May’s Waste Thoughts – 2025

Our next Zoom meeting is on Tuesday 10th June 7pm – Please contact simongibbon@casav.uk for further details.

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

  • Waste:
    • NYC’s new recycling bins are already going out in Ryedale
    • Green Party Councillors have requested that NYC reviews its waste strategy
    • RCBC is reviewing whether to support the planned multi-council incinerator in Redcar, in the meantime should NYC move to turning waste into biofuel
    • Of course if we don’t produce the waste then it doesn’t need burning or landfilling, more should be going on at the other end of the waste pyramid to reduce waste generated
    • There is considerable objection to the multi-council incinerator planned in Redcar – lots of information on the pros and cons of such energy from waste plants
  • Plastics:
    • All synthetic fabrics loose microplastics when washed, now you can fit a filter to your washing machine to stop these microplastics getting into rivers and seas
    • Every week we hear more damage that microplastics are doing
    • Our local greengrocers help us reduce plastic usage by buying fruit and vegetables unwrapped, reusing containers etc.
  • Reduce / Reuse / Recycle / Circularity:
    • Middlesbrough’s computer reuse initiative Furbdit has restarted with new funding, also looking to find out more about Reboot the North Yorkshire equivalent
    • Lots that can be done with old pallets from mud kitchens to compost heaps to garden furniture and much more
    • Do you want more refill opportunities locally?
    • Would you like to help really reduce waste locally, then we are looking for volunteers to get our Give or Take events going
    • Already 250 items examined by our Repair Cafes this year, get in touch if you are able to help
  • Textiles:
    • Crutch Outreach a charity in Northallerton will accept things like old bedding which other charities don’t
    • One person’s solution to unsustainable products at end of life is to send them back to the manufacturer
  • Buildings:
    • All new house will have solar panels from 2027
    • Much talk of house needing to be more energy efficient, but they all need to be more water efficient
  • Food:
    • Home composting reduces miles travelled and gives you great compost as opposed to garden waste or food waste collection
    • NYC does not need to introduce separate food waste collection until 2043
    • Bread and potatoes are 2 of the most wasted food stuffs, so read our D&S Climate Column in September to find ways to reduce waste
  • CASaV Wide
    • Action on Climate Emergency Settle not only hosted Mike Berners-Lee to talk about his great book on the need for truth, but also have some great things going on around Settle
    • We don’t just have a climate crisis but we have interlinked crises in biodiversity, population, pollution, food, disease and energy, we need to tackle them all
    • If the world was more equal than all of the polycrisis would be less severe
    • Eco-thrift Fair at Newcomen Methodist Church on Saturday 17th May 2-4pm

Actions

  • Tracey to provide information on how plastics are recycled and what they are recycled into.
  • Tracey to provide contact for Reboot (North Yorkshire tech recycling) if available.
  • Anne and Helen to explore creating an article for the climate column on reducing bread and potato waste for September.
  • Kate contact Geoff Jacques about Eco-church as a topic for D&S Climate Column
  • Fred to provide details on the eco-thrift event in Redcar.
  • All to consider questions for a potential Facebook survey with Tindalls on refill products and implement the survey – email your ideas to Simon Gibbon (simongibbon@casav.uk).
  • Simon to confirm details for the upcoming shows in Bilsdale and Kilsdale before the next meeting.
  • All please contact Kate Gibbon (kategibbon@casav.uk) if you or any friends are able to volunteer to help with setting up Give or Take events.

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 13th May 2025 CASaV Waste Group

Updates

Tracey

NYC Waste is currently very busy currently with the delivery of new recycling bins in Rydale – NYC News – one bin for paper and card and one for mixed recycling, collections for these new bins will begin in the third week of June. There is ongoing public engagement to explain the new service, which is a significant change for Rydale residents who previously used boxes and bags for recycling. Bin delivery is occurring over a 10-week period, involving approximately 46,000 bins across Rydale. Opinions are mixed, with some people finding the bins too large (240L the same size as Hambleton’s current recycling bins). Collections for each bin are every four weeks, resulting in a recycling collection (alternating bins) every fortnight.

