May’s Waste Thoughts – 2026

Summary with Embedded Next Step / Actions

Community Projects & Waste Management

  • Plastic Tree Guards: The group will look into a project to collect and repurpose plastic tubes from local woodlands.
  • Recycling Inquiry: Tracey to check with the council to see if plastic tree tubes can be accepted for recycling.
  • Sheep’s Wool Mulching: Jenny is available to source sheep’s wool for any members wanting to try it as a sustainable mulch.
  • Promotional Props: Kate is repurposing a dressing gown into a “baby seal prop” to support the Protect the Tees campaign.

Events & Festivals

Climate Emergency Briefing (PEB)

  • Screening (June 11): Group to promote the national climate emergency briefing film at Stokesley Community Library.
  • Attendance Goal: Aiming for 60 attendees; tickets are to be booked via the CASAV website.
  • Advocacy: Use the event to lobby politicians for a televised National Emergency Briefing on climate and nature.

Simon’s Administrative Tasks & Follow-ups

  • Festival of Thrift Logistics: Simon needs to send the group a link to an interactive availability tool so volunteers can sign up for specific Repair Cafe slots.
  • Tree Guard Research: Simon agreed to share a link Wendy sent him regarding the Woodland Trust’s trials on plastic-free and biodegradable tree guards with the rest of the group.
  • Landfill Inquiry: Simon mentioned he should look into the Environment Agency’s standards to ask why hazardous waste landfill membranes are only expected to last 200 years.

Repair Cafe & Circularity Actions

  • Donations: Kate committed to taking any leftover items from the upcoming “Kitchens and Cooking” Repair Cafe and donating them to Open Door Northeast and a Salvation Army home store.
  • Keepsake Sewing: Kate is in the process of turning a deceased grandmother’s sparkly jumpers into 20 keepsake hearts for a community member who reached out to the Repair Cafe.
  • Timber Swap Logistics: The group needs to work out the logistics for a proposed “timber swap” for a Repair Cafe in August or September, acting as a “dating agency” to connect people who have spare wood with those who need it.

Group Member Requirements

  • Festival of Thrift Protocols: Volunteers attending the Festival of Thrift must let Simon know their availability and sign a form confirming they have read the safety protocols to satisfy Friends of the Earth’s insurance requirements.
  • PAT Testing: The group needs volunteers willing to be trained to safely use the PAT testing machine for electrical items at the upcoming events.

Other Individual Actions

  • Council Promotions: Tracey will continue pushing the council’s new requirement for residents to register their vehicles online before using the Household Waste Recycling Centers (HWRCs). She is also running a targeted promotion for free reusable period products at local events.
  • Aviation Fuel Talk: Robert will be attending a talk hosted by the Institution of Engineers at Teesside University regarding sustainable aviation fuels.

Notes

Updates

Tracey

  • HWRC Registration (NYC Website): The primary update from the council is that residents must now register their vehicle registration numbers online to use the Household Waste Recycling Centres (tips).
  • Reusable Period Products: The council is running a low-key, targeted project promoting reusable period products (like reusable sanitary towels and washable pants) at select events to reduce single-use plastics.

Jenny

  • The Nature Table: Humorous BBC radio program called “The Nature Table” hosted by Sue Perkins, this episode on Climate Change. Saving the climate with ponds, poo and seaweed. Lots of work going on rewilding the oceans with encouraging seaweed, seaweed has lots of uses already and seaweed absorbs the excess nutrients we are injecting into the sea from farm runoff and sewage.

Pete

  • Waste of Human Resources: Enormous waste of young people and migrants’ potential in the workforce. There are around 800 asylum seekers in Middlesbrough who are unable to work and face difficulties finding volunteer posts. For the example of an Afghan trauma surgeon who couldn’t even volunteer to serve tea at a local hospital. He suggested advocating for a national green job creation plan. The Repod Training Scheme might be able to help an Afghan doctor, as they accept a certain number of candidates each year.

Robert

  • Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Attending an engineering talk at Teesside University Wednesday Evening on low-carbon super fuels for jets, specifically converting crops (like corn) into alcohol for aviation fuel, as well as fuels from biomass and algae. Once has to have some skepticism about the sustainability of dedicating vast land areas to grow crops for fuel.
  • James Hansen: Warned that climate scientist James Hansen is predicting a “super El Nino” this year and next, which will drastically raise the profile of global heating.
  • Swinton Park Estate: Designed a sustainable wooden estate office at Swinton Park. Following a statutory order to fell larch trees affected by sudden larch death, the felled trees were repurposed into roof rafters, with the unused thinnings used as fuel for the estate’s heating system.

