Recycling in Stroud: where are we going?

I've not had time to keep this blog up to date recently with all the meetings. Some might say already there are too many entries each day and that perhaps I don't need to keep it up to date??! Anyhow I did want to touch on a Green party meeting last week when we invited one of the Council's officers to share the Council's policies re waste and recycling.

Photo: Stone circle made of fridges, Sante Fe

I've adapted the minutes of the meeting kindly put together by Rosie, the Green party's Secretary. I've turned them into questions which will hopefully give a flavour and also answer some of those questions that get posed regularly....I've also added some comments in green but each of the topics could be an essay in itself so it is really only a taster and all rather hurriedly thrown together - am happy to explain more if people email me or leave a comment on this blog.

For me the meeting was useful in helping the Green District Council group focus on the areas that need more action: infact we are working on a paper at the moment.

Does the District Council do enough to encourage people to be committed recyclers? Can we expect the County to be fined?

Photo: What a waste: no proper furniture recycling in the District (see below link to meetings I've had re this issue).

SDC has up to now been one of the leading recyclers in the country, with a comprehensive kerbside collection, and was regarded by many as a green Council. However, it was conceded that there was a long way for the District to go, and said that this year and next people would be targeted to encourage their neighbours to recycle more, therefore utilising existing capacity. The Government is under a lot of pressure from the EU over biowaste diversion, with targets now set for Local Authorities to divert biowaste from landfill. 68% of an average household bin consists of potentially biodegradable materials. The onus is now on the County Councils to reach biodegradable waste targets and they are liable to large fines if these targets are not met. The first target year for this is to be 2010, and Councils will be fined £150 per tonne over the target figure. Local Authorites are starting to look at waste in terms of carbon footprint rather than recycling rates.

Britain is very much the 'dirty man' of Europe with 7 million more tonnes going to landfill than any other EU country. Other countries are doing better - our Government has let us down badly - the goal should be that practically everything produced will be re-used or recycled, and not incinerated or sent to landfill. Already, New Zealand, Western Australia, California, Toronto and even a couple of English local authorities have adopted a target of Zero Waste by 2020. If we go whole-heartedly for recycling, re-use and waste minimisation, the health problems associated with landfill sites and incinerators will soon become a thing of the past.

A large part of the problem for the District is the failure of our Government to move on excess packaging, have proper targets and develop markets for recycling etc etc. SDC has not met their Government targets for recycling for 2007 - they could have done this by collecting garden waste - but see below - it was right not to go that route. However I am, still disappointed that very little has changed in terms of recycling collection in the last few years. Figures are static: yes there are enormous problems especially in finding markets for waste collected but bolder moves could be made in tackling supermarkets, promoting community composting, kitchen waste etc. However one statistic that looks better is that householders waste does not appear to be rising in Stroud like some areas: we are composting, reusing and recycling more.

What about garden waste?

The District Council recognises this issue and tries to divert as much biodegradable waste as possible. It was observed that garden waste should be home composted if possible rather than being collected, but some Councils like the Forest of Dean collect it because they can quickly increase recycling targets massively. Yet the whole waste stream is also increased massively leading to more collections etc. SDC have not done this, but reached a rate of 23.5 % without including garden waste.

SDC do provide pre-paid garden waste bags but the contents are landfilled as there is no takers for the waste at present. At the moment no more than 400 tonnes of garden waste was currently going to landfill, which SDC considered a good figure. Cotswold District Council collection scheme was not a successful way of dealing with garden waste, when measured in kilos per household that were collected.

The District should be applauded for not going down the garden waste route. Their 23.5% figure is good for dry recyclables but there are still others doing better and we should be doubling that much sooner than planned.

What about kitchen waste collection?

