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 May 09 Parish Magazine Article A few notes for Compost Awareness Week Compost is the result of the breakdown of organic material through microbial and fungal action. Nutrients locked within plant and animal tissue are released during this action, and are made available to be used by the roots of new plants. The benefits of adding compost to your soil are manyfold. Fibres of partially composed material serve to keep the soil structure open which improves drainage, while at the same time composts spongy nature helps to hold water, which in turn aids nutrient retention. The growth criterion for many plants is ‘a moist, well-drained soil’. Additionally, scientific trials have indicated that applications of green-waste compost to the soil have further implications for the growing plant in terms of fewer diseases. It appears that bacterial and fungal elements within the compost have a restrictive effect on the growth of plant pathogens. This effect appears diminished however, if compost is stored for any length of time in bags, so those of you who turn out your compost bins straight into the garden each year are gaining the maximum disease protective effect. Fewer diseases means less reliance on fungicides and insecticides. For home composters there are even greater benefits. Firstly, it’s free. Secondly, it keeps organic material from going to landfill and producing harmful methane gas, and it recycles your garden nutrients back into your soil. It also reduces your dependence on peat-based composts, and thus you will not be contributing to the destruction of valuable peatlands. It seems that many of the old methods of growing plants are now regaining favour, as we look to a more natural way to live our lives. Don’t dig, is the new maxim, and of course in nature many seeds will grow where they fall – no digging involved. Digging results turning up great clods of earth, which you then need to break down again. If you just mulch your soil with a one inch layer of compost, and only dig out perennial weeds - hoeing the rest, the surface will just require raking prior to seed sowing. In fact many farms are now investigating a no-plough option. To further reduce your dependence on fungicides and insecticides, you may like to try companion planting. This long used system of grouping plants together for benefit may well appear to have its roots in folklore, but much of it has a scientific basis. For some associations it is as simple as the chemicals producing scent masking the scent of another plant from its predators. Other plants exude protective chemicals which kill certain pests. African marigolds for example produce a chemical which destroys nematodes, and therefore are best planted amongst those plants subject to nematode attacks. Tall plants can provide shelter for smaller ones, providing a microclimate which may also protect them from pest attack. The big floppy leaves of cucurbits planted around beans acts as a living mulch, reducing water loss from around the roots. Some plants may be used sacrificially, whereby the pest which likes your vegetable, prefers another plant more. An example is planting nasturtiums near brassicas to attract cabbage white butterflies. Some plants simply attract beneficial insects such as aphid predators or pollinators to the vicinity. Try it, and let us know how you get on. WyeCycle aren’t just experts in recycling you know. The next Swap Day is on Saturday April 18th 2009, the 1st Swap Day of 2009, from 9 - 12. The Green House will also be open at the same time. Wednesday, 29th April Our 2009 annual report has just been published, to read this please click here. April 09 Parish Magazine Article ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ This is an odd little campaign which despite government backing and celebrity support, seems to have made little impact on the public at large. It would be interesting to know how many people have actually come across it. It was launched in 2007 by the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), but how many are familiar with the phrase, or have seen the posters - an apple or a pear with a big tear running down its side? The campaign is aimed at discouraging people from buying or preparing food which they will not eat. Apart from a link to their website www.lovefoodhatewaste.com on local councils websites (Ashford Borough’s included),and the occasional newspaper ad., it is hard to find a mention elsewhere– although I have seen one of the local buses carrying the pear poster. Their website is full of useful information, with ideas on food preparation, and recipes for left overs. There are hint hints on storage and advice on portion sizes. It even sheds light on the difference between ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates. Which in case you’re unsure, is the difference between information on quality - ‘best before’– the thing won’t harm you if you eat it later but it may be as tasty or nutritious; and ‘use by’ - safety advice which tells you when the item will be off. This of course is subject to the correct storage and handling procedures being followed. Earlier generations used observation and a sense of smell. WRAP statistics show that some 6.7 million tonnes of unwanted food finds its way into the dustbin each year – that’s about one third of all food bought - and puts around £420 on the annual household food bill. Much of this food is never cooked, being the result of over-buying, so that it is not possible for it to be eaten before it goes off. Most of the rest is thrown because too much is cooked for the amount of people to eat it. So far, WRAP say, they have