REVIEW
Issue 9 March 2008
COVER STORY
..t
...and that’s a wrap
We report on the successes of the
Recycle for Cumbria campaign
Also inside
How are we performing?
Think before you throw at your HWRC
Recycle more in Cleator Moor
Wanna swap? - reuse on the web
A lesson in LATS - biodegradable waste Review is the partnership newsletter of Resource Cumbria.
If you would like to access more information, advice and
resources or even just keep up to date with what we are
doing visit our website resourcecumbria.org
2007/08 has been an
excellent year for our
partnership. The number
of kilograms of waste
produced per head
of the population has
decreased from 606kg
to 546kg and recycling
and composting of householder waste has
increased to 40%.
These things don’t just happen by chance, a lot
of hard work goes into achieving these levels.
We’ve brought into the partnership and used
£1.7 million of external funding to improve and
promote our services. We have introduced a
permit scheme diverting around 20,000 tonnes
of commercial waste away from our Household
Waste Recycling Centres. We’ve sold over 6000
compost bins diverting even more green waste
away from landfill. We’ve engaged over 3700
pupils in our schools, furthermore our Recycling
Rewards for Schools scheme has resulted in
approximately 42,000 homes ‘pledging’ to
recycle.
Our list of achievements is truly
impressive and when you
consider that we are still a
young partnership, really quite
amazing.
How are we performing?
It is our fundamental aim to reach a recycling level of 50% in Cumbria by 2010 and the great news is that we’re
closing in on that target. The table below highlights our performance over the last 4 years. With a concerted effort
and a bit of luck we’ll top the 40% mark the end of 2007/08.
2004/5
2005/6
2006/7
2007/8 to Q3
Allerdale
17.08% 26.62%
30.29%
37.29%
Barrow 27.55% 28.15%
27.30%
22.90% Carlisle 25.12% 27.89%
33.28%
48.31% Copeland 23.29% 27.21%
31.01%
33.56% Eden 27.45% 30.29%
40.92%
48.78%
SLDC 29.91% 34.36%
37.60%
43.18%
Cumbria 25.55% 29.94% 34.2%
39.71%
source: Combined recycling and composting percentages. BVPI Waste Management Report.
So how are we going to reach 50%?
There’s no doubt that the partnership has made excellent progress over the past couple of years and we
must build on this success - this is exactly what we will do. Our targets over the next few years are
challenging but we’ve built an excellent platform through which we can aim to achieve them.
Our future strategy has been laid out in the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy
2007 - 2020. This is available to download at resourcecumbria.org but a section of it is
highlighted below. These are our recommended options for the future waste management
in Cumbria.
I’d like to take this opportunity
to thank everybody for all
of their hard work in getting
us where we are. We should
all be proud of our genuine
achievements.
Adopt a Cumbria-wide common method of kerbside collection of dry recyclables
and garden waste as far as is reasonably practicable.
Optimise the number of Recycle Points and Household Waste Recycling Centres,
linking provision to the expansion of kerbside services and waste prevention.
Enhanced commercial waste recycling - targeting biodegradable materials.
Reducing municipal waste produced by 1% per year through waste prevention.
Maximise the benefits of recycling and composting to the local and regional
economy. Increased treatment capacity to minimise landfill of municipal waste and
accommodate third party waste.
Graham Harrison
Head of Waste Management
Cumbria County Council
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Councillor Ian Stewart
Cumbria County Council
[email protected]
Councillor Bryan Metz
Eden District Council
[email protected]
Councillor Brenda Woof
South Lakeland District Council
[email protected]
Councillor Geoff Blackwell
Copeland Borough Council
[email protected]
Councillor Ray Bloxham
Carlisle City Council
[email protected]
Councillor Dave Roberts
Barrow Borough Council
[email protected]
The Partnership Board meeting minutes and other
documents are available at resourcecumbria.org
Councillor Sam Standage
Allerdale Borough Council
[email protected]
Meet the members
Further reduce reliance on landfill by increasing treatment capacity.
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Think before you
throw at your HWRC
...and that’s a WRAP.
It’s been 18 months of hard work for those involved in Resource Cumbria, but as
our Government funded behavioural change campaign draws to close the results
are in - Recycle for Cumbria has been a resounding success.
Since completing the majority of the campaign work
towards the end of last year we embarked on our post
campaign monitoring to answer the most important
question of all - did it work?
Throughout the campaign we communicated with
a huge number of people, either though advertised
messages and printed information or face to face
at roadshows or on doorsteps. And these efforts are
certainly evident. Within the space of a year, of the
Cumbrians we surveyed, recycling has increased across
the board. The largest increase occured with our first
target group of families who recycle occasionally - here
participation rose an incredible 11%.
Perhaps more impressive still is that fact that the
number of those considered ‘committed’ recyclers has
also increased. This term refers to individuals who will
recycle even if it requires additional effort. Amazingly,
with an 8% increase, the group who have gained more
committed recyclers than any other are our third group,
families who recycle infrequently or not at all.
Julian Diaper, Cumbria County Council’s Project
Development Officer, hails a job well done.
“Everybody involved has done a tremendous job.