The rollout of these new bins is happening in Rydale first, then Richmond, and potentially Hambleton next year, over a three-year period. The introduction of these bins involves cost savings because standard refuse vehicles can be used for collection, eliminating the need for specialist vehicles used for curbside sorting with boxes and bags. All refuse crews are moving to a 4-day working week. This has started in Harrogate and will be implemented next in Richmondshire, then Hambleton. Residents in Hambleton may receive letters informing them if their collection day is changing.

The NYC is not introducing food waste collection due to an extended contract with Allerton Waste Recovery Park that runs until 2043. This contract allows for the extraction of organic waste. This position is seen as advantageous, allowing the council to observe and learn from other areas implementing food waste collection and avoid potential procurement problems for new vehicles and bins/caddies.

Joy

We get great compost from our mixture of food waste and garden waste over the past year. Composting at home is always the best way as it reduces travel distance and allows for composting a wider range of materials. Council garden waste bins are still considered a good option and for some materials the higher temperature that are achieved in industrial composting are an advantage.

Kate

Attended a talk by Mike Berners-Lee about his new book “A Climate of Truth” in Settle – https://climateoftruth.co.uk/.

Inspiring to see the activities of the Settle climate action group (Action on Climate Emergency Settle – ACE Settle), particularly their use of the local Methodist church which has achieved Eco Churches silver status. Lots of recycling containers in the church, a super garden with garden furniture made from old pallets and lots encouragement of planet-friendly actions.

Exploring an article on Eco-Churches, thinking about Geof Jacques to write the article.

Furbdit, a project in Middlesbrough that refurbishes and donates old technology (laptops, computers) to those in need, has secured new funding and had a relaunch event. Should we promote Furbed and potentially use our repair cafes as collection points? Should also investigate Reboot North Yorkshire’s equivalent.

Spent today successfully repairing a 1930’s monkey toy.

Pete

When my son first went to Australia he started a business making mud kitchens from pallets – (you can even make your own – guide). Personally trying to use pallets, there is a real difficulty removing the nails from pallets. There must be a huge global waste of wood from pallets.

Should we be campaigning for pallets to be assembled with screws?

Lots of other suggestions for what to do with old pallets from other people in these notes.

David Hugill

Received a letter from the Green Party in NYC requesting a review of the waste strategy (2006-2026 Waste Strategy), raised this with the assistant director, who agrees work is needed to increase the recycling rate especially now that collections are harmonised. The Green Party is concerned about the lack of food waste collection. NYC have dispensation as the Allerton Waste Recovery Park contract runs until 2043.

Tristan Learoyd, a Redcar and Cleveland council member, approached me about a new incinerator in RCBC area and how this would potentially impact the viability of Allerton Park Incinerator. Interested in the idea of producing biofuel from waste, suggest this needs to be explored. Omni Waste Refinery in Zaragoza in Spain has interesting technology should CASaV Waste Group be looking into this? Omni technology basically heats the waste to produce gaseous products which can be made into a biofuel and a waste which traps heavy metal contaminants in a non-leachable aggregate.

On matter what technology exists it is still essential to focus on the waste pyramid (reduce, reuse, repair, recycle, …), with emphasis on the need for stronger incentives for waste reduction. Waste prevention should be a key part of any future NYC strategy.

In North Yorkshire some of the garden waste goes to Dromonby Bridge Farm (Seymour) who shred/processes garden waste and then spreads it on land.

David Blundell

Almost every week there is a new article with a new problem caused by microplastics. Concerning about microplastics affecting cognitive function, examples of animals forgetting behaviours, for example honeybee’s memories. In the past, end-of-life for plastic products was not considered during development. It is to be hoped that new material development now includes this consideration.

This highlight the importance of reduction of all plastics, given that only about 10% of plastics ever made have been recycled, and leakage occurs even with recycling.

About 30% of microplastics come from clothes fibres flushed into the water system during clothes washing. There are starting to be products which claim to help tackle some issues of microplastic, for example filters for washing machines to capture microfibers/microplastics – Samsung produce a Less Microfiber Filter and Cleaner Seas produce the Indi.

