Waste

Every month we meet to discuss waste, we discuss our activities and also other waste topics that interest us or we have heard about, find out what we have been up to Thoughts on Waste.

It is great you are interested in waste and the contribution it makes to climate change.

November 2024’s Darlington and Stockton Times Climate Column talks about how our waste mountain now goes to incinerators and some of the problems this creates. If you want to learn more about incinerators then SINE and UKWIN provide lots of information on why incineration may not be such a good thing:

  • Stop Incineration North East – Facebook page – local activities.
  • UK without Incineration – UKWIN Website – resources from campaigns to academic papers.
  • North Yorkshire’s Allerton Park Waste Recovery Park is described on North Yorkshire Council’s web page.

Incinerators are the current answer to our increasing creation of waste and at the bottom of the waste pyramid. CASaV are working many ways to reduce waste.

If you are new to this page, or want to get an update on our latest activites then here is a short Welcome to Waste.

I am coordinating the Waste Group, looking for ways to carry out the group’s vision of minimising waste.  I have lived in Swainby for the last 41 years with my wife and family.  I guess I realised I needed to take action on climate change around 15 years ago, but still have a long way to go and having recently reread “There is no planet b by Mike Berners-Lee”, I realised I still need help to reduce my carbon/environmental footprint down to that sustainable by one planet.  So getting involved with CASaV and helping with waste seemed a good idea.

The CASaV website has a page which details some resources which help with minimising waste –  https://climateactionstokesleyandvillages.org/waste/ – where to recycle, where to buy with less waste and what happens to our waste currently.

Sign up to the CASaV and the Waste Group – Join our mailing list.

We set up the Stokesley and Villages Repair Cafe to help make everybody’s things last longer and so reduce waste.

Currently we are actively looking to reduce food waste’s contribution to carbon dioxide both by helping to stop leftover food from becoming waste and by lobbying local government to start separate collection of food waste to stop it ending up with general waste.
Individually, waste reduction is very much around reducing, reusing and recycling:

  • Reduce: basically less stuff, only get as much stuff as is needed, avoid things that are over packaged, ….
  • Repair: rather than replace stuff when it fails, get it repaired, not so easy often as we still looking for local repairers
  • Reuse: whether this is just taking bags with you when you go shopping, or using clothes as dusters
  • Recycle: try to buy things which can be recycled and then if you can’t repair or reuse, recycle at end of life.

We should really also include lobbying in here, as societal / governmental actions make minimising waste a lot easier, whether it is just better recycling facilities locally or “producer pays” legislation making the manufacturer more responsible for end of life – so letting our communities and politicians know that we care about waste is key to making the changes that are needed.

Thank you for being interested in the waste group, we are still finding our way, so please don’t help to get in touch with me with any thoughts / ideas / questions you have.

Stay safe, best wishes, Simon Gibbon

Some of the Things we have Done

One of the best ways to avoid waste is to mend things that are broken, so we are starting up Repair Cafes in the area, our twenty-third will be on 16th November in Swainby Village Hall 10am – 12pm – find all the details here. Basically bring along things that need fixing and the volunteer repairers will work with you to repair them.

Since autumn 2020 we have been meeting over Zoom to update each other on our progress on reducing waste, where we can lobby government to tackle climate change more effectively and what else we should be doing – our latest update is here.

Waste – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
The Climate Action Stokesley and Villages group held their first themed evening on 19th November 2019. Tracey Flint, Hambleton District Council’s recycling officer explained what happens to the waste in Hambleton and what plans there are for helping people to reduce waste.
Presentation
Questions and answers

The Climate Action Stokesley and Villages group are promoting ways to reduce, reuse and recycle in the local area.

Reduce waste through, for example: identifying shops that will allow customers to take their own containers to be filled and promoting water bottle refilling.

Find out more about the new plastic free shop in Stokesley by watching the video Mike Newton, a group member, put together.

Sharing through, for example:

  • does somebody you know already have it? See if they would be happy for you to borrow it. You are both then going a bit further for our planet.
  • CASaV is building a virtual Share Shed, we know some people who are willing to lend some of their things – have a look at what’s there – CASaV Share Shed and click to request a loan.

Reuse through, for example:

Repair through, for example:

  • identifying businesses or individuals who undertake repairs and maintenance of household items
  • take your things to a repair cafe – https://repaircafe.org/en/
  • watch this space for CASaV repair cafe details

Recycle through, for example:

Litter picking

If you are interested in litter picking in the Great Ayton area then the Parish Council has equipment that can be borrowed which makes the job easier. Contact us for more details.

Key documents/links