Just desserts...?

During idle moments (few and far between) a quick trawl through the Environment Agency press releases is always illuminating. Although the press releases don’t deal in detail with ongoing cases they do provide detail of cases which have finished.

I won’t bore you with the detail of all of the releases as (to be honest) I’m not that interested in anglers using illegal nets, boat owners not having licences or otters being seen on the lower reaches of the River Out the Back of Beyond for the first time since 1851 (Just before seven in the evening).

However the following may be of interest as examples of the fines / costs being awarded:

County Durham – Operation of illegal landfill, £35k profit to be returned under Proceeds of Crime Act or 18 months prison sentence, £5k costs.

Slough – fish kill from detergent spillage – Company fined £23.6k, £15k costs, £8.2k compensation, director fined £14k

Lancaster – Scrap metal dealer / car dismantler ordered to pay £315.5k including costs and confiscation order for an illegal waste site.

Kent – 9 individuals / companies fined a total of £74k, clean up costs of 36k and costs of £25k for illegal operation of a site and deposit of waste at that site – construction and demolition waste.

More details can be found on the Environment Agency's website

A walk in the Country

Well, the best laid plans etc, who’d have thought a simple country walk could end in disaster.
 
As worry can cause stress can I point out now that the injury in question is a broken 5th metatarsal and not life threatening.

An employee of Blue Environmental, who shall remain nameless, managed to break their foot jumping over a gate whilst on a lunchtime work round the country lanes close to our head office. I knew this craze for exercise was a bad idea. After some consideration the services of the NHS were called for and it has to be said, two hours for triage, X Ray, diagnosis and cast fitted is not too shabby (although it does seem a lot longer when you’re sat there).

Having used private transport to the hospital A and E, after dropping off the injured, the driver didn’t have any change for the parking and so rang the number provided and waited for the attendant. Several passers-by were interrogated to see if they could change a £10 to no avail, so waited some more. Whilst waiting an elderly lady opened her car door for her dog to jump in, which then knocked off the handbrake causing the car to roll towards yours truly. If you are going to get knocked down a hospital car park has to be close to the top of your favoured list.

However, it was only a slight slope. Then it transpired the elderly lady with dog (Bobby a border collie if you’re interested) didn’t drive (her husband who was attending an appointment had driven down) and so couldn’t put the car back in the space. Well, oddly in that situation based on this occurrence people will just hand you their car keys.

On a “You are the Safety Advisor” type question is the accident reportable under RIDDOR as a 3 day LTA?

The answer – No, not as it occurred during a lunch break, but because it happened in an environment where the employer could not reasonably be expected to have control.

 

World Cup 2010
Well, nearly two weeks into the tournament, I thought I’d amaze you with waste disposal facts surrounding the hosting of the tournament but apart from tonnes of CO2 emitted my exhaustive research has drawn a blank. Well, not quite, apparently Nike have manufactured their shirts from recycled polyester plastic bottles, so Brazil wear shirts made from rubbish. A total contrast to the rubbish inside the England shirts.

The major talking point of the tournament has been the vuvuzela. (For some reason the spellchecker doesn’t recognise the word). Wimbledon has already banned them from their stadium although I’ve always thought that tennis crowds should be allowed to barrack players during play in a similar way to football matches.

I thought I liked the sound, but after listening to the CD of the Bloemfontein Vuvuzela Orchestra playing “Hooked on Classics” you can have too much of a good thing.

On a plus note our boss has kindly allowed us to watch the England matches during work hours, although I have a nagging doubt I’m being punished for something.

A Rant

Well, keeping away from politics in the election run up, a need to rant on political correctness. Away from the waste industry I like to relax in a battle of wits known as miniature war gaming. (It’s otherwise known as playing with toy soldiers if you’re feeling less charitable).

As such the Club, (yes, surprisingly there are a few of us), rents a local community centre once a week to meet up. We’ve been informed that as it is owned by the council the Club has to provide a Health and Safety Policy, Environmental Policy and Equality and Diversity Policy, documented risk assessments for the club activities as well as the Club Committee possibly being CRB checked. (Before you ask we only allow minors to attend with parental supervision but apparently we may have “vulnerable adults”!!???). After all, the Club has only been in existence 38 years with no issues!

Are these edicts really a sensible way forward or are there just too many “jobsworths” around? How many of the users of the council centres will do this and how many community activities will fold?

In reality we’ll bow to the inevitable but I would like to thank the Lawn Tennis Association for valuable inspiration, well, blatant cut and pasting. Google* is my friend in these matters.

Finally, in answer to questions, our four legged friend in the photo below is our Head of Security, employee of the month for the fifth month in a row.

*Other search engines are available.

Duncan – in charge of Operations and all manner of other things no one else wants to deal with…..

24? Lost? Or Both? Part II

We met up again at 8am with the aim of getting to the recycling plant at 9am. This would have been entirely plausible if once again we hadn’t got lost. Hoorah for google maps on the iphone. By the time we arrived we were all desperate for tea/coffee which was thankfully laid on, along with bowls of Haribos, chocolates and biscuits. The audit went well and the site was impressive. Certain members of the party skipped the walk around as it was pouring with rain and her hair goes curly if it gets wet. Oh and she was in 4” stilettos having decided not to pack her riggers…

The site kindly provided lunch, after which we headed to the airport…the wrong way. An argument ensued between the driver and the navigator. The navigator got her way after the driver randomly headed off into the Dusseldorf suburbs.

We arrived at the airport with over 3 hours to spare. Following a trip to the bar, the boys went shopping (!), after which we all headed back to the bar. It was while we were sat there looking out of the window that we noticed that we could see our hotel on the boundary of the airport not more than 2km away…

 24? Lost? Or Both? Part I

On a cold day in February, a group of us headed to Dusseldorf in Germany from various parts of the UK (on scary planes with propellers!) to audit a large recycling facility.

We met at Dusseldorf airport and while the driver went to get the rental car, the rest of us went to find the bar. The ‘car’ turned out to be a Citroen Belingo, not the luxury 7 seat bus we had booked. We all piled in – it was a bit of squash in the back – and promptly headed 40 km up the autobahn in the wrong direction…

When we eventually got to the hotel we agreed to meet in the bar half an hour later; the only girlie amongst us misinterpreted this and spent the half an hour looking for a kettle in her room (to no avail) and turned up in the bar in her scruffs. She was sent back to her room to change and promised to be no more than 20 minutes; 53 minutes later she eventually made it back down. In the mean time, the boys had drunk several beers and were hungry despite eating copious amounts of chilli nuts.

The barman recommended that we eat in an Italian restaurant in the centre of Dusseldorf. We are glad that we did – the food was delicious although the Kentucky Fried Chicken (Chicken Schnitzel) was a disappointment. The wine was good too but considering the cheapest bottle on the menu was €70 you would hope it would be.

After finishing eating, and with the help of the locals following further navigational errors, we headed into the Old Town. We found what looked like a lovely old bar, and indeed it was. So old that it only served beer, water and apple juice.

On to the next bar where the girlie rather rudely fell asleep; upon waking she disappeared off down to the loo where there was apparently a Ghanaian lady with whom she fell into conversation and oblivious to every thing else (not unusual) it took one of the boys to go and get her out of the loo so we could go back to the hotel.

The boys headed back to the hotel bar but the girlie bottled it and went to bed. The chilli nuts were once again a big hit. They came in little glass bottles with screw-top lids and certain members of the party helped themselves to them lock, stock and barrel to take back to the UK as presents for their children. Not that the children ever saw the nuts. Indeed, the hotel will shortly be receiving an email from that member of the party requesting the name of the supplier for the nuts so he can refill the jars and relive his Dusseldorf experience.

To be continued...

 Happy New Year

A not very welcoming return to work in the New Year: snow and the temperature dropping well below zero.

In these wintry conditions it is a struggle to keep plant and transport running and it is all our responsibility to ensure that vehicle and pedestrian areas are kept well gritted and clear of snow and ice. Asking your staff to clear the area from their car to the site exit first will give you some idea of how efficiently they can work if motivated…

We hope all your plant winterisation plans were successful and remember, you won’t know for certain if a pipe has burst ‘til the thaw comes.

Wishing all our readers a Happy New Year.

Christmas Opening Times

Blue Environmental Ltd will be open until lunch time on Christmas Eve (note our Christmas 'do' is on Wednesday 23rd at lunchtime so things may be a bit giddy that afternoon) and will re-open on the 4th January 2010. There will be skeletal cover on the 29th & 30th December for anything urgent. 

We would like to wish all our customers and suppliers a very merry Christmas and a prosperous 2010.

Environmental Vandalism

It is sad to see an increase in the number of high profile illegal environmental acts that have taken place this year.  The legislation laid down in recent years has been designed primarily to reduce these incidents and help improve the environmental performance of our industry.

However, illegal discharges, dumping of hazardous waste and contravention of licence conditions are just some of the examples we have witnessed in recent months.  That the parties involved have been hit with large fines, pending charges and even imprisonment reiterates how seriously these issues are taken by the authorities.

Yet dealing with this increase in legislation can be overwhelming for those who do not move waste material on a regular basis; if you need help or advice Blue Environmental has a dedicated technical department and Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser who you can contact on 01772 782666.

Twitter

Blue Environmental is now on Twitter! 

Striding Edge

The waste industry is a complex one in many ways, and so it is occassionally a relief to take a break and get a different view - literally!

The Striding Edge website is a walkers paradise, and we at Blue Environmental and Blue Healthcare (our sister company), benefit greatley from its founder, Sean, and his regular walks around the Lake District.

It is a recent aim of the company directors to complete the 214 Lakeland fells commonly called the Wainwright Fells; and to date we still have nearly 200 to go. 

Crinkle Crags was the latest conquest, bagged in September in glorious late summer sunshine. We will keep you up-to-date with our progress!

100 K Ribble Way Challenge

In July, 25 teams set off in the middle of the night with the aim of completing the 100 kilometre Ribble Way Challenge going from north of Settle in Yorkshire to Preston in Lancashire, within 30 hours.

Unfortunately, one of the original team (not pictured) had to pull out due to an injury with only a few miles to go.

Special praise must also go to the team's support who drove ahead to each checkpoint to ensure refreshments were available.

The walk is planned to become an annual event, so if you'd like a challenge send an email to info@blueenvironmental.co.uk and we will put you in touch with the organisers.