Zero waste

There is no such place as ‘away’. Everything we throw out winds up somewhere. Landfill is not a viable solution, and making things just to bin them is not a sustainable way to run a culture. We need a zero waste economy. There’s a lot we can do as individuals, with the whole reduce-reuse-recycle mantra, but that only works when you have the right materials in the first place. A disturbing number of important foods only seem to come in non-recyclable plastic packaging.

What to do?

Companies give us this stuff because they have convinced themselves it’s what the public wants, needs, expects. So we have to have clingfilm on cucumbers and re-sealable packets, and little plastic windows so that we can see the donuts inside look like every other fried confectionary we’ve ever encountered... it becomes normal so we expect it which justifies the idea that we expect it so they have to provide it.

We have to break that circle. I think we can.

I had a chat with @sainsburys on twitter recently. I’ve also started poking Quorn. I’m looking at companies I buy from and am commenting on how disappointing their packaging is. Doing it in the public domain – twitter and facebook are good – draws attention. I had a lot of support from other social media folk, out of the blue and with nothing organised. If enough of us tell them that recyclable packaging is what we want, they may listen.

We pay for this stuff, twice over. We pay to buy it. Then, we pay for our council to send it to landfill. With cuts eating into essential services, it is not acceptable that we should be spending any public money on burying refuse the supermarkets and others have forced on us. Rice, pasta, seeds, dried fruit – dried, basic, storeable things, are not reliable available in recyclable packaging. This has to change.

So, consider what’s in your bin, and who helped you put it there, and then drop them a polite and friendly line in a public space. ‘I am not happy’ is a good tone to take. At this stage its worth seeing if we can get some co-operation. If there isn’t much movement, petitions can work wonders, and we may have to consider posting clean waste back to the people who created it, explaining that as we can’t recycle it and don’t want to send it to landfill, returning to source seemed like a good idea.

Stroud Events

Here’s the current list of things we know about that are happening in the near future.  Where relevant, we’re also listing events a bit further afield that you might be interested in, too. These are local events that are (unless it says otherwise in the listing) run by assorted local groups – these are all independent of the Green Party.

If you are aware of other talks, events, workshops or other community activities in the coming week or so, please do mention them in the comments. If there’s an event you would like our support in promoting, please email the details to brynnethnimue (at) gmail (dot) com.

11th July Kings Stanley market, held in the Village Hall on the 2nd Friday of the month throughout the summer between 3pm and 6.30pm (except August) the last one will be the 12th September. There is a mix of local produce, including Popes sausages, Godsells cheese, Days cider, Stroud brewery, bread, cakes, honey, plants etc, also a variety of craft stalls, books, bric-a-brac, memorabilia and collectables. There is also a community table where anyone can sell plants, fruit and veg with no upfront fees. The playgroup organise a cafe with drinks, cakes and ice-creams.

This is the second year we have been organising the market and it has been very popular. We usually have about 28 stalls and it is generally well attended.

11^th July The ultimate punch line!

How will your death fit into the story of your life? How do you want to be remembered? Join author of Intelligent Designing for Amateurs, Nimue Brown and gothic artist Tom Brown to consider last words, epitaphs, obituaries and punch lines. There will be cake, and comedy, alongside the morbidity. This is part of Stroud’s ‘Clocking Off’ festival.

11^th July, Black Books Cafe, Stroud, Gloucestershire £2.50 on the door

12^th July – Clocking Off Festival, Stroud’s first festival dedicated to death. http://www.subscriptionrooms.org.uk/event_view.asp?pid=12&pgid=&eid=9495 It is in understanding death that we come to appreciate life.

You are invited to take a look at plastics recycling, here in Stroud Venue:  BPI Recycled Products, Bath Road Trading Estate, Stroud Date 10th July, Time 11am Date:   15th July, Time: 7pm

Stroud Valleys Project is Stroud’s local “green space guardian”. As well as protecting, caring for and nurturing Stroud’s local green spaces we champion the sustainability of our local environment and support recycling of all kinds. We would like to invite a select number of guests to come on a tour of the Stroud plant and see local plastics recycling in action. We hope you would like to join us and take part in this rare opportunity. Places are limited and whilst there is no cost involved we invite you to make a donation to our recycling bucket on the day.

Local company, British Polythene Industries or BPI, enjoys an enviable reputation as the leader in the field of polyethylene recycling. BPI is a leading manufacturer and supplier of polythene film (and other products) and they have a manufacturing plant, here, in Stroud on the Bath Road Industrial Estate. The Stroud plant is one of BPI’s four UK manufacturing sites.

BPI is the largest recycler of polyethylene in Europe with the ability to reprocess in excess of 80,000 tonnes each year of post-use material from commercial, retail, industrial and agricultural markets across its Environmental Agency Accredited Sites. Its major products include refuse sacks, recycling sacks, construction membranes, Plaswood street furniture and gas protection membranes.

BPI tell us that their remit includes the promotion of the re-use, recycling and recovery of materials; to improve the environmental performance of their processes by reducing emissions and energy use and to minimise waste, as well as controlling noise and being a responsible and good neighbour. They are also committed to the development of new products and processes using recycled materials and to supporting initiatives which benefit the environment.

We think this will be a fascinating tour of the plant where visitors will gain, first-hand, an insight into the re-use and repurposing of a day-to-day material. We hope you will be able to join us.

To reserve your place or find out more about this visit to BPI, please contact Julie Wickham at Stroud Valleys Project on 01453 753358  or email info@stroudvalleysproject.org

P.S. As well as putting money in our collection box, you can now donate by text.              

        Just text RSVP14 followed by the £ sign and the amount you wish to donate. (i.e. £10).

Fire Springs  - Events Bulletin – Special Event July 2014

Following the celebrations of Laurie Lee, Kevan Manwaring and Jay Ramsay have organised a special day in the George Room at the Sub Rooms in Stroud, which features talks, a film, music and evening performance linking the Dymock Poets on the eve of the First World War (Edward Thomas, Robert Frost, Rupert Brooke et al) with Gloucestershire poets writing now; examining and celebrating shared themes of politics, Nature, relationship and spirituality in a world that War constantly leaves behind...for as long as we rationalize its existence on this planet.

Here are the details from the website of the Cotswold Word Centre:

Saturday 26 July

The Golden Room

Subscription Rooms, Stroud

Talks, Poetry, Film, Art, Music

A centenary symposium celebrating the Dymock Poets, who gathered in Gloucestershire a 100 years ago to write, walk and support each other on their creative journeys.

Featuring talks, panels and creative responses to the work of the Dymock Poets by modern Gloucestershire writers.

Programme (subject to change)

Daytime Programme (10am-5pm)

MC/Co-ordinator: Kevan Manwaring

10:00 – Brief Intro by KM, followed by Keynote Speech by special guest, Jeff Cooper, Chairman, Friends of the Dymock Poets.

The Golden Room and the Dymock Poets
Jeff Cooper is Chairman of the Friends of the Dymock Poets, and grandson of Lascelles Abercrombie. He has a long-standing interest in the poetry of the Edwardian period, having written and edited a number of articles, books and journals. He is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Gloucestershire.

10.30am Edward Thomas, Edward Garnett, and the Pursuit of Literary Worth

A talk on Edward Garnett (publisher of the Dymocks) by Anthony Nanson. Q&A

Edward Thomas was one of a cohort of great writers (including D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, H.E. Bates, W.H. Hudson, and many others) who were mentored by the editor and critic Edward Garnett. Beginning with Garnett’s association with Thomas, this talk examines the continuing relevance of Garnett’s vision for literature of worth and commitment.

Anthony Nanson is the author of Exotic Excursions, Gloucestershire Folk Tales, Words of Re-enchantment, and forthcoming Deep Time and co-editor of Storytelling for a Greener World. He teaches creative writing at Bath Spa University and is related to Edward Garnett through his grandmother, née Barbara Newstead Garnett.

11.30 am – coffee & cakes available in cafe

11.45am Cycling after Thomas and the English – a talk by David Caddy

Inspired by Edward Thomas and his 1913 bike tour, David Caddy climbed on his bicycle and pedalled into history, literature and the history of literature.

David Caddy is a poet, essayist, critic, literary sociologist and historian. He lives and works in rural Dorset from where he has edited the international literary journal Tears in the Fence since 1984. His most recent books are a collection of belles-lettres, So Here We Are (Shearsman 2012) and a book of poetry, The Bunny Poems (Shearsman 2011). He regular publishes essays and criticism on literary and cultural matters. He was co-author of London: City of Words (2006), a literary companion, with Westrow Cooper and directed the Wessex Poetry Festival from 1995-2002 and the Tears in the Fence Festival from 2003-2005.

12.45 – Lunch-break – poetry in the cafe (tbc.)

1.45 – Cotswold Characters: John Drinkwater and Arts and Crafts Movement in the Cotswolds

In 1919 the Dymock poet John Drinkwater moved to Far Oakridge on the instigation of his friend the painter William Rothenstein and there found another community of creative people living the simple life. In the 1890s a group of young architects, Gimson and the Barnsleys, moved to Sapperton and soon a group of makers, artists and writers flourished in ‘enchanted Cotswold country’. This talk explores the ideas and ideals of the Arts and Crafts Movement in Gloucestershire, the work and friendships in this community, and charts their influence in the area to this day.

Kirsty Hartsiotis is Curator of Decorative Arts and Designated Collections at the Wilson Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, where she curates the internationally renowned Arts and Crafts Movement collection. She is also a writer and storyteller, and is the author of Wiltshire Folk Tales and Suffolk Folk Tales.

2.45 – Composers in the Landscape – Richard Carder (music of Ivor Gurney), including performance of songs.

3.20 – Comfort break

3.30 – Film of ‘Severn and Somme’ – inspired by Ivor Gurney (Dymock Poet contemporary) by Redcliffe Productions, introduced by film-maker followed by Q&A

4.30 – Plenary

5.00 – Fin.

Evening Concert (7-10pm)

Start 7.30pm

MC/Co-ordinator: Jay Ramsay

A special Dymock Poets-themed showcase by a glittering array of poets, singers and storytellers.

evening performers will include Adam Horovitz, Gabriel Millar, Jehanne Mehta, Rick Vick, Richard Austin, Marion Fawlk, Angie Spencer, Steve Morris—and Anna Saunders, co-director of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival. Music from Barry Mason & Lina Lotto, the HangHang Duo (playing the extraordinary hang drum). Barry originally toured with Allen Ginsberg as his drummer.

£12.50 for daytime OR evening concert. £20 for both (in advance).

Bookings and Enquiries: 01453 760900

Warm-up Event

Friday 11 July

‘The Road Not Taken’

A one-off script-in-hand performance of a new play based on the lives of the Dymock Poets by K. Manwaring/T. James.

Theatre at Mr Twitchett’s, Subscription Rooms, Friday 11 July, free/donations.

FFI: here

Tickets from Subs on  01453 760 900 or www.subscriptionrooms.org.uk

Not to be missed!

Songs of Change – meets on Tuesday nights at Paganhill Maypole Village Hall. We are led by Sophie Sterckx (formerly “Greatorex”). This is an open group drawing on songs from about peace, the earth, equality, etc. 

Community RePaint

Could we have one of these in Stroud?

Community RePaint is a network of schemes that collect unwanted, surplus and leftover paint from Paint Manufacturers, DIY Retailers, Painters & Decorators, Waste Contractors and Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC), and re-distribute it to individuals, families, communities and charities in need, to improve the wellbeing of people and the appearance of places across the UK.

Decorating and personalising a home or community space can make a huge difference to the quality of life of the people who live there. The 70+ paint re-use schemes that make up the Community RePaint Network not only prevent perfectly usable paint from being wasted, but they also make it available at a price that means those least able to afford to decorate, have the opportunity to improve their surroundings.

Community RePaint schemes are run by a whole variety of organisations, from not-for-profit organisations that want to assist families on a low income and protect the environment, to local authorities wanting to reduce waste disposal costs whilst helping the local community. Operational for over 20 years, Community RePaint is continuing to grow, aiming to ensure that people can access a local Community RePaint scheme wherever they live in the UK.

If you are part of a community group, environmental organization, charity or local authority and would like to run a Community RePaint scheme, or if you are already collecting paint for re-use and would like to become part of the national network, then check out the website or contact repaint@resourcefutures.co.uk

Recycling survey

Image by Russ

Stroud District Council are conducting a survey that will inform recycling services in the future. It only takes a few minutes to fill in, and you can decide how anonymous you want your answers to be. Taking the time to fill this in will help local decision making and gives you an opportunity to have your say about recycling issues that matter to you. Visit this site to have your say.

Tis the season for lots of landfill

This came in from www.vision21.org.uk  so we’re sharing the bits relevant to Stroud with a few additional comments. All the opinion-based stuff in here can be attributed to me.

In Gloucestershire we generate nearly 30,000 tonnes of waste throughout the festive period, creating almost five extra sacks of waste per typical family household (Source: Recycle for Gloucestershire, Nov 2012).

