June’s Waste Thoughts – 2024

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

• Waste:
  • Microplastics are now in all of us having been found in every placenta and testicale examined.
  • Rubbish talk by Tracey Flint all about what happens with our waste and notes from Jackie.
• Clothes:
  • Opportunities to both reuse and if too far gone then recycle shoes
• Recycle / Reuse / Circularity:
  • It looks like we can make a zero carbon cement using the demolition rubble, just this could eliminate 7.5% of global carbon eliminated.
  • Fuel from poo would allow space craft to go further.
  • Glastonbury Festival not only has music, but will also have green hydrogen from farm poo.
• Food:
  • Many of us are now using Crowdfarming, getting great fruit and helping farmers to sell the fruit that supermarkets don’t want.
  • Not sure how we can work together with farmers to improve our climate and nature.
• Repair Cafes:
  • More helpful stuff we need to provide to encourage people to attend our repair cafes.
  • Successful Richmond Repair and Repurposing Cafe 9th June
  • Our next Repair Cafe is 20th July in Swainby
• CASaV Wide
  • Busy Great Big Green Weeik, GBGW, stall at Great Ayton fair, Repair Cafe in Stokesley pledgehogs displays
  • Homegrown Food Festival on Sunday 23rd June in Northallerton as well as food a focus on efficient water use.
  • Guisborough Green Gathering was a well attended event vegan food and opportunities to learn and find out about all the green activites around Guisborough
  • 6-7 July East Rounton Village will host the Roots: Celebration of nature exhibition with lots of craft work on display
  • Can we use churches more to help the planet?

Actions:

• Jackie send rubbish talk notes to Simon
• Simon put rubbish talks up on site – 240603ECO – Rubbish Talk.
• Simon – incorporate repair cafe dashboard data on the web page.
• Anne – send Refill stickers to Fred
• All – please let Simon know if you able to volunteer to spend some time helping on our Bilsdale Show stall.

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 11th June 2024 CASaV Waste Group

Updates

Pete

Trying to use up last years seeds, not sure how successful this will be.

Surrounded by farmers where we live, but not sure how to approach them around climate / nature issues as difficult not to become a conflict.

Jenny

Crowd farming – while the orange skin is not like supermarket oranges, they are really juicy oranges. Also sponsored a mango tree – so get 2 boxes of mangoes a year.

David

Crowd farming – really enjoying nectarines, great while a bit small.

New Scientist article about zero carbon cement, basically turning old cement into new cement, by crushing building rubble and using as flux for steel made in an electric arc furnace. The flux floats on the steel and once removed can be crushed to make cement. Getting close to real product.

Wendy

The Green Propulsion Laboratory on the new lagoon in Venice is working on a range of projects to rehabilitate the environment and generate energy. Using algae to capture CO2 and bacterium to convert human waste into fuel.

Farming today covered how while the farm where Glastonbury is held have been using an anaerobic digester to make biomethane for a long time, now they are looking at using using microwave energy to split methane to produce green hydrogen and graphene.

New film “6 inches of soil” tells the story of 3 young farmers moving over to regenerative agriculture.

Jackie

Crowd farming – sponsored a mango tree with a friend so we share 2 boxes a year.

I live in Over Silton, I am part of the Enivronment and Climate Osmotherley and have lived in the Budhist centre in Darlington, so I am used to making do.

Fred

My new tennis shoes state they have 5% recycled content in the sole. Showing how reuse is far better, so great that Salvation Army old shoes and will reuse them, while Clarks Shoe shops will take any old shoes for recycling. They pay to have them recycled.

I am keen on reusing bottles and jars, good that a local company that supplies alternative medicines is asking for bottles to be sent back, but just recycle rather than reuse.

Asparagus can be grown from seed, but takes a long time, 2-3 years then wait 2 years to eat, you also need male and female – so may not have both, if you find red berries in the autumn that is a female plant.

What Planet are You One in Guisborough has now closed, but Sarah Leigh Gallagher has started Guisborough Refill as part of Tony Gallagher Hairdressing Salon, she sells refill household and personal care refills. Also Guisborough Health Food Store does some refilling products.

Kate

Great Big Green Week – Displays with Pledgehogs are being placed in the Globe, Discovery Centre, Hutton Rudby Hub and Labman. Pledgehogs are cardboard hedgehogs with spines to write your pledges on. There was also a pledgehog on the stall at Great Ayton, sadly Sunak didn’t come over to write his pledge. The displays on have actions you can take – focused around the swaps theme of GBGW.