In “A Climate of Truth” Mike Berners-Lee’s introduces the concept of a polycrisis where climate, energy, population, food, biodiversity, pollution (including plastics), and disease are interconnected issues. Berners-Lee sees lack of truth being the key issue we need to tackle in order to address the polycrisis, from stopping companies greenwashing, to media platforming liars, to politicians promising infinite growth while reducing pollution and improving biodiversity, …

In “Just Earth” Tony Juniper covers many of the same issues showing how lack of equality is blocking many of the solutions to the polycrisis.

Wendy

Solar panels are set to become mandatory on most new homes by 2027, citing a Guardian article.

Great old book, “Go M.A.D. (Go make a difference): 365, Daily Ways to Save the Planet” published in 2001 had with numerous waste-saving tips that are often still not widely adopted.

Water saving tips – siphons out cold bath water (when no scented products are used) for watering the garden etc.., saving kitchen rinsing water and shower warm-up water – have a bucket by the shower ready to take it.

Many houses capture rainwater whether in butts in the garden or in tanks for use to flush toilets, but few houses capture greywater, hopefully in future houses will be designed to be both be energy and water efficient, even with heat recovery from the greywater.

Jenny

Experimentation with using sheep’s wool around plant bases to prevent evaporation after watering seems to be more effective than mineralised straw mulch (“Streulch”) and less appealing to birds, of course compost also helps retain moisture.

An alternative to turning waste into biofuel, several groups (Korean group, FERA Science) are working on feeding insects on organic waste and then uses the insects as feed for animals, to make “sustainable meat”.

Great that Stokesley has two greengrocers who help plastic waste reduction, by giving you option to buy unwrapped vegetables and some shops are now even leaving cauliflower leaves on if customers ask, highlighting that small requests can lead to change.

Anne

Great to see a new housing development in Middlesbrough with solar panels visible on all houses’ roofs.

Regarding pallets, she saw a special tool called a ‘pallet wrecker’ or ‘similar’pallet buster’, described as a wide-bottomed crowbar, designed to help break them apart. Not sure how much damage is done to the wood.

With Helen Herring we are considering writing an article for the Stockton and Darlington newsletter on ways to reduce the waste of potatoes and bread, noting they are among the top three most wasted foods nationally, to aim for publication in September.

Caryn Loftus has been into Tindalls in Stokesley and they are willing to expand their refill product range and are keen to conduct a Facebook survey to gauge community interest in specific products.

Gill

Church House (also known as Crutch Outreach) near Northallerton (66 Romany Road), are a charity that assists homeless and struggling individuals. They gratefully accept donations, including bedding (which charity shops sometimes refuse) and clothes. They provide clothes free of charge from a rack.

Fred

Actively campaigning against the new incinerator planned for South Bank and having a table of pros and cons on the Guisborough Eco Group Blog. The incinerator is for multiple north east councils, but Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has delayed its decision on whether to be involved or not, if RCBC pull out then the whole project may well fold as there will not be enough waste to make it commercially viable.

After the meeting Simon set Google Gemini to put together background around our choice of waste disposal methods:

  • Question to Gemini 2.5Pro Deep Research – “Produce a report with pros and cons of using an incinerator with energy recovery to dispose of UK municipal waste.”- Report – EfW UK Municipal Waste Report
  • Questions to Gemini 2.5Pro Deep Research – “Write a report which highlight that there are a number of advantages to a properly designed and managed landfill as opposed to an energy from waste facility – EfW has huge carbon footprint, pollution from smoke stack, ash is non zero waste, any materials which are burnt can’t be reused, whereas landfill materials can be recovered at some future time, burying of plastics means they can mined in future, removal of organics before landfilling reduced methane which can be captured, find other advantages of landfills.” – Report – Advantage of modern landfills over EfW
  • Question to Gemini 2.5Pro Deep Research – “Write a comprehensive report opposing the local energy for waste plant (450,000 tonnes per year) that is being proposed for Redcar in the UK?” – Report – How to oppose the TVERF

I also looked at how we treat food waste.

