Pete: Building waste can be recylced as gravel (sieved / cleaned) – effectively downcycled, obvious better not to rebuild but rather refurbish, however use of building waste to replace gravel reduces gravel extraction with the consequent energy / environmental costs.
Many items are not designed for repair, as shown by number of Dyson vacuum cleaners at tip, however shops such as Rollos will repair/ supply spare parts for common appliances see CASaV recycle / repair list.
Good news from this summer manufacturers will be legally obliged to make spare parts available to consumers amazingly for the first time – Electrical appliances to be cheaper to run and last longer with new standards – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Hambleton does not allow you to take items from the dump, so you can’t do like BBC’s “Money for nothing” – BBC One – Money for NothingRecent Channel 4 Despatches highlighted who energy from waste is not great either environmentally or economically – The Dirty Truth About Your Rubbish: Dispatches Monday 8th March, 8pm, Channel 4 | Channel 4 – with large CO2 release and council stuck in contracts needing to supply waste to burn.
Anne: Valerie Sonley – is going to do a Leven LIfe programme for Radio Leven to find out more about what happens to our waste and asking our question to YorWaste who runs Hambleton recycling and refuse centres and collection.
There was a very successful seed giveaway at last Saturday’s farmers’ market, but what can be done with plastic flower pots – probably made of PVC, so not recycled.
David: IT recycling – Globe Library is taking computers for school kids, but really want tablets / laptops – so what do you do about desktop / tower computers?
An interesting webinar on 25th March about plastics recycling on Teesside – 2 plants one aimed at PET bottles and the other at mixed plastics – if we are to create a circular economy then such plants will be essential – 25-03-21 Introduction to Advanced Plastics Recycling Technologies on Teesside – IChemE
Val: Questions for the “Dump” Interview: How can we help? What makes your job most difficult? Where can we get garden compost? What can’t you recycle? What can you recycle? unexpected things for example paint aerosol cans, used cooking oil. Where do they fit in Reduce / Reuse / Recycle? Regenerative economics – government is going to enact increased supplier responsibility – are you seeing this? Could YorWaste get waste back to suppliers?
Also plan to interview Simon on CASaV waste group – he plan to highlight food waste, Hessian bag competition, recycle list on CASaV site, our aim to minimise waste.
Any ideas for simple waste minimisation tip as a soundbite for Radio Leven interview?
Update on Coop Food Share / food waste – progress
Stokesley School are now regularly collecting food from the Great Ayton Coop for distrubtion by Hambleton Food Share. Meaning 3 of the 21 potential food slots are now being used, we are working to get more of the other 18 food collection slots used (3 stores 7 days a week).
In discussion with Coop it became clear that Coop require registration of end users rather than enablers (as CASaV is), for this and a number of other reasons the process is not simple, so its great that Stokesley School are reducing this source of food waste now.
To progress more leftover food use, Jenny arranged for end users to register – Stokesley School (Hambleton Foodshare) and Investors in People and Culture – IPC, expecting Ayton Food Bank and Middlesbrough Food Depot to also register.
The Coop food share system is set up for a store to register with only 1 organisation to collect the food, ideally late evening 7 days a week. Once the organisation is registered then the store contacts them to arrange a fixed schedule – Coop want this to be after 8pm.
Stokesley School are registered for Great Ayton / Stokesley High Street / Stokesley Springfield but are only able to collect in the morning 3 days a week, Great Ayton store was able to accommodate this arrangement but neither Stokesley store was as a temporary manager is currently in place, hope to revisit this when a permanent manager is appointed.
Changes are also happening at Stokesley school, so the present arrangements will be reviewed after Easter.
In meantime we are encouraging both Ayton Food Bank and Middlesbrough Food Depot to complete registration with Coop Foodshare, while we draw up a rota of organisations that could make use of all 21 food collection slots.
After Easter we plan to communicate with Coop Foodshare, agreeing on the principle of multiple group collections from each store but with a fixed timetable. Several groups will do their own collections, so role of CASaV will be co-ordinate such a timetable and there may also be a need to find some volunteers to collect.
Sorry a bit of long update, but just not simple, thanks to Jenny for keeping at it.
How do we deal with food wasted in the home?
Olio – good idea but not for everyone – how do we help?
In simple terms there 3 elements – peeling, left on the plate, goes off in storage.
Peelings – some are unavoidable – pumpkin rind – so probably generally ok to go to compost – are there tips here to make a difference?
Left on plate – can we suggest ways to minimise this?
Goes off in storage – once again can be give tips to reduce overbuying, management at home, how to extend life?
Reasons – overbuying typically bread, readymade salads, milk, …..Does the one big shop / one weekly delivery make this worse?
Could we get a stall in Coop on food waste – helpful sheets on reducing food waste and general waste?
In future all council will need to collect food waste – likely to go as digestate to an anaerobic digester to produce bio-gas.
Lockdowns and waste
Was our waste reduced / increased? What can we learn from lockdown to reduce waste in future?
Good learned better planning fewer trips to supermarket / deliveries
Bad online shopping comes with lots of packaging.
Hessian Bag Competition
Jenny has worked with Rounton’s coffee and the Only Weigh to set up a competition to find innovative uses for the hessian bags that coffee beans are supplied in. Great way to get people to think about reusing and hence reducing waste.