helped over two million households reduce their food waste, keeping some 137,000 tonnes from the bin, and making a considerable financial saving. ‘Love food, hate waste’ is today’s ‘waste not, want not’ of the aforementioned earlier generation, and has more than a passing relevance in today’s economic climate. That maxim, together with ‘make do and mend’, gave rise to a largely self sustaining society, born of sheer wartime necessity. Not forgetting ‘dig for victory’, which coupled with the ration book, resulted in the healthiest population ever - all fresh food and little opportunity to overeat. Alas it took a war to galvanise the Government into leading, and the nation into acting, but it is a global calamity of a different nature which now concerns us. Today we need to be aware of such things as the energy wasted in producing and packaging uneaten food, wasted in transporting uneaten food, cooking uneaten food, and discarding uneaten food. March 2009 -Parish Magazine Article Recycling Abroad It’s worth remembering that wherever you go on holiday, they probably do things differently there. Here in the UK, a Local Authority is required by law to separate a minimum of just two types of waste for recycling, and then reach the rather modest recycling rate of 25% (European average 40%). You are probably already aware though, through comparisons of the recycling collections of Ashford Borough Council with neighbouring councils, or those of your friends and family elsewhere in the country, that no two Authorities collect the same! It won’t come as much of a surprise to find you are able to recycle some items, but not others wherever you take your break. We are, through necessity, much greener in our daily lives now, and hopefully the desire to continue to be so will accompany us on holiday. Following on from the interest generated by last months article about recycling in Korea, here is some more information on world attitudes to recycling. Unfortunately I have no actual weights for a true comparison of who outshines who in the wasteful league tables, but as holiday guidelines, percentages will suffice. In Europe, the percentage of waste which ends up in landfill ranges from 92% in Greece, to Denmark, claiming top spot at a mere 8%. But before we marvel too much at the Danish achievement, we should be aware that some of our EU partners, like Denmark, favour incineration as a means of reducing landfill, so they are not recycling in the way we imagine, but are burning 58% of their waste. So it’s true, lies, damned lies and statistics. In Germany they take their recycling very seriously, and you will normally find at least 5 receptacles for waste, all colour coded to avoid confusion. Paper, card, three colours of glass, metals and food are all collected. Hazardous wastes like batteries etc. are expected to be taken by the householder to the recycling centre. Surprisingly, recycling is not compulsory in Germany, but 90% Germans are willing to do all this separation. Austria, the real recycling champions of Europe, send ,like their German neighbours, 25% of their waste to landfill sites, but only burn 10%, the rest being recycled. Respect. Italy, languishing low in the recycling table, but above the UK incidentally, has recently taken a tougher stance, imposing fines on those who do not recycle if they are within a certain distance of recycling bins. Switzerland too operates a financial incentive. Recycling is free there, but rubbish sacks require a 1Î sticker. No sticker – no collection; the rubbish is left to rot outside your house. Further afield, the United States like the UK has no overall national policy, leaving choice to the individual state, which leaves recycling rates ranging from 9% in Alaska, to 40% in New York. And don’t think that recycling is the preserve of the wealthy first world county either. In Senegal, with its widespread poverty, recycling is a way of life. Everything and anything is recycled. Much of it is reused by these poor but resourceful people. A baked bean can may become a drinking cup; fruit peel the basis of cheap perfume. Metals make everyday objects and plastic bags make shoes. Finally, reflect on the impact of the average short-haul flight. A trip to Spain, our most popular destination, results in 40 kg of waste – sandwich wrappers, drinks cans etc, from onboard consumption. This means that 3,000 tonnes of waste results per year from Spanish journeys alone. February 09 - Parish Magazine Article Recycling – the documentary The reputation of WyeCycle spreads far beyond these shores. December saw a small team from the Korean Broadcasting Service – the largest broadcasting service in Korea (they assured us, several times) – braving the foulest wind and rain Britain can produce, to make a television documentary on what it is we actually do here. Their brief seemed to encompass all areas of recycling, from the kerbside pick-up to the final destination of the recycled item, and I was left wondering – why come here? Surely they already have recycling in Korea? However, wading through Wye’s puddles in their city shoes, protected only by an inadequate umbrella; with camera and microphone encased in waterproof jackets, they rode around in one of our vans, taking in the WyeCycle experience. Mr Sung, Mr Lee and Mr Choi; the producer/interpreter, the cameraman, and the interviewer, were intent on covering all the angles. The yard was filmed, the collections were filmed, and the sorting was filmed. The van entering and leaving the yard filmed several times because Mr Sung and Mr Choi, sitting in the front of it out of the rain, realised they should not have been. In fact several shots needed to be retaken, and