoppers are aware of where to find these refillable options. Commenting on the research, CEO of City to Sea, Jane Martin, said: “The public (is) ready, but retailers, brands and government are stuck.  “We’re calling time on this broken system where…

  Volvo Cars have signed a new agreement with Swedish steel firm SSAB for the supply of ‘high-quality, recycled and near zero-emissions steel’ starting this year. Volvo Cars says it is the first car maker to sign a supply agreement with SSAB for recycled steel for serial production deliveries. The agreement is an extension of a long-term existing collaboration between the two companies to be at the ‘forefront of the transition to more sustainable steel’. The recycled steel will be used in selected components of the forthcoming, fully electric EX60 SUV, as well as other cars based on Volvo Cars’ next-generation SPA3 car architecture. Volvo Cars says the recycled steel…

  New research from Aquapak suggests 70% of UK adults are confused about what packaging can and can’t be recycled. As part of the research, Consumer Intelligence surveyed 751 UK adults earlier this year on their knowledge of packaging recycling. Only 10% of respondents said they always find instructions on how to dispose of packaging easy to understand. 52% described instructions as ‘sometimes’ understandable and only 29% said they are ‘often’ easy to understand.  21% said they always read the recycling instructions on product packaging, which increases to 31% for respondents between 25 and 34 years old but drops to 17% for those aged 65 and over. Our research findings…

  This year’s International E-Waste Day will focus on critical raw materials, the elements essential to the economy that have a high risk of supply disruption and limited substitutes. Taking place on 14 October 2025, the 8th edition of International E-Waste Day will focus on highlighting how critical raw materials (CRMs) can be recovered from unused or broken electronic products. A study by WEEE Forum and UNITAR showed that households own an average of 74 EEE items – excluding lamps and luminaires – of which 61 items are in use, nine are hoarded but working, and four are hoarded and not working. The total mass of items in households is…