Hambleton Zero Carbon
A discussion of Hambleton DC’s Climate Change Policy / Strategy and Action Plan which is title as zero carbon, revealed the plan as being about reducing rather than achieving zero carbon. Reviewing the 11 waste actions specifically we felt they were just not ambitious enough and largely were what we thought the council would already be doing:
W1 Promote the principles of the Waste Hierarchy both to residents and in-house WASS
W2 Ensuring our contracts enable householder to recycle as much as feasible WASS
W3 Maximising participation of recycling and waste reduction through education and awareness WASS
W4 Increased participation in Garden Waste composting through affordable service WASS
W5 Free of charge advice and education to Schools and Community Groups WASS
W6 Involvement with national campaigns such as Love Food Hate Waste and WRAP WASS
W7 In-house – Segregation of waste for recycling, mixed recycling, printer cartridges, crisp packets etc ALL
W8 Print Reduction – Less paper used, less waste. ALL
W9 The move to emails and online services for elections, taxi driver newsletters, green waste licences. Committee agenda/reports etc Reduces the demand for paper and postal services ALL
W10 Re-use of items such as folders, cardboard boxes, toner bottles, polling booths etc ALL
W11 Electric bin lifts fitted to RCv fleet for reduced fuel consumption WASS
W1 – basically reduce the amount of waste in the first place is key, but need more than promotion – education, incentivisation, leading by visible example, ….. W3 – will support W1 – the rest are either rather wooly or internally focused on council activities.
To align with the zero carbon strapline, these need to eliminate rather than reduce.
At least they need to have quantifiable targets – how much reduction in waste, how much increase in % recycled, how much participation.
Feedback from recent webinars / broadcasts
Shipping’s Dirty Secret – File on 4 – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000sqlt – our global trades results in old ships being recycled for the lowest cost in environmentally unsafe ways on the beaches of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Waste not Want not – Science in Action – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3cszh1s – small scale way to reduce waste “Veena Sahajwalla of the University of New South Wales explained how she is creating small scale factories that can use discarded objects such as ceramics and textiles to make new products.” Reminds me of Roman city where just outside were industries which used the waste from the city to make products to sell in the city – minimising waste miles.
Ready for a zero waste lifestyle – WorklifeIndia – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct1c1m – rather than aspiring for our wasteful lifestyle, some people in India are looking to skip this stage, great to learn from other regions.
The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) are an aspirational route out of the mess we are in – Project 17 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvfr/episodes/player) where 17 17 year olds each look at the realities of one of the SDGs in their community / country, I have only listened to 1 so far, but inspiring to hear how solar energy has given a school electric light for the first time and is creating a route to sustainable development. https://sdgs.un.org/goals
The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review
“Our economies, livelihoods and well-being all depend on our most precious asset: Nature.
We have collectively failed to engage with Nature sustainably, to the extent that our demands far exceed its capacity to supply us with the goods and services we all rely on.
Our unsustainable engagement with Nature is endangering the prosperity of current and future generations.
At the heart of the problem lies deep-rooted, widespread institutional failure.
The solution starts with understanding and accepting a simple truth: our economies are embedded within Nature, not external to it.
We need to change how we think, act and measure success.
(i) Ensure that our demands on Nature do not exceed its supply, and that we increase Nature’s supply relative to its current level.
(ii) Change our measures of economic success to guide us on a more sustainable path.
(iii) Transform our institutions and systems – in particular our finance and education systems – to enable these changes and sustain them for future generations.
Transformative change is possible – we and our descendants deserve nothing less.”
Report – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review
Listen to the launch of the report with Prof Partha Dagupta summarising this review – https://youtu.be/e2QDOeKH0DE
Bill Gates explores how what we doing now in terms of wind power etc is already reducing our footprint but are not enough. Some home truths are also told in his new book, what we are doing now is going to stop us reaching net zero in 2050, investing in a assets with lifetimes of 50-100 years now is not compatible unless they are zero carbon – so why are we still building gas power stations and waste to energy plants – BBC Radio 4 – How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates – Available now
Updating the waste minimisation useful resources list – recycling locations on CASaV
Some new items to add to the list:Tree guards – Caroline Kitching; Plastic bags – Morrison’s Guisborough; Anne is going to approach Coop in Stokesley to get plastic bag recycling avaialble there; IT Equipment – Stokesley Globe Library
Reboot North Yorkshire: Reboot North Yorkshire is an exciting new initiative created that provides re-cycled IT equipment and an internet connection to people in the county that currently lack access to these facilities. We do this by collecting unwanted devices, refurbishing them and donating them to those who need them. These may include: School children who need to access remote learning; Elderly people who may be socially isolated; and Vulnerable people who do not have digital access.
The Globe is the local drop off point for donated devices. We have a green plastic box by the door to receive them. Before devices can be donated, they must be restored to a factory reset to make sure that any personal data or information is no longer on the device. For instruction on how to remove all personal data go to: https://rebootny.co.uk/#donate Devices should be packaged securely with any chargers or cables included where possible. For more information please go to the website: https://rebootny.co.uk
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages 