August’s Waste Thoughts – 2025

Our next Zoom meeting is on Tuesday 9th September 7pm – Please contact simongibbon@casav.uk for further details.

Full notes below, after a quick summary – follow links for the detail:

• Waste:
  • Inks on cardboard have the potential to effect composting and recycling
• Reduce / Reuse / Recycle / Circularity:
  • Repair Cafe 19th July / 9th August / 20th September
  • Clothes Swap event 27th September
  • The Sunday Times had a long profile piece on Repair Cafes highlighting the Tunbridge Wells one
• Food:
  • Too Good to Go app is more active locally
  • Plastics in contact with food
• Textiles:
  • Patchwork kits will be distributed at the Swainby Repair Cafe on 20th September
• Energy:
  • Lots of options for energy generation and storage.
• CASaV Wide
  • Bilsdale Show 30th August
  • Kildale Show 6th September

Actions

• Simon – update on risks of using plastics with food
• All – volunteers for Repair Cafe please contact Simon Gibbon – repaircafe@casav.uk
• All – volunteers for Clothes Swap please contact Jane Mercer and Jo Ackroyd – clothesswap@cassav.uk

Background – Our Monthly Waste Discussions

If you have just signed up to the Waste Group, then welcome, I hope these notes of our discussion make sense.

We meet once a month to talk about topics connected to waste and plan / report progress on our ongoing activities such as the Repair Cafes, Foodshare, Refill scheme and events such as the Bilsdale Show.  If you visit the “Thoughts on Waste” page on the CASaV website you can find all our past discussions – https://climateactionstokesleyandvillages.org/waste/thoughts-on-waste/

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Notes form 12th August 2025 CASaV Waste

The primary focus of the meeting was to discuss plans for the upcoming Billsdale (30th August) and Kildale (6th September) shows.

Previous Actions

• All – volunteers for Bilsdale (30th August) and Kildale (6th September) please contact Simon Gibbon – simongibbon@casav.uk.
  Thank you everyone who volunteered to help at the shows, lets hope for good weather.
• Simon – confirm details of Bilsdale / Kildale shows.
  Details firmed up with show organisers and details circulated.
• All – volunteers for Repair Cafe please contact Simon Gibbon – repaircafe@casav.uk.
• All – volunteers for Clothes Swap please contact Jane Mercer and Jo Ackroyd – clothesswap@casav.uk.

Shows

We are still seeking more volunteers.

Show Message & Engagement Strategy: The overall message will tie everything back to the climate and nature emergency, with a focus on reducing waste as a way to help the climate. The “single message” approach was highlighted as effective. The strategy for engagement involves attracting people via waste discussions and then introducing wider climate actions. Wandering around and talking to people is an effective way to draw them to the stand.

Planned Activities & Exhibits:

Planet over Profit: There will be cards for people to colour in and/or sign and send to decision-makers (Rishi/DEFRA). The Plant over Profit mural for colouring will also be available.

Games:

• Knockdown cans game about global warming.
• Bean bag throwing – a recycling game.
• Guess how long this will take to decompose game, ordering items by their breakdown time.

Prizes:

• Rotters have provided pencils.
• Fair-trade chocolate pollinators (ladybirds/bees for children).
• Suggestions included contacting Patagonia for a recycled fleece top or Catherine Brown for a hamper of recycled toiletries as prizes.
• How about giving prizes to those who score low in quizzes was floated to encourage conversations.

Bin Duty/Waste Focus:

• Success at previous shows engaging people while on bin duty.
• It was suggested to “hijack a bin or two” near the stand to facilitate conversations about conscious waste disposal (reduce, reuse, recycle).
• This also provides an opportunity to discuss incinerators.
• Recycling Information:
  • Leaflets from North Yorkshire County Council on recycling provision will be available.
  • Information on Redcar & Cleveland and Middlesbrough recycling schemes would also be useful, as attendees come from various areas.
  • The importance of not putting all recycling in one bin was stressed.

Simple Swaps Display: Kate has a display of physical “simple swaps” items (e.g., refillable coffee cups, wax cotton wraps instead of cling film) which she can re-use. Discussion also touched on the health implications of plastic leaching into food.

Banners: A “big banner” with the message “Earth on fire” highlighting global warming and action will be used. Expecting advertising from the Clothes Swap which will be used.

Promoting Other Activities: The stand will mention Repair Cafes and the Clothes Swap.

Farmer Engagement: It was suggested to engage farmers on the waste generated from silage bags and bale twine and to invite David Huggill (climate change champion) to the stall.

Books: The possibility of putting out books was raised.

Seeds: Wendy’s seeds or collected wildflower/Nigella seeds could be given away as freebies.

Pre-Show Briefing: Simon will send a draft briefing for the shows, including pictures of resources, to attendees in the next week, and then circulate it more widely to attract volunteers.

Updates

Fred

There is potential for printing inks on cardboard to affect composting or recyclability. Water based inks should be ok, but oil based inks are not good – Gardening Bible.

There is a lot of talk of nuclear energy, hopefully future plants will be safer and focused on electricity generation alone. Guisborough Eco Group had a talk which Jemma Joy has summarised on the blog.

Molten salt batteries are a promising long-term electricity storage solution and understand that creating seven sea-water tidal dams in the UK would produce all necessary energy, not sure this is correct, nice article here on why not many are built – The mystery of UK’s untapped tidal power.

The Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (incinerator) is still an ongoing issue as outlined here and with an Open letter from North Yorkshire Councillors re the incinerator at Allerton Waste Recycling Plant (AWRP), advising their peers in the 5 councils involved in the TVERF not to make the same mistake that North Yorkshire made.

Anne

There was a big article about Repair Cafes in The Sunday Times (August 10th) that featured the Tunbridge Wells repair cafe, noting it has over 100 volunteers and faces similar repair challenges with sealed units. Nice quote: “People sometimes compare us to The Repair Shop on television but we’re nothing like that,” says Murphy. “They don’t repair, they restore. We just try to get things going again.”

The “Too Good To Go” app is starting to become active in our area, with participation from bakeries, the Co-op, and Morrison’s in Guisborough.

Jenny

Working to avoid using plastic in contact with food, this avoids any possibility of chemicals from plastic leaching into food and removes the possibility of any impact on personal health.

Tricky to find other things to use, but slowly making progress just found “eco green living compostable freezer bags” as a non-plastic alternative for freezing food – Ethical Superstore.

Old solutions like Kilner jars are great for peanut butter.

Kate

Going to make patchwork kits from spare fabric as a special activity for the September repair cafe, hoping to teach people how to use small pieces of fabric.

Blister Pack Recycling: As larger Boots branches are now taking them, will be putting collection boxes in Stokesley and Great Ayton Libraries

Toothpaste Tube Recycling: North Yorkshire Council now recycles toothpaste tubes via doorstep collections.

Second Serving Scheme: A new initiative in Hutton Rudby encourages households to donate unused tinned/packaged goods nearing their sell-by date to help families in need.

Blue Hearts Campaign: The North Yorkshire Moors will also promote the blue hearts campaign (leaving land uncut for biodiversity) at the Kildale and Billsdale show stalls. We gave away over 40 blue hearts our Stokesley market stall and at the repair cafe. While we have none left, easy to make link to blue hearts campaign here.

Cardboard Reuse: use plain cardboard under compost tumblers or for smothering weeds.

Apple Pressing: Caryn Loftus is compiling dates for apple pressing in September and October.

Repair Community Link: A Swiss repair community connected with our Repair Cafe after seen our videos, highlighting the global reach and community aspect of circularity.

We could make more lavender bag making stand at the September repair cafe if spare lavender is donated.

Helen

It was surprisingly difficult to get people to sign the “Planet over Profit” cards in the library. Perhaps we could give people postcards to take home and sign later, and set up somewhere for them to be deposited when compelted.

It is a big challenge to get the “consume less” message across.

Matters Arising

Repair Cafes: Stokesley Repair Cafe on 9th August had a good attendance, with lots of people arriving early and then fewer people later on (statistics). The Planet over Profit campaign was highlighted and the Environment Agency attended to raise the issue of flood resilience. Next repair cafe at Swainby on 20th September.

Meetings

CASaV Group Meeting – 16th September Stokesley Library – 7.30pm

Clothes Swap – 27th September – 1pm – St Joseph’s Stokesley

AOB

Next Meeting

Tuesday 9th September 7pm – Please contact simongibbon@casav.uk for further details.