  • Question to Gemini 2.5Pro Deep Research – “Produce a report with pros and cons of extracting organic matter from mixed UK municipal waste (destined for an incinerator with energy recovery) to feed an anaerobic digester rather than providing residents with a separate food collection service so that organic matter is kept out of municipal waste.” – Report – Organic Waste Treatment Comparison

Positive trends like businesses moving towards recyclable packaging and shops trialling refill stations (Ocado, Aldi), hoping this reduces waste needing to be burned and Ocado’s trial of reusable food containers. The new Rydale recycling bins’ bases are made of upto 90% recycled plastic

The poor record of plastic recycling has created public disillusionment. Is there a list of plastics recycled and what they are recycled into.

Action: Tracey offered to compile a list of recycled plastic and what they become.

Do home composting bins work better with holes?

The water stick, from a Northumbria Water free water efficiency kit (website), are great to gauge when to water plants, stops both over and under watering.

Guisborough Repair Cafe want to make draught excluders, so looking for advice from experience Stokesley and Village Repair Cafe sewing group (Kate) on what materials to use for stuffing door draft excluders. Kate advised using low-flammability fabrics like cotton or wool, avoiding polyester. Suitable stuffing includes cut-up offcuts, old tights, socks, towels, or sheets. Sewn up jean legs make great outers. Kate also mentioned making shopping bags from old cotton fabrics following the Morsbags design (with strong handles) as another upcycling project.

Eco Thrift Fair at Newcomen Church in Mersey Road, Redcar Saturday 17th May 2-4 pm. The church is working towards Eco Church bronze status. The event will include repair activities and a discussion station about waste sorting, more details in poster above.

Simon

Interesting Guardian article about extended producer responsibility, suggesting manufacturers and retailers should take responsibility for the end-of-life of products, citing an example of a non-recyclable polycotton sheet being returned to the Sainsbury as the owner could find no way of sustainably disposing of the sheet, the only option being burning waste which is not sustainable due to pollution.

Matter Arising

Clothes Swap – Saturday 27th September 2025 – St Joseph’s Church Hall, Stokesley.

Give or Take – looking for suitable venue and volunteers to help. Ann offered to help with the planned Give and Take event event. Difficulties in finding a venue were discussed, with a potential date identified in July at the Town Hall. Ann requested a “prod” to get back on planning.

Tracey offered assistance from the depot for collecting leftover items, requesting advance notice and sorted waste. The Household Waste Recycling Centre would need proper transfer notes. The amount of leftovers is uncertain, reports from Ryedale suggested not as much as feared.

Strategies for dealing with leftovers were discussed, including approaching Stokeley charity shops first. Repurposing items is preferred over just recycling. Other potential destinations mentioned were a free toy shop idea in Malton for toys, Middlesbrough charity groups for food, and the Salvation Army in Middlesbrough for household items (bedding, kitchenware) to support the homeless and those struggling. The need for volunteers to help sort was highlighted.

Action: All please contact Kate Gibbon (kategibbon@casav.uk) if you or any friends are able to volunteer to help with setting up Give or Take events.

Repair Cafes

12th April – Stokesley – including this cafe we have now dealt with over 250 items in 2025 with a 75% success rate.

17th May – Swainby – We are taking part in Big Fix 2025, so tell your friends and along with other 75 repair cafes across the UK taking part, we hope to mend even more items than last year. Plus Pete will be bringing tomato plants to the Swainby repair cafe.

14th June – Stokesley – Our Great Big Green Week Repair Cafe. This year’s Great Big Green Week theme is “Swaps can improve lives”. Why not swap throwing away unloved items for giving them a new lease of life, or swap skills with another organisation in your area. You could come tougher with neighbours in your street to swap an unloved area to one that attracts wildlife. The possibilities are endless. However every swap will add together to make a big difference.

If you or anybody you know could spare time to help at our repair cafes then we are looking for repairers, front of house team members and refershment team members. Get in touch with Simon (simongibbon@casav.uk) or fill out the sign up form – https://forms.gle/cE2gbFjGksauRsq8A

Meetings

Whole CASaV Group – Stokesley Globe 20th 7.30pm will feature Simon Bowen from Friends of the Earth discussing campaigns and how FoE supports CASaV.

AOB

Next Meeting

Tuesday 10th June 7pm – Please contact simongibbon@casav.uk for further details.