dutifully we replaced the recycling back in the boxes, and the boxes on the kerbside outside the houses for ‘take 2’. Much of their interest centred on the Green House and the furniture, household items and books contained within. Second hand shops apparently are a rarity in Korea. They wanted to know its effect on the local community, whether it made money or provided local employment, and they dearly wanted to film a customer. No hardy souls had taken on the weather that day; we were already on film, so we couldn’t pretend to shop, and Mr Sung declared that he couldn’t either, as he looked just like his audience. Cue our neighbour, winkled from his warm office under duress, with a heavy cold and chesty cough, and coerced to browse the book shelves. He convincingly perused the book section, with only the faintest self conscious smirk, but to his horror and our mirth, they insisted on an interview. From the Koreans I learned a little of their recycling. I heard of smart stainless steel waist high cabinets with openings in the top, mandatory in cafés and fast food outlets, into which customers separate plastic cups and cutlery, wipes and waste food. This is the law, they said, all businesses have to recycle and are fined heavily for not doing so. Householders pay to throw away. Since 1994 they have had to buy different size rubbish sacks at different prices – the more waste you have, the more it costs, but the recycling is free. The more you recycle, the fewer waste bags you buy and the less you pay. This will sound very familiar to all WyeCycle’s business customers. I was again left wondering – this time whether we should be taking our cameras out there. What Korea learned from us we will find out when we are sent the programme, due to be shown there this January. Dec 08 - The Parish Magazine Article The Recycling Footprint? And what of the environmental impact of recycling? In what way, and to what extent do all our recycling efforts impinge on our carbon footprint? Assessing this is no easy task as collection, sorting and reprocessing different wastes all requires energy, although this quantity is insignificant compared to the energy required to extract and process materials in the first instance. The following statistics have been taken from those compiled by Waste Watch, Corus (steel), Brit-glass and Cambridge University. They have been simplified to show the savings per tonne, using recycled materials compared with using virgin raw materials. Glass – saves 30% of the energy and 12 tonne of the raw material (sand, soda-lime etc) Paper – saves between 28 – 70% energy depending on grade of paper being recycled, and grade being produced. Saves 30,000 litres of water and goodness knows how many trees Aluminium – saves 95% energy, 8 tonne bauxite and 4 tonnes chemicals Steel – saves 80% energy, 1.5 tonnes iron ore, 0.5 tonnes coal, and uses 40% less water. Energy saved through recycling results in fewer carbon emissions, thus reducing your overall carbon footprint. The studies have also shown that source-separated materials, collected at the kerbside, represented the most efficient way to recycle, reducing as it does contamination of the various waste streams, which occurs with co-mixed waste. Greater effort is required to separate mixed waste, and more energy is then used in cleaning it. Kerbside collections serving a community were proved to be more carbon efficient than every householder heading to the tip or bottle bank. They showed too that the more varieties of materials collected, and the easier recycling was made, the greater the number of participants in the scheme. November 08 - Parish Magazine Article Christmas Recycling It’s all too easy, faced with a mountain if seasonal debris, to reach for the bin bag and throw it all in. Sorted and straight out for the dustmen. However, the planet would really appreciate it if you could find the time to separate the various items wherever possible. There are one or two (or three or four) things which we have noticed cause some confusion for recyclers. Firstly, paper and card. The really shiny Christmas wrapping is a plastic – not a foil, nor a paper. If you are unsure about the wrapping you have in your hand, scrunch it up. A foil will keep the shape you have just made, whilst a plastic will unfold again. This is also true of the ‘foil’ packs that contain pet foods. They are plastic also. When disposing of the numerous cardboard boxes that you are bound to have accumulated over the festive period, please check inside and take out the polystyrene and plastic packing as we are unable to collect this. Secondly, as you know, we are cannot those drinks cartons known as tetrapaks. They are the ones which have a fine plastic film on the outside and an inner foil lining, which sandwiches the cardboard. Now there are new cartons on the market that are waxed, and we can take those. However, as these items are likely to be contaminated with food, they would be best ripped up, and put in the kitchen caddy. Have a peek inside and you will see if the container has foil in it or not, and if it has – dustbin please. Glass is yet another area designed to confuse the world. Sheet glass from window panes, and Pyrex dishes, have a different chemical composition from that used to make bottles, and they cannot be recycled together. Consequently we do not take sheet glass or Pyrex in our kerbside collection. It goes without saying that broken glass can be very dangerous, and our chaps occasionally receive some nasty glass cuts. If you do have a breakage, do please wrap the pieces carefully, and ensure they are well labelled. October 08 - Parish Magazine Article Christmas Statistics While you’re agonising over your green choices in the run-up to Christmas, you may care to mull over the following statistics. Collectively the UK will get through:
Of the 3 million tonnes of extra waste produced over the Christmas period, 160 thousand tonnes of it will be food. This is over half the weight of food purchased, thrown away, mostly to landfill, as of course not everyone has a kitchen waste collection (you lucky people). These figures are given here literally as food for thought. Remember the mantra - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. 1 September WyeCycle Press Release 1000 Not Out On Monday 1st September, WyeCycle will carry out their 1000th consecutive weekly kerbside collection. Founded in 1989, WyeCycle is a not-for-profit community business providing a wide range of waste reduction services in the parishes of Wye and Brook. Activities include multi-material kerbside collections, community composting, trade waste services, furniture reuse, and biodiesel production. WyeCycle have pioneered many of the waste management practices now becoming commonplace throughout the UK: kerbside collection of kitchen organics, fortnightly residual waste collection, direct charging for garden organics. Kerbside residual waste levels in WyeCycle’s operational area are an average of 260kg/hh/yr, probably among the lowest in the country. Commented Richard Boden, WyeCycle founder and co-ordinator “We are delighted to have reached this milestone, and are equally pleased to see the methods we follow – which for many years were described by the experts as ‘unworkable’ and ‘unrealistic’ - now becoming standard practice. We would like to thank all the local residents who support our work, as well as our partners at Ashford Borough and Kent County Councils.” Aug 08 - Parish Magazine Article Packaging and local produce It won’t surprise you to know, but a recent survey discovered that 77% of people questioned were irritated by having to throw away so much excess food packaging. Packaging of course, is there to serve a number of functions. It protects against damage or contamination, it takes printing in order to display the brand name and essential information, it’s there for convenience – wrapped foods placed in regularly-shaped boxes for ease of handling during transport and stacking, it’s a means of containment for the product, and can help to extend its shelf life. Those responsible for the packaging try to justify the type and quantity if the wrapping, and true, much of this packaging is necessary for much travelled food, but there needs to be a balance between necessity and excess. Further more, it would appear that the more processed the food, the more wrapped it becomes, and for all the reasons listed above. The protective wrapping is further wrapped in a medium to take print. There needs to be somewhere to show a photo of the contents or a serving suggestion, plus all the required labelling; a list of ingredients, - most of which could hardly be recognised as ‘food’, a sell-by date, and, ironically, how to recycle the packaging. One beauty of local produce is that it doesn’t require a fraction of this. Much of the food is loose; it just needs a (paper) bag. There are no dubious contamination issues – we appreciate that vegetables grow in fields and are perfectly capable of washing them. Produce going from field to plate in a few days doesn’t need its shelf-life extending, and as for the printed information – well we don’t need a picture, and we’ll generally recognise when the food becomes inedible. Unprocessed often food comes in its own wrapping – the skin. Moreover, the likelihood of damaged is reduced the less the food is transported. There might just be a maxim here. The more people buy loose, local produce, the more loose local produce will be produced. It’s probably that that simple. July 08 - Parish Magazine Article Water Recycling This is how the water recycling ethic can work in practice, for those of you who are prepared to go that extra mile. In one local household, rainwater is collected from the roof and stored in three 1000 litre containers. A standard plastic water pipe conveys the water to the house, where it is connected to both the washing machine and WC. When water is required, that is, when the washing machine is turned on or the cistern flushed, a pressure sensitive pump responds to the drop in pressure, and pumps the water into the system. The provision made for returning both appliances to the domestic supply during drought conditions couldn’t be easier, as the pipes are swapped manually if ever this is necessary. Interesting to note that even the low rainfall figure of 700mm per annum, given in the above article, falling on an average 3-bed semi will provide 21,000 litres of water, enough to run these two appliances for a family of four, for a year. Photographs of this simple method can be seen here on the WyeCycle website. You don’t need to use the same materials or copy the set-up. Just follow the principal and remember it works. 