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Since we embarked on the Recycle for Cumbria
campaign in October 2006 we’ve accomplished a
great deal - you need only look though the campaign
highlights to see that. However any project can only be
judged on it’s success. You have to achieve what you
set out to do and we’ve certainly done that”
“While ultimately it boils down to increasing recycling
levels we can’t understate the importance of raising
awareness of the issues within Cumbria as well.
Through our collective campaign work and over
£33,000 worth of free media coverage our work
generated, we’ve done just that too.
Emma Marsh, WRAP Local Communications Project
Manager was also keen to offer her congratulations.
“The Cumbria Waste Partnership behavioural change
campaign has been a genuine success with some
fantastic increases seen in residents participation in
their recycling schemes and a real reduction in
contamination of recycling containers. Both the
partnership and residents should feel really proud of
their achievements and we look forward to working
with them in the future to continue to build on this
excellent accomplishment..”
Campaign
highlights
Family focused Christmas recycling
campaign aimed at encouraging
the use of recycling services over the
festive season
Countywide Golf Tournament and
associated Junk Art Competition
hosted by John Craven.
Bingo themed recycling campaign
featuring bus and press advertising
and a recycling competition in the
county’s free newspapers.
The creation of a dedicated recycling
helpline.
A series of recycling roadshows
The development of a library of
resources to encourage consistent
partnership communications including
an image library, an advertising style
and a newsletter template.
The employment of three recycling
rangers to help engage with
Cumbrian householders.
The creation of a householder
recycling pack for each district
highlighting all of the various recycling
services available in the area.
The distribution of 164,000 copies of
the ‘Recycling Times’ newspaper
supplement.
Resource Cumbria and Cumbria Waste Management (CWM)
- the Cumbria County Council owned company which runs
Cumbria’s Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) - are
asking householders across the county to ‘think before they
throw’ in an effort to further improve recycling rates.
The campaign is a drive to encourage people to make sure they
separate out recyclable material before throwing their bin bags
into the general waste skip at their HWRC.
HWRCs are recycling centres to help people to recycle as much
as possible and allow them to dispose properly of difficult or
bulky items such as engine oil, old TVs and furniture as well as
other recyclables like plastic, paper and garden waste.
However, far too much of the material going into HWRC general
waste has not had recyclable material taken out. In fact, when
CWM investigated the issue by sifting through the contents of
general waste skips at eight of the county’s 13 HWRCs, they
found that around 30 per cent was recyclable material.
With 35,941 tonnes going into the general waste skips of HWRCs
in 2006/7, that means that almost 11,000 tonnes of recyclable
material was last year sent to landfill when it could have been
recycled.
The eight week ‘Think Before You Throw’ campaign will target
the problem with specially trained staff at the county’s three
busiest HWRCs (Bousteads Grassing in Carlisle, Flusco in
Eden and the Barrow site) offering advice and information on
segregating recyclable materials from general waste.
Ian Stewart, Cumbria County Council cabinet member
responsible for waste management, said: “We want to stop
people simply bringing black bags full of waste that include
items that should be recycled and throwing the lot into the nonrecyclable waste skips. We want to encourage people to use the
sites as recycling centres and will be promoting good practice
and urging everyone to think about what they are bringing and
about whether it can be recycled instead.”
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This March saw the first of the Resource Cumbria ‘intensive’ waste prevention campaigns. These
campaigns comprise a concerted effort between county and district colleagues to increase recycling
in areas with low uptake. Here’s how we intend to encourage people to...
Recycle more in Cleator Moor
The two week campaign kicked off at the end
of February when every household in the town
received a door drop of one of our recycling
services householder packs and also a leaflet
explaining how to participate in a fantastic
competition.
The ‘Great Cleator Moor Recycling Giveaway’
will see everyone who uses their black recycling
box given entry into a prize draw every time they
use it as part of the recycling scheme. The reward
is the chance to win up to a total of £1000 worth
of vouchers to spend at the town’s Co-operative
supermarket.
The intensive campaign is not just about door
drops and competitions however; officers from
both district and county, along with all three
recycling rangers, have been actively hitting the
road visiting all manner of local venues to talk to
people and encourage them to recycle.
“It’s been a busy two weeks that’s for sure” said
Recycling Ranger Judith Bradshaw. “We’ve been
to schools holding assemblies and led activity
sessions at youth groups and the brownies. We
even managed to get a kerbside collection vehicle
at one of the local primary schools so we could
show the children exactly what happens when their
black box gets collected. Some of them even had a
go themselves.
“Children are really important to Cumbria’s
environment as afterall they are the recyclers of
tomorrow. However we need results today so we’ve
also been talking to as many adults as possible.
We‘ve held roadshows and recycling clinics all over
the town and been able to not only offer advice
and encouragement but also resolve problems
that householders have now. The most important
of which being helping those who are unable to
recycle. Throughout the two weeks we managed
to give out 260 new black boxes. If each of these
is taken away and used this alone could result in
17.4 tonnes* being diverted from landfill over the
year.
* Based on an average annual Cleator Moor recycling container weight of 67 kilograms
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George Clements, deputy leader of Copeland
Borough Council