Christmas trees - can be put out for collection with your refuse in the two weeks between 6th and 13th January. Christmas trees up to 1.5m tall can be left out whole and trees larger than this should be cut down before being put out for collection. Between 2nd and 20th January, large skips for tree recycling can be found throughout the district at the following locations -- the trees  will be taken for shredding and the material composted:

 * Berkeley-- Library Car Park
 * Bussage -- Village Hall
 * Cainscross -- Council Car Park
 * Cam-- Tesco Car Park
 * Dursley -- Dursley Pool Car Park
 * Haresfield -- Blooms Garden Centre
 * Leonard Stanley -- Pavilion Car Park
 * Minchinhampton -- Dr Browns Road
 * Nailsworth -- Wyevale Garden Centre
 * Slimbridge -- Royal British Legion Car Park
 * Stroud -- Cheapside Car Park
 * Whitminster -- Highfield Garden World
 * Wotton under Edge -- Chipping Car Park
 * Upton St Leonards**-- Perry Orchard.

Christmas cards - These can be put into the kerbside recycling boxes, or recycled at the cardboard banks at bring sites around the town. Some charities recycle Christmas cards as a way of raising money, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for those, too.

Wrapping paper - Unfortunately, wrapping paper cannot be accepted for recycling as it is often dyed or laminated, or contains non-paper additives such as gold and silver coloured shapes. Glitter and plastics cannot be recycled. If you want to be really green over the festive period, do consider how you wrap gifts in the first place.

We do not have special doorstep collection for food waste. Please consider composting where this is appropriate – uncooked vegetable matter especially. Please consider freezing and re-using leftovers. As a country we throw away a shocking amount of perfectly edible food.

The amount that we buy over Christmas just to throw away, is difficult to justify if you care at all about environmental impact. It is a season of outrageous waste. Anything you can do over the festive period to reduce your impact, through recycling, more careful shopping, and re-use, will help to make a difference. How much of your Christmas budget are you going to spend in order to send things to landfill? We can, and should do better.

Burning issues in local politics

By Gerald Hartley

There are many reasons to oppose burning of waste - it destroys materials that will become in short supply and could be recycled, and they aren't efficient in how they use the heat. Financially incinerators are a gamble - the facilities require long term contracts which cannot then allow a flexible response to likely changes in waste creation. The alternatives are now favoured by government and the EU which also wants to ban incinerators from burning anything that can be recycled. You might think the Labour Party would have a principled opposition to them by now.

Despite all of this, Worcestershire County Council is going to build an incinerator at Hartlebury. The National Audit Office says it wants to examine the financial deal. Two Green Party county councillors proposed a motion to get it stopped. Here is the Labour Party response.

Labour Councillor Richard Udall, chairman of WCC's scrutiny board, said: "I totally oppose this motion because I think it's unnecessary. If we thought this was needed, we'd have found time. It's been scrutinised for over 15 years, other options have been looked at and rejected, and this motion is designed to pander to a few protesters."

There are real concerns over the health impact of air pollution, and the World Health Authority recognises its contribution to causing cancer. We should be wary of any proposal to put more pollution into the atmosphere. The refusal to consider the dangers of incineration or to look at realistic alternatives, is appalling.

 

Councillor Peter Mc-Donald, Labour group leader, said: "We need this incinerator up and running as quickly possible - we are running out of landfill space and the taxes on it are going up and up."

The evidence is that government taxes on landfilling have worked so well that the UK has met all its EU targets. In a couple of years the UK will have more alternatives to landfill than it needs. Some of that overcapacity will be recycling via MBT plants, but sadly, incineration will also play a big part.

Tory Councillor John Campion said: "He (Cllr Udall) is spot on - it's almost like they haven't got the answer they wanted, so they have decided to come back and ask again. So there we have it. Another Tory/Labour agreement to ignore the local community, do a deal with big business and to hell with the environment, public health and future generations. So hurrah for the Greens for asking again. Mainstream politicians seem to have forgotten that the point of democracy is public service, not serving the few at the expense of the majority.

 

(Photo "Fire" by Federico Stevanin via http://www.freedigitalphotos.net )

Burning issues

What happens to your waste? In an ideal world, it would be good to reuse and recycle or compost everything that goes into the bins. It’s cleaner than landfill, and more sustainable. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that reclaiming materials from waste saves resources, and as we have finite resources and just the one planet, it seems a good idea to recycle as much as we can. That should be a no-brainer.

We all know that burning things releases carbon dioxide. More often than not, it also puts other unwanted chemicals into the atmosphere, too.

 

So with that in mind, you’d probably think that no sane person would suggest burning rubbish as a solution to household waste. It’s so 19^th century, and we’re so much wiser than that, right?

 

Sadly  not.

Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) and Urbaser Balfour Beatty want to build a huge waste incinerator in the Severn Vale. It’s already been turned down by planning permission, so they’re fighting it.

To quote from the petition site, “It would burn recyclable materials and discourage recycling, produce persistent organic pollutants in its residues and cost local taxpayers c.£500 million over 25 years. We prefer cheaper, safer, less visually intrusive, environmentally friendly alternatives such as small MBT and AD plants. The Cotswold Conservation Board, CPRE, Natural England, Stroud District Council and thousands of local residents object to this proposal.”

You can sign the petition here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43257

In a recent press release, Cllr Sarah Lunnon said, “GCC’s fascination with burning our natural resources is political – the new Tory administration in 2005 cancelled the Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) waste project that was being developed. It could not then be seen to choose the Lib/Lab solution again during the replacement tendering process. In fact that MBT solution would be operable by now, saving considerable amounts of landfill and landfill tax.”

Building an incinerator is not about science, or saving money. It’s not about safe and sustainable solutions to waste, or the good of the community. It’s about the Tories refusing to back good ideas from other parties. It is not the job of politicians to try and score points in this way.

However, it’s not all bad news. These insane, polluting monsters can be stopped, as campaigners in London have recently proved.

LONDON Green Euro-MP Jean Lambert has welcomed the decision to scrap plans for a massive rubbish treatment plant in north London, in the face of opposition from community, environmental and human rights groups. Ms Lambert, the capital’s Green Party MEP, said: “I am delighted that the North London Waste Authority has decided to ditch the proposals for Pinkham Way treatment plant. It’s a massive victory for local campaigners. Now the North London Waste Authority should think about using existing sites more effectively, working to reduce household waste levels, and building smaller sites, closer to where the waste is being produced, where these prove absolutely necessary rather than developing systems that rely on on-going waste production.”

Trashed Review

The film ‘Trashed’ was shown in Stroud on Sunday the 29^th September 2013, thanks to Stroud District Council and as part of a move to tackle plastic use within the town.

The following is a review from Pat Sykes, with observations about the impact of plastic, and of how we dispose of it. Over to Pat…

I would like to share how much I enjoyed (if that's the right word) the film 'Trashed'. Very disturbing but educational. It needs to be shown to school children, though some Heads might need to contact parents about some of the content. The film, produced by Jeremy Irons, and commentated by him, swept round the world showing the most appalling effects of discarded plastics. Seas, becoming a plastic soup, rivers flowing close to impoverished families, clogged up and polluting the waters which are the life-blood of these communities.

Sea mammals are harmed by plastic objects lodging in their bodies and suffer appalling injuries. One of the most distressing films revealed mountains of plastic waste which simply builds up and has nowhere to go except into the sea, in some locations, creating some of the worst polluted eye-sores on one-time magnificent coastlines. I felt quite helpless, as I watched. I'm so careful to recycle all, and have very little landfill waste, each week. But still I use plastic bags, to my shame. I want to give them up totally and think we all need help to identify alternatives to plastic use in our everyday lives. Since the film, I've thought seriously about not re-using water bottles and have today sourced from the Stroud Valleys Project shop, a re-usable plastic bottle which will not leach harmful pollutants, (as do ordinary plastic bottles after re-use). I am going to a meeting on 7th October to volunteer with the STOP (Stroud Opposed to Plastic Bags) 7.30pm at the town council offices in London Road.  It's open to anyone who wants to help raise awareness of this campaign. I suppose this is a start, but it looks as if we will to be very vigilant, especially keeping an eye on politicians who think that incineration will solve all our plastic waste problems.

The film showed that incineration can produce harmful dioxin emissions and this 'solution' is just too big a risk to take in the rush to sort out the globe's waste mountain. The follow-on debate touched on the incinerator campaign and I was horrified to realize that Gloucestershire County Councillors signed up to the Contract before planning permission, which we all know now was not given (and they are appealing). Even if they lose this appeal, we, as tax payers, have to fork out millions to the company involved for 'pulling out' ! We were told of Norfolk's potential bankruptcy because of a similar signing of a contract without planning. I believe we need to dig deep to find out how this can remain a legal option for contractors. How far do we need to cast the net to find this answer, I wonder, and what can we do as citizens of Stroud?

I have a lot more to learn about the science of alternatives to incineration and was cheered to learn that there are 'saner, smaller, cheaper alternatives proposed by the Glosvain campaign (www.glosvain.info).