Helen

  • World Service: In response to the crisis in the Straights of Hormouz, the BBC World Service Weekend (10minutes in) broadcast about independence achieved from artificial inputs had been achieved by a state (Sikkim) in India that decided 20 years ago to transition completely to organic agriculture for the health of the population and biodiversity. Every household was given a compost pit, proving the viability of long-term environmental visions.
  • The BBC World Service documents how hopeful a development showing how India going from agricultural crisis in 2006 to seeds of hope in 2016: 2006 BBC World Service – India: The Agriculture Crisis, 2016 BBC News – Will organic revolution boost farming in India? and now with this programme how this Indian state is now an example to the world.

Wendy

  • Plastic Tree Guards: How about a group project to collect and repurpose the plastic tubes littering local woodlands. Group members noted that the death rate inside these plastic tubes is extremely high, and the tubes can actually strangle the trees rather than burst as the tree grows.
  • Kate shared that the Woodland Trust is trialling plastic-free and biodegradable alternatives. Tracey offered to check with the council to see if the plastic tubes can be accepted for recycling.

Anne

  • Sheep’s Wool: Suggested using discarded sheep’s wool as a mulch for plants, noting that fleeces are very cheap and farmers struggle to make a profit from them. She had observed this practice at Swinton Park. Jenny confirmed she can source sheep’s wool for anyone wanting to try it.

Kate

  • Reuse and Repair Cafe Updates: The circularity corner at the Repair Cafe has been highly successful, operating as a “mini give and take”.
  • This Saturday 16th May’s theme in Swainby Village Hall is Kitchens and Cooking, featuring a book swappery and equipment swap; leftover items will go to Open Door Northeast and a Salvation Army store. June and July events will focus on toys, leisure, and outside games, and will feature a toy hospital.
  • A timber swap was suggested will need to be more virtual as can’t really house wood at the repair cafes.
  • Highlighted “Goods for Good,” an organization that repurposes overproduced seasonal goods from businesses, and “Back Market,” which refurbishes electronics while providing training and internships.
  • Via the Repair Cafe, contacted by a person who wanted to remember her Grandmother through some of her favourite clothes. So personally repurposing the late grandmother’s sparkly jumpers into keepsakes (20 hearts). Also turning a dressing gown into a baby seal prop to help publicise the Protect the Tees – Challenge the Licence campaign to stop ecocide caused by unsafe dredging.

Fred

  • PAT Testing: Highlighted the importance of PAT testing when repurposing electrical equipment. Simon confirmed that all electrical items brought into the repair cafe are PAT tested to ensure they are safe.

Simon

  • Augean Hazardous Waste Landfill: Simon discussed a recent visit to the Augean hazardous waste landfill at Port Clarence, which was prompted by questions about where dredged material from the River Tees would go following his recent legal victory over dredging licences. He noted that modern landfill practices have greatly improved from the past. Hazardous waste is mixed with water and a cement-like substance to encapsulate contaminants, preventing leaching. The waste is placed into a lined landfill cell with an impermeable membrane, and all processing water is kept securely on-site using a system of boreholes.
  • Gazebo Safety: To meet Friends of the Earth safety standards regarding trip hazards from guy ropes, the group discussed needing concrete or water weights to hold down the gazebo at upcoming events.

Matters Arising

Festivals

  • Bilsdale: The group will be attending the Bilsdale Agricultural Show on 29th August. Simon is currently organising volunteers and preparing a risk assessment.
  • Kildale: The show will be on 5th September, not sure we will attend this year unless a lot of people want to volunteer due to lack of time.
  • Festival of Thrift: Simon is coordinating the repair cafes for the Festival of Thrift at Kirkleatham Museum. The repair cafe will be located in the Walled Garden (the Bothy Gallery).

PEB (People’s Emergency Briefing)

  • A screening of the national climate emergency briefing film will be held on 11th June at 7.30pm in Stokesley Community Library.
  • The event aims for 60 attendees, and invitations have been sent to local councilors (including David Hugill, the council’s lead on climate change), local businesses, and community groups for a subsequent discussion. The film features experts like Chris Packham and Mike Berners-Lee delivering hard-hitting warnings about climate change that have deliberately not been diluted.
  • The film’s aim is to get the government to televise a National Emergency Briefing (Covid style) to tell the whole country about how serious the climate and nature emergencies are. After the film there will be opportunity to discuss its content and look at what is happening and what could happen locally. As well as us all hopefully make it clear to the politicians that the crises need to be addressed via a televised briefing and with suitable government actions as seen in Covid to mitigate and adapt to the consequences.
  • The numbers we are allowed in the library are limited, so get your tickets here – https://casav.uk/tickets.

Repair Cafe

  • The March and April Repair Cafes in Swainby and Stokesley were successful, each achieving approximately 80 repairs with a 75% success rate, including lots gardening tool sharpening.
  • Always looking for more help, please sign-up here.
  • The next Repair Cafe is this Saturday 16th May in Swainby Village Hall at 10am.

Next Meeting

Tuesday 9th June via Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/96341121802).