SDC are now looking at food waste diversion, with a trial in the Stanleys of weekly collections for kitchen waste and dry recyclables, with residual waste being collected fortnightly. In terms of collection dry waste would be divided up into dry recyclables and residual waste, while kitchen waste would be dealt with by the use of bins with lockable lids. Food would be collected in kitchen caddies with three biodegradable liners provided each week, and when a liner was full it would be emptied into the bin outside, which would then be collected. In-vessel composting would be used in order to kill any pathogens, and all food waste, both animal and vegetable, could be collected and processed in this way.

Weekly collections will get around opposition from people who dislike smell. It will be interesting to see how this develops - it has taken far too long to get this pilot off the ground - mainly it has to be said due to problems outside the Districts control.

In Bristol (where a food waste collection scheme was in use) everything that used to be home-composted now goes into food bins, so home-composting had actually been reduced. How can we stop that here?

It is inevitable under such a scheme.

What about labels on the food bins reminding people to compost vegetable and garden matter?

Why not more plastics? And cardboard?

The reason plastics (other than bottles) were not collected is because there is no market for them. Some types of plastics have low productivity, or a combination of polymers, or are contaminated with food, and so do not represent quality materials. Plastic bottles are usually sent abroad. Councils have to give the reprocessors, especially paper merchants, what they want, and a collection of materials together is generally unacceptable. With regard to cardboard, there are different types of cardboard that have to be sent to different places. The whole picture regarding plastics and cardboard was complicated as they come in many forms and types and so cannot necessarily be lumped together.

Why aren't black bags biodegradable?

Plastic black sacks which go out are non-biodegradable and cost 3p each, whereas with a biodegradable alternative the cost would be three times as high.

See my blog 1st Nov re why SDC say they have to deliver each week a bin bag rather than a packet of them each 3 months or so.

What fuel is used by collection lorries?

There is to be a new fleet of refuse vehicles in SDC in 2009 which run on biodiesel.

I have concerns even though SDC plan to use local supplies - See my blog on 9th May 2007 re biofuels and why they are not as good as some think.

Have you tackled supermarkets on their packaging?

Packaging was recognised as a serious issue and a discussion took place on how supermarkets and other retailers can be encouraged to reduce their packaging or to use packaging that can be dealt with within the District.

Many countries, like Germany, have also successfully introduced legislation to restrict unnecessary packaging while our supermarkets seem to package stuff even more. There are some initiatives that are to be welcomed but I would like to see SDC take more of a lead on this - maybe meet supermarket managers? Or perhaps publicly support Mayor Marjoram's call for no more plastic bags - see a recent letter of mine re bags. Whilst the impact of reduced plastic bag use on CO2 emissions might be negligable it is a very useful awareness raising exercise. Everything we do has impact and implications. Thinking through the act of using and abusing plastic bags is one way to learn to take more responsibility for our individual actions and to live more lightly on the planet. Not just an end in itself but a first step on a new path.

Is incineration on the cards?

It was confirmed that the County Council had not completely ruled out the use of incineration.

I am very concerned by this and am at present trying to find out more. Greens are wholly opposed to incineration, although there is possibly a place for a v small amount of waste going to pyrolasis. We have written much in past on this - see for example recent report here and campaign to stop Newhaven incinerator which plans to send it's waste to Gloucestershire.

How can we encourage more composting?

Photo: Bisley Community Compost scheme

SDC are working with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust on the idea of "compost champions".

See also more here re Bisley's community composting scheme. This idea should be being promoted much more.

What about Tetra Paks?

Tetra Pak bins were to be introduced to local authorities and will be emptied free of charge; five sites were to be found for these within SDC.

This will hopefully please a Randwick resident that has been lobbying SDC on this - see here.

Business waste? What else?

The 'y-waste' social enterprise scheme was now up and running for business waste. It would be good to see more people recognise achievements locally and support SDCs moves to encourage higher recycling rates.

Business waste needs considerably more attention - more government action - also tackling consumerism is a huge key issue and needs addressing in many different ways: tool share ideas and freecycle networks, more encouragement to support charity shops and car boots, more furniture recycling and....well I'll write more on that another time.....