6 May In order to fully embrace the concept of recycling, it is important to realise the true cost to the planet of failing to do so. This earth contains a finite amount of resources, and if we operate on a single-use principal the obvious result is that we will use them up. There is in the world of waste, a hierarchy for waste management, and it starts with the three Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – a mantra with which you may be familiar. Some resources, glass and metals, are easier and more economical to recycle than others. Plastic presents a difficulty; it comes in many forms and its separation into the various varieties is labour intensive – and of course – there’s a lot of it. The world produces 200 million tonnes of plastic per annum and less than 3.5% is recycled. The UK is responsible for 3 million tonnes, recycling around 7%. Plastic, despite what some carrier bags may state on their sides, is not biodegradable, but photodegradable. This means it is broken down in the presence of sunlight, not a lot of good in the darkness of a landfill site. Even so, the construction of plastic is such, that although it beaks down into ever smaller particles, it remains the same plastic polymer even as dust. It is this durability that has fuelled the world’s love affair with plastic. It is simply just so useful. Remember this when you see it by the roadside or flapping from trees. Remember too that much of the world’s plastic ends up in the oceans, being blown off the land or swept into the sea. 80% of marine litter emanates from the land, and 90% of that total is plastic. where degradation in the sea takes between 450 – 1000 years. All it has had time to do thus far is to break into smaller and smaller particles (oceanic microparticles) and can be ingested by every form of marine life from the blue whale to krill. So far then, every bit of plastic ever made, save for those incinerated or sent into space, is still here on this earth – as plastic. Plastic floats in the oceans in many forms, bottle shards, bags and bag particles, and as plastic resin pellets – the pre production from of the polymer, known as nurdles or more euphemistically as mermaid’s tears. Tears indeed, as this material is ingested by all forms of marine life. Turtles take in the bags whole, believing them to be jellyfish or squid, and smaller shards are taken up by fish and seabirds. Many dead seabirds washed up on our own shores have fragments of plastic in their gut. The microscopic plastic particles intermingle with plankton. Samples taken in some parts of the ocean show that the microparticles out- number plankton by up to 30 times in weight. . In the North Pacific, floating material is moved around the by circulating currents, drawing the pieces ever closer together, until they are becalmed in the centre of the swirl. This huge region is known as the North Pacific Gyre, and at its heart lies a mass of floating plastic, covering an area over than twice the size of France. Much of this plastic dates back to the 50s and 60s - so it hasn’t even started to show the results of the great carrier bag invasion yet. The problem is not just confined to the marine animals; there are wider implications. Plastic particles attract to their surfaces other non water soluble chemical pollutants which have been washed into the seas over time. This group, known as persistent organic particles and take decades to break down, are from materials now banned like DDT, and also heavy metals such as mercury, zinc and lead. Once ingested by the plankton, they are about to enter the food chain. Your food chain. You could say that there is a good case for plastic reduction. Below are some of those countries which have already banned plastic bags. One or two inclusions may surprise you. Rwanda, Eritrea, Zanzibar, Botswana, Taiwan, China, Bangladesh, South Africa, Ireland, Australia, Italy. So someone’s trying. 8 April Weee is the jolly acronym given to the legislation governing waste electrical & electronic equipment, and covers large and small household appliances and electrical equipment from industry. The disposal of electronic waste has recently become a big problem to the world, and is the fastest growing waste stream in the European Union. 1.2 million tonnes are being produced in the UK per annum, enough to fill six times the new Wembley. The IT industry is responsible for much of this high volume of discarded technology, as a result of the current obsession with upgrades, new releases, and enhancements. The almost obscene cheapness of electrical goods at the supermarkets, and with constantly changing designs rendering one’s current gadget so last year darling, make the purchase of a new item and the rejection of the old an everyday occurrence. The regulations aims are to ensure that the producer of a product – the one who gains financially from its manufacture – is responsible for the costs involved in its disposal at the end of its useful life. This also applies to importers, exporters, and distributers, including retailers. This recycling is ostensibly free of charge to the householder, although inevitably the cost of any activity will be added to the price of newly manufactured goods. There is at present no obligation for householders to recycle this e-waste, merely being ‘discouraged from placing it in landfill containers. Across the board this is unlikely to work as there are too few communities like Wye & Brook who can boast regular Weee collections. Small items make up 8% of the e-waste stream, but are estimated to amount to 30% of the items thrown away. How easy is it to bin any small item weighing so little? Weee falls into a number of categories. It may be household or non-household. It may be deemed hazardous, like TVs, monitors, fridges & freezers, fluorescent tubes etc, and for which further regulations apply, or non-hazardous such as washing machines, drills, radios etc. It may be historic - encompassing all those products which were produced prior to August 2005, or future - all new electrical and electronic goods from that date, which are now required to display a crossed out wheelie bin sign, with end of life disposal instructions. Producers do not necessarily have to collect the old goods for themselves, but must have ‘end of life’ plans for all products, and must finance the recovery and treatment of new Weee. This is an encouraging piece of legislation which could eventually be instrumental in both reducing the level of toxic and hazardous items within the goods, and improving the design of a product, as manufacturers strive to make items easier and therefore cheaper to recycle. Retailers have to offer a free in-store ‘take-back’ service on a like for like basis for all historic Weee, but as not all have the facilities to undertake this, many have opted to join a distributor ‘take-back’ scheme whereby they pay to support not-for-profit public collection facilities. This however does not apply to retailers of reconditioned or second hand goods, including charities. You can imagine, the regulations are not without complexities, with rules governing almost every circumstance, but the obligations for producers, distributers and users are well documented and can be viewed in detail on a number of websites. The Environment Agency is for once not too tedious a read. For local residents, smaller electrical items are picked up for free, whilst larger items can be collected by WyeCycle on their WyeCycle2 weeks, for a small charge. A form requesting collection (WyeCycle2 form) may be downloaded from our website, and just needs filling in and sending to us at Unit 2, Briar Close. This form can still be obtained from Leppers, who will also accept old batteries and low-energy lightbulbs when replacement items are purchased, on a like-for-like basis. 13 March With politicians and big business trying to out-green each other by condemning the plastic carrier bag, it is important to put the issue in context. Whilst plastic bags can cause litter and harm to wildlife, their environmental impact pales into insignificance compared to the nature of the contents of the bag. If you are going to buy fruit which has been hauled half way round the world on a plane, or meat produced under poor welfare conditions, then frankly it doesn’t matter much whether you carry it home in a plastic bag or one of the latest status-symbol fabric bags. The supermarkets, of course, know this, and are therefore delighted that everyone is talking about plastic bags as it deflects attention away from the far greater damage caused by their business practices. The Ashford Borough is well served with farm shops and farmers markets. Local residents should recognise that it is by supporting these businesses, rather than by getting a ‘bag for life’, that they will make a real difference. 26 February Well, that’s it. We have completed a second waste audit, and now can see how well our summer-long recycling campaign has worked. This campaign, which began with the issue of the new WyeCycle calendar in June, and was followed up by door knocking across the two parishes, along with questions regarding the usefulness of the calendar, about attitudes to recycling, and encouragement to participate with WyeCyle, particularly with the kitchen waste. Along with many complementary remarks, the survey produced some rather interesting comments, some of which I have listed below. “I don’t have any waste” “We do our recycling at the tip” “We give you all our papers” “I don’t have room for a kitchen bin” The audit looks at the composition of the waste and weighs it in a variety of categories such as food, paper, cans, glass bottles and plastic. The overall results of both audits show very little change, with some weights up, and some down. Given the size of the parishes covered, and the 10% sample taken, you can appreciate that this is merely a snapshot of your society. The November weighings happen to show an increase per annum from 226 kg to 299 kg residual waste (this is the rubbish left for the dustmen) per household per year. In essence there were no significant changes in recycling behaviour as a result of the leafleting and door knocking campaign, even though we know that there has been a 4% increase in the number of households requesting the kitchen caddy over the same period, as a direct result of this. The small deviations in weights, separated by the 4 months, could just as easily be as a result of a change of home ownership or a new baby, as a holiday absence, or visitors during the fortnight of the audit. What did become apparent was that within the community there are households who appear to do practically no recycling, and this naturally raises the average weight of residual rubbish per household. Despite this, from data taken from the Defra (government) statistics for 2006/7, of the three most successful councils with the lowest residual waste weight in the country, namely South Somerset, Oadby and Weymouth, the latter produced an average of 431 kg of residual waste per household per year. Compare this with our results at 262kg per household per year, taken from both audits, and feel encouraged. However, despite any congratulatory back-slapping we may be tempted to do, I feel I must point out that from our figure of 262 kg, an average of 149kg were recyclable items – that’s 57% recyclables going to landfill, when in theory we need only send 113 kg. The fundamental issue now is whether it is possible to substantially reduce residual waste from Wye and Brook, and to exclude all recyclable items. Given that recycling is currently a voluntary procedure in the UK, and that this community sends just under half the waste to landfill as the best performing councils in the land, this is a debatable point. We have spent much time, effort and money in attempting to increase the local participation and reduce the amount of residual waste to be collected by the council, but still end up with much the same results. It begs the question as to whether we have reached a ceiling for voluntary recycling, and that the next stage would have to be some degree of compulsion……. 5 February We are pleased to hear that our near neighbours Shepway District Council are introducing a charge for garden waste collection. WyeCycle have long advocated pay-per-bag for garden waste as being both environmentally and socially preferable than ‘free’ collection – see our composting guide for further explanation on this. How much longer, we wonder, before the penny drops with our own local authority Ashford Borough Council? For recent national recognition of the waste reduction levels being achieved in Wye and Brook, see the 21 January news story on www.letsrecycle.com 13 December WyeCycle & the Compost Doctors This is a new scheme which aims to encourage the use of on-site composting by establishments which produce quantities kitchen waste, and which have the space to do so. This naturally will obliviate the need to have the waste collected and transferred to a composting site, incinerator or to landfill. Suitable sites would be pubs, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and prisons – any establishment with adequate land attached, so that the resulting compost can be put to use within the site. Present government regulations forbid the removal from site of composted material that may contain animal by-products, unless strict regulations are adhered to. If an establishment is interested in joining the scheme, the first port of call is their local Compost Doctor for a consultation. The practicalities of setting up such an operation, and the finances involved are reviewed. It is important that a home-composting scheme proves to be a cheaper option for a business than paying for waste removal, although the environmental implications of on-site composting should not be disregarded. As part of the consultation, a waste audit is implemented to ascertain the quantity and frequency of food waste produced, and on this basis the Doctor makes a recommendation on the type of composting facility required. There are a number of composting machines on the market, varying in size and complexity, and different composting equipment. The role of the Compost Doctor is to advise on the most appropriate method to suit the individual site. The staff are trained in the correct method of composting, use of machinery, and in the necessary hygiene procedures. The Compost Doctor will always remain in the background for support and further advice if required. There are currently 11 Compost Doctors across the country, each running at least one scheme. That supported by WyeCycle is at the fruit farm, farm shop, & café at Perry Court on the A28. Here they mix food waste from their various enterprises in an adapted Keenan feed wagon, like those operated at the WyeCycle yard. A variety of foodstuffs are added to the wagon on a daily basis and is stirred regularly by an internal paddle. Excess liquid is controlled by the addition of waste cardboard, which also improves the carbon content of the resulting compost. They have two composting wagons which can hold up to 80m³ of material, so that one contains maturing compost whilst the other is being filled. By doing this, Perry Court are able to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill from their business by 80%. The resultant compost is spread on their land, thus giving them a double benefit. 5 December With Christmas/ New Year falling at the start of the week we have made changes to our Wye collection days, please see Calendar for details. Brook remains unaltered every Thursday. 19 November We were pleased to see the following waste policy report on the Guildford Labour Party website. The reasons given for charging for garden waste collection are lifted verbatim from WyeCycle’s composting guide – see composting – which shows how our work is having a direct influence on waste policies throughout the UK. We look forward to councils closer to home taking note…. Green garden waste recycling The Liberal Democrats, who were the largest group on the hung Guildford Council, proposed a scheme whereby every household in the Borough would get collection and recycling of garden waste 'FREE OF CHARGE'. The scheme would have cost £400,000 - equivalent to about 8% of the Council Tax. A better solution was proposed in a motion to the Executive moved by Councillor Keith Chesterton (ex-Lead Member for the Environment) and carried, with the support of the Tory Group. A charge would be made for collecting GARDEN waste which did NOT include kitchen waste. Keith Chesterton said that there were two reasons for charging. 1. A free service would discourage home composting, as it would be too easy for residents to put out all their garden waste for collection. It was accepted that composting in or adjacent to the garden where the waste was produced was the best environmental option. 2. The service was not free at all, but actually a HIGHLY REGRESSIVE FORM OF TAXATION. Big houses produce substantially more garden material than small houses, at a cost substantially greater than the extra tax levied for the waste collection element of the Council Tax bill. This would have meant that the poor subsidised the rich! For this reason other authorities with garden waste recycling systems have changed to charging, including Wyecycle, a highly successful community recycling project in the village of Wye in Kent. The trial scheme of garden waste collection will be changed to accommodate the new proposal, the charge depending on the quantity collected. 23 October A waste audit was performed in May on the landfill waste (the fortnightly council collection) on a random 10% of the households in Wye and Brook. This is a summary of the results showing the weights of various wastes and the percentage they represent. The upper subtotalled section is all waste which could have been composted at home, sent to charity shops or come to WyeCycle. I have converted the weights into pounds for those of you who, like me, were born in black & white. WyeCycle Residual Waste Audit Summary May 2007
Conclusions: - Actual average kerbside residual waste production in Wye and Brook is 226kg (678.2kg ÷ 78hh, x 26 weeks) - This 226kg could in theory be reduced to 75.6kg if every household made full use of the waste reduction services currently provided in WyeCycle’s operational area. 12 October Thanks for the brilliant response to the WyeCycle Calendar. It’s generating plenty of interest and a number of new participants. We have plenty of kitchen bins and black recycle boxes for anyone wishing to join the scheme. Contact us. Currently, one of the most asked frequent queries from local residents is about the collection (or lack of it) of plastic in this area. Well, here are some random plastic facts. As you know, plastic is very light. Even when squashed flat and baled, a tonne of plastic is quite a volume. 5,000 plastic bottles make up one bale, 20,000 bottles make up 1 tonne. So transporting it to the nearest processing site doesn’t always make economic sense. Incidentally, isn’t plastic - it’s plastics. There have been many different sorts developed over the years, and they’re all made from different polymers. We have designed them to perform varied and specific tasks. Clever us. Each kind if plastic polymer has it’s own symbol or a number in a triangle embossed somewhere on the product, so that we know what sort it is. Have a look at your milk or squeezy bottles and see. Here for example are some of the more common types
This means you can have a bottle, ie. a 2 litre Coke bottle, with four plastics in it. The clear bottle - PET, the lid -PP, the black base - HDPE, and the label - PVC. The technology to scan and separate the various plastics is available, but of course it comes at a price. We use 20 times more plastic than 50 years ago, and throw away over 5 million tonnes annually, and the amount is growing. The easy solution to this thorny problem is to use less plastic. Reduce the overall volume of wrapping, and use biodegrable products like cornstarch bags. By the way, ignore the ‘degradable’ sign on plastic carrier bags, that’s just a con to make you feel as though you’re buying a good thing. These items are mainly photodegradable, and break down in sunlight into tiny fragments, but it’s still plastic. It can only lead to an increase in litter if people start to believe that discarded plastics will simply disappear. For the time being the best option is to choose goods with minimal packaging or packaged in a material that we can recycle, like cardboard or glass, or buy products which are refillable. One point of interest here; there is a product on the market which is clear, holds water, is known as PLA, and is made of cornstarch. Drinks Company ‘Innocent’ are using it for their ‘Thickies’ range of drinks. Perhaps it will catch on. How do you get down from an elephant? You don’t. You get down from a duck This recycled joke comes courtesy of the WyeCycle Second Hand Joke Bin 9 October WyeCycle have always been firmly opposed to the incineration of domestic refuse, due to the health concerns regarding emissions and on the grounds that burning valuable materials represents an unsustainable consumption of the earth’s natural resources. We supported the campaigners who spent years opposing plans for an incinerator in Kent, a battle which was finally lost when permission was given for the plant at Allington (you can see the chimney stack from the M20 as you approach Maidstone). To the health and environmental concerns can now be added ‘it wont work’, with the news that the Allington incinerator is out of action due to what are described as serious and fundamental design flaws. Local residents have had to put up with a nauseating stench as thousands of tonnes of waste which should have been burned has been allowed to rot at the site, and deliveries of domestic waste to the ‘state of the art’ facility – including that collected in Wye and Brook on the fortnightly refuse collection - are being diverted to landfill for an indefinite period. This can justifiably be described as a crisis in waste management in Kent; a crisis bought about by the failure of the decision-makers to listen to what WyeCycle and fellow environmental groups have been telling them for the last 20 years. The only sensible way forward is large scale replication of the systems in place in Wye and Brook; weekly kerbside collection of recyclable/ compostable materials, backed up by comprehensive re-use schemes for furniture, electrical goods etc. Residual waste for disposal should be collected fortnightly and sent to landfill, with legislation on excess packaging etc being used to reduce the quantities of this non-recyclable material. The decision to build Allington has caused enormous financial and environmental harm to Kent residents. There is an urgent need for this mistake to be acknowledged, and for the systems pioneered by WyeCycle to be put in place throughout Kent. 1 October WyeCycle Community Compost Autumn Offer – available thoughout October 6 bags for the price of 5 (£15) 3m³ for the price of 2m² (£30) WyeCycle Community Compost is on sale at the Green House, 2a Briar Close, Bramble Lane, open every Wednesday from 9 – 12. If you prefer, we can deliver it to your home or allotment. Contact us to place your order |
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