The successful first Richmond Repair and Repurposing Cafe happened on Sunday 9th June. The repurposing was run by Youth North Yorkshire (YNY), who were running repurposing activities / upcycling for 11-16year olds. Could we use them to do something similar?

Environment and Climate Osmotherley had a Rubbish Talk on Monday 10th June, at which Tracey Flint covered not just what happens to waste / recycling locally but also touched on the national policies which impact us. Jackie’s notes on the meeting are here – 240603ECO – Rubbish Talk.

Action: Jackie send rubbish talk notes to Simon
Action: Simon put rubbish talks up on site – 240603ECO – Rubbish Talk.

Northallerton Home Grown Food Festival Sunday 23rd June – theme “Flowing together for clean water”, aims to highlight the importance of efficient water use, the reuse of grey water at home and the purification of our waterways. Lots going on with demonstrations from Yorkshire chefs at the Food Theatre, kids workshops at the Kids Kitchen and the Festival Park with everything from mini beast mansions to Incredible Edible Northallerton.

On 6-7th July at East Rounton Village Hall there is the Roots: Celebration of Nature Exhibition, not only will the Happy Hookers be showcasing their winter crochet creations, but they will nature activities, live craft demonstrations and a vibrant makers market.

Sadly everyday we learn more about the dangers of microplastics, now we know there are microplastics in every placenta and testicle, and they impact our hormones and even cell division. The New Scientist good environment news highlighted work which has shown that microplastics in water are reduced by boiling, as they form complexes with limescale, so get stuck on the inside of your kettle.

Saturday 8th June the Guisborough Green Gathering had a great range of informative stall, super vegan food and children’s activities. Surfers Against Sewage are doing great work both highlight how plastics get into our local environment, but also reducing plastic getting into the environment. They have great packs to get children involved.

Joe and Jenny have kindly donated the banners from the Joe Cornish Gallery banners and combined with bright fabrics donated by Barbara Agar, I am planning new banners for CASaV / Repair Cafe events.

Lorna

It would be great to make Swainby Church more of an eco-centre / forum. Already have groups such as Guides / Brownies how use facilities, could we engage with them on green things or encourage them to do green things. Already regularly put things at the back of the church from difficult to recycle items to posters. The church is a small community but some very pro-eco friendly, while the opportunity to engage the others don’t want to rewild. Open to requests to do things, please ask and see if we can help? Building which is open everyday, working well for food bank collections, recycling proving more challenging.

Suggestions: mowed vs unmowed areas of the green space around the church, one of CASaV eco-dsiplays with pledgehog, walk/cycle to church services. Learn from what Geoff Jacques is doing in Great Ayton.

As I have a nephew who farms in Northern Ireland, I realise farmers can feel pushed out by the climate people, not sure how we bridge this divide, but need to keep talking. Jemma Bell who farms in New Zealand is visiting her family, she is a regenerative farmer / growing plants – but also livestock farmer. Is it time for another farmer talks session as we had previously in Stokesley? Also locally Marion Rogers is keen to make her farming more sustainable.

Anne

Great local oven repairer to add to list of repairers.

Could we make the Repair Cafe more effective by having a list of things that go wrong with electrical items that we fix and the things you could do yourself, i.e. have you emptied your vacuum cleaner. We could take the data from dashboard and make this more visible – https://dashboard.repairmonitor.org/?cafe=401&country=gb&year=all

Action: Simon – incorporate repair cafe dashboard data on the web page.

Action: Anne – send Refill stickers to Fred

Simon

R&CBC takes good condition electrical items gets them reused and if necessary repaired.

A local environment and nature hustings is happening on Friday in Osmotherley, find the details and a recording here.

Repair Cafe: D&S article talking about parts / replacements etc.. would be helpful, interest in refashioning / repurposing, also upskilling, but not alterations as businesses exist for these, particularly relevant for sewing area, perhaps a wedding dress to table cloth.

Matters Arising

SaVRC Repair Cafes: 18th May Swainby, 8th June Stokesley, 20th July Swainby. In Stokesley were also “mending in public”, with Joanna and Jane sat on a bench sewing, great advert for the repair cafe.

Other Repair Cafes: 9th June Richmond Repair Cafe, 22nd June Middlesbrough Repair Cafe.

3rd-4th August Osmotherley Show will have ECO Stall.

AOB

Bilsdale Show – 31st August 2024 – CASaV will once again help with recycling and have a stall.

Action: All – please let Simon know if you able to volunteer to spend some time helping on our Bilsdale Show stall.

Next Meeting – 9th July