October’s Waste Thoughts – 2023

Full notes below, quick summary:

Actions:

  • All get in touch with Bridget if you would like to see Allerton Waste Recovery Park where our rubbish goes to get burnt.
  • Simon send Northallerton Climate Action contact details to Kate / Bridget
  • Simon email Tracey Flint to see if she can help on a recycling stall at Stokesley Friday Market.
  • Jenny talk to Nadia about getting some small sleeping bags for Stokesley School to measure insulating properties of.
  • Kate contact library about restarting crisp packet collection for Nite Light
  • All contact Fred if you are interested in visiting a recycling centre at South Bank.

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 upcoming 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 10th October 2023 CASaV Waste Group Meeting

Matter Arising

After Di Page of WildHarvest came to our stall at Bilsdale Show, Caryn has been in touch to see how we could get Di involved in some of our activities. Di felt that her talk on “How to make nature gardens: modelling these methods embeds true sustainability into everyday life”, she could either do it in person at a weekend or as pre-recorded video for a Tuesday night. Thought was to have the video as a taster on a Tuesday night (before Christmas), then if interest run a more public event on a weekend (next year), perhaps as part of a more general environment themed meeting.

Bridget said a couple of nature events were in the early stage of scoping – Gardening for Wildlife and Gardeners’ question time ( how about Martin Allen or Alan Delamore (Strikes) as panelists).

Updates

Wendy

Guardian article on how Brecon now offers lots of ways of recycling with rewards – QR codes – sign up get 10p per time- basically an enhanced deposit return scheme. Lets people recycle in normal places, the shops they visit.

Staithes Festival – lots of people using upcyled materials: Caroline Brompton – she uses surplus resin from surfboard manufacture (Surfite) multi-coloured lump from and sea glass to make jewellery; Feral Metal – organic sculptures made from old metal teas pots – punched patterns with lights inside; Wendy May – paintings with natural materials.

The EU Banned Glitter on 15th October, it is not obvious that the UK has a date to do this, despite the recent ban on single use plastics (with exceptions). However, many UK shops have stopped selling glitter and many music festivals have banned glitter, others are pushing biodegradable glitter.

Jenny

New job working with NHS to make GPs greener, one useful contact could be Rachel Stancliffe the founder of the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare in Oxfordshire.

Hull and York Medical School has a trial going to ensure optimum use of inhalers in the treatment of CoPD – Fanfirst – this will both benefit the users of inhalers and reduce the number of inhalers going to waste.

Bridget

Trip to the Allerton Waste Recovery Park is being planned for the end of November.
Action: All – get in touch with Bridget if you would like to see Allerton Waste Recovery Park where our rubbish goes to get burnt.

Guardian Article asked the question of whether is it truly possible for fossil fuel companies to go green?

The Northallerton climate groups are running an Eco-festival on Saturday October 28th, CASaV will have a stall highlighting repair as Northallerton would like to start a Repair CAfe.
Action: Simon send Northallerton Climate Action contact details to Kate / Bridget

Anne

The Stokesley Recycling Centre has posters up stressing that they do not accept wrapping paper or glitter.

Should CASaV have a Stall at a Friday market telling people the things they should and shouldn’t recycle? Basically helping to reduce contamination of recycling streams so that more material can be successfully recycled – stopping wishcycling i.e. putting things in to recycle just because you wish they could be recycled.
Action: Simon email Tracey Flint to see if she can help on a recycling stall at Stokesley Friday Market.

Why does an Olive oil bottle have the picture of somebody throwing it in the bin, i.e. “bin it” rather than recyle it? Is there a reason or is it any either or?

Stokesley Friday market has a rape seed oil refill stall so no need to buy new bottle of olive oil.

For the Stokesley December Repair Cafe we could have a lucky dip bucket with New Year’s resolutions people can pick out.

The delay in roll out of EPR (extended producer responsibility) means that for example there is no financial penalty for meat containers from M&S saying not recyclable no such things as away, so EPR would put give a financial incentive for suppliers to move from not recycled and difficult to recycle materials to easy to recycle, helping to reduce waste.

Chris Jones Stokesley School is going to have students test insulating properties of crisp bag sleeping bags, so keen to get hold of mini bags they can test.
Action: Jenny talk to Nadia about getting some small sleeping bags for Stokesley School.

Chris is keen for competitions that would inspire the students, perhaps Food group related such as: vegan recipes judged for most sustainable.

Kate

DEFRA – Bridget and Kate last week protested at the York DEFRA officce as the 2023 State of Nature Report was launched – protests also happened at DEFRA offices in Newcastle, Reading and London. They talked to staff going in / out, the staff came out too to sell them cakes for MacMillan. There were lots of different groups attending, including Rebbeca from Osmotherley who is setting up a climate group.

Draught Excluder Workshop run at the Globe as part of Green Library week – upcycling. Will make more draught excluders at the Repair Cafe in the Globe on 14th October. They are very effective when stuffed with fabric offcuts, flat pillow stuffing, stuffing. Also made two for Stokesley Town Hall for the George Carter room – with his name on them.

Been contacted by South Tees Hospital Trust‘s Laura Hallet who is waste and sustainability manager, she is looking for activites staff can get involved in, so perhaps running craft upcycling session at James Cook or something else.

Helped at Guisborough Eco-group‘s first sewing Repair Cafe held in the Methodist Church Hall.

Nite Light CIC are collecting metallised crisp bags which need to have been carefully opened by pulling apart not ripping, so that they can be welded together again to form sleeping bags when combined with the plastic sheeting from banana boxes,150 are ironed into sleeping bag. Could Stokesley Library reinstate their crisp bag collecting which Jenny could take crisp packets to Nite Light.
Action: Kate contact library about restarting crisp packet collection for Nite Light

Climate Action Middlesbrough are now collecting plastic bottle lids as are Stokesley Undertakers.

Simon

Repair Cafe related: Successful Swainby Repair Cafe held on 16th September; then 23rd September Festival of Thrift SaVRC will be helped the Star and Shadow Fix-it cafe run a repair cafe in Billingham Library, lots of people were helped, sadly the second day had to be cancelled due to forecast high winds, but Adam Wilson has a great blog item on the things he repaired; 5th October mini Repair Cafe as part of Green Libraries Week; Kate and Simon are mentoirng a group in Saltburn to set up a Repair Cafe they have scheduled it for 1st weekend in February; 14th October the Globe Stokesley; 18th November Swainby Village Hall.

New Scienist article: a group reckon they can make hydrogen and graphene from waste plastic, all exciting but while if graphene be sold could help economics, if much energy is needed then it could still generate CO2 than the hydrogen could save.

Fred is organising trips to see a Recycling Centre in South Bank in the next couple of weeks.
Action: All – contact Fred if you are interested in visiting a recycling centre at South Bank.

Actions from last meeting

Bridget will arrange trip to Allerton Waste Recovery Park
Planned for end of November

All contact Bridget if you want to visit Allerton Waste Recovery Park
Spaces left

Simon suggest method to allow climate book sharing
Lots of interest just trying to find best method.

Pete look into arranging a waste group visit to a waste treatment plant, likely to be Bran Sands
Set up for school visits not for adult visits.

Simon look into arranging PAT testing training
Anybody who understand the principles behind PAT testing, AC electricity and insulation can undertake the PAT training even taking the test, but you would need to pay to get a certificate once you have passed – https://www.onlinepattestingcourse.co.uk/

AOB

Matter arising

Tessa Whitwell has just opened her upcycle furnished ski lodge in the French Alps, using items such as Synsisal synthetic sisal on the floors of the Fat Fox Lodge in Morzine.

CASaV are looking into holding an energy event porabably with a major foucs around retaining heat in our homes. So making draught excluders (shirt arms/jean legs with old pillow stuffing) anything to help people cut their energy consumption, fireplace balloons to block draught. What can we learn from CAB mobile vans with freebies, York Community Energy/Bristol Community Energy, low cost / alternative technology approaches to warm area in house, event all about low energy homes, insulation, role of dehumidifiers, retrofitting, insulated curtains – velcroed to walls at edges, foil behind radiators, secondary double glazing…. CASaV website already has links to a number of websites with details of how to save heat.…

Recent online / physical meetings

Thirsk Ecochurch had a lecture from John Daniels about life after fossil fuels – you can watch a recording on YouTube.

AOB

Reclaim Our Sea Update – investigations still ongoing, turns out there was an error in PD Port’s 2015-2025 maintenance dredging license which only mentioned 150,000 tonnes instead of the 2,900,000 tonnes that are actually dredged, this was only corrected in a variation approved 2022. It appears that dumping 10x as much potentially toxic material in the sea has no effect on the marine life as far as the UK Government’s regulator is concerned.

Next meeting

Tuesday 14th November 7.00pm