Recycling & Waste Management

recycling & waste management RiverRidge Helps Reunite Scottish Tourist with Misplaced Jewellery

RiverRidge has helped to reunite a Scottish tourist with her beloved jewellery collection, after it was mistakenly disposed of as rubbish and taken on a round trip across Northern Ireland, before being found by the company’s dedicated waste process operators at its Materials Recovery Facility in Mallusk.

Retired schoolteacher, Kathleen McKimmon and husband Eric, from Cupar, near Fife, had planned a relaxing trip to Northern Ireland. However the trip ended up being anything but, when her husband unknowingly put Kathleen’s jewellery collection of huge sentimental value, which included six necklaces, three rings and a charm bracelet, in a waste bin. Speaking about the ordeal, Kathleen said, “We were looking forward to our postChristmas trip to Northern Ireland, visiting friends and family, as well as finding out more about my husband’s family history. As a result of a break in at our home a few years ago, where my complete jewellery collection was stolen, I took my jewellery with me, disguised in a plastic bag. Following a trip to Belfast from where we were staying in Omagh, we made a stop at Sprucefield, where my husband offered to dispose of the litter – which included the plastic bag, without realising its contents.” It wasn’t until Kathleen went looking for her jewellery the following morning that she realised it wasn’t in the car. After a frantic search, the couple realised that the jewellery had been thrown out during their stop at Sprucefield. Kathleen continued, “When we realised what had happened, we drove back to Sprucefield to see if there was any chance of retrieving the jewellery but as expected, the bins had been emptied. At this stage, I had lost all hope of ever being reunited with my jewellery collection again.” But all was not lost. After speaking with John McGuigan at M&S, Sprucefield and contacting the Centre Manager, who said there was a possibility of stopping the process before it was too late, Kathleen was put in touch with the team at RiverRidge. In most instances, all waste is processed on the day of collection at one of the company’s three MRFs, so it is very rare to find anything that someone mistakenly throws away. Senior Commercial Manager at RiverRidge, Pamela Jordan said, “When I received Kathleen’s email on Monday morning, I knew how distressing this must have been for her. However, given the nature of our business and the large amount of waste we collect, we were unsure about what the outcome would be. “We always try to accommodate as best we can though, and after contacting our Operations Manager at the Mallusk facility, Danny McErlain, the team got to work – literally on their hands and knees seeing if any of the jewellery could be recovered.” At this point, Kathleen and Eric had arrived at the ferry port, and were waiting to board the boat for their return to Scotland, resigned to the fact that the jewellery was gone. “I had accepted that the jewellery was lost, and I was devastated. That was until, like divine intervention, I received a call from Pamela telling me that the plastic bag containing my jewellery had been found. I couldn’t believe it, I was elated.” Kathleen says it is a miracle that the jewellery was found, and that this experience has renewed her faith in human kindness. “I am so grateful to everyone who helped out along the way – from the team at M&S Centre, Sprucefield, to Pamela, and all the team at RiverRidge who went above and beyond to retrieve the jewellery. Everyone was so incredible. “We hear so many stories about unhelpful people and poor customer service, but rarely about the good. On this occasion, nobody could have been more helpful, comforting and reassuring. My sincere thanks to everyone who was involved.”

Pictured with the jewellery are (right) Danny McErlain, Operations Manager at RiverRidge and (left) Vytautus Skurdauskis.

PLANT & CIVIL

Find us on Facebook

Plant & Civil Engineer

PLANT & CIVIL

CONSTRUCTION, QUARRY & RECYCLING MAGAZINE AWARDS2022 SAVE THE DATE THURSDAY 24th NOVEMBER 2022

CROWNE PLAZA, SHAW’S BRIDGE, BELFAST. www.plantandcivilengineer.com

UK construction activity expected to grow despite labour shortages and soaring material costs

Construction experts across the United Kingdom painted a positive picture for the industry over the next year with strong levels of activity expected despite mounting concerns around sourcing materials and labour, this according to the latest RICS construction survey for the final quarter of 2021.

In terms of workloads for Q4 2021, +33% of respondents said they continued to see increases in demand for construction work (the same level as reported in Q3). New infrastructure projects are seen to be behind the much of the increase in workloads, with a net balance of +40% - with energy developments particularly leading the way. Elsewhere the private housing sector also continued to show solid momentum with a net balance of +37% of respondents reporting new works in this area. Looking to the year ahead, expectations of upcoming workloads edged up to a net balance of +45%. Infrastructure continues to be viewed as likely to lead the sector but both the private residential and non-residential works are anticipated as also delivering strong growth in output. The government’s newly announced ‘Levelling Up’ white paper, which sets out how billions in funding will be allocated toward regenerating towns and cities across the UK, could also support construction workloads through new infrastructure, housing and non-residential works.

Upbeat

Business enquiries were still firm in the final quarter (+37% in Q4 2021) which is also consistent with a more upbeat outlook for activity looking out over the next twelve months. Additionally, +10% of respondents also said profit margins are now anticipated to increase over the course of 2022 compared with just +2% in the last survey – which reflects the upbeat picture of the year ahead. Despite the positive picture, concerns around the availability of materials (84%) and labour (77%) suggested these problems continue to dominate the UK construction sector – with factors like Brexit and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic giving building firms a headache. In terms of skilled labourers, 65% of respondents saying they had difficulties finding bricklayers and carpenters to deliver projects (although this was slightly less apparent for other skilled trades like plasterers and electricians). That said, the estimate for material costs is expected to jump by a further 9% over the period in question with skilled labour costs rising by more than 7% and unskilled costs by between 5 and 6%.

Concerns

Simon Rubinsohn, RICS Chief Economist, commented: “There is clearly an upbeat tone to the feedback received from across the construction industry. However, the concerns around labour and in particular, skilled labour are just not going away. “The long-term fix is to attract more younger people to the sector but that may be insufficient to address the immediate problem which significantly, is being reflected in expectations for a sharp uplift in wage costs over the next year. “The presumption from professionals working in the industry is that this rise in pay will help provide a short-term fix as the strong projections for activity through the course in 2022 are premised on a further rise in headcount.” Bradley Tully, Senior Public Affairs Officer at RICS, said: “The levelling-up agenda offers important opportunities for the construction sector to play a vital role in transforming areas that are in need of regeneration, and to demonstrate the power of the built environment in tackling inequalities. “In order to create thriving places where people can live and work, we are clear that the levelling-up agenda must be underpinned by a reformed planning system that offers greater certainty, provides for sufficient local accountability and allows for the timely delivery of vital social infrastructure.”

Mastenbroek’s Magic Eye Minimises Gravel Waste

Mastenbroek has launched an innovative new product to help contractors save money and improve the accuracy of backfill levels when installing drainage schemes or utilities.

Developed and refined over a sixmonth period Mastenbroek’s Magic Eye package combines a radar sensor with a software application to control the amount of gravel or sand that is dispensed by the hopper when backfilling. Available now as an optional extra on Mastenbroek’s trenchers and retrofittable to any machine with a suitable hydraulic variable height gravel hopper, the Magic Eye regulates itself to the ground level ensuring the optimum amount of gravel is dispensed. Mastenbroek developed the Magic Eye in response to customer requests for an automated way of minimising wastage. The costly issue was first raised with Mastenbroek by Darren Cotton of Les Cotton Contractors. Operating in Suffolk and undertaking agricultural and sports field drainage across East Anglia, Les and his team also helped test the Magic Eye as part of the development process. “Gravel is increasingly expensive and having someone follow the hopper to ensure the levels are right or using a plumb bob to check that we’re not wasting aggregate isn’t the most effective or consistently accurate method,” says Les. “Darren mentioned this to Mastenbroek and they got straight onto it! The Magic Eye is a very neat solution and is easy to set up and use. It has proven to be incredibly accurate during testing and I’m sure it will be a popular feature with contractors looking to minimise waste and not spend more than they have to on aggregates.” Mastenbroek’s Commercial Director, Christopher Pett, adds: “We have a history of problem solving and developing innovative solutions to help our customers work more efficiently and effectively. Developing the Magic Eye was an interesting project to oversee. It was very rewarding to see how our whole team – electrical, mechanical and software engineers – came together to work out an effective solution to Les and Darren’s request.” Les Cotton Contractors recently bought a Mastenbroek CT12 crawler truck. As well as fitting the Magic Eye control to the trencher hopper, Les and Darren are working with Mastenbroek to adapt the technology to work with a front-mounted gravel hopper on the CT12, which is interchangeable with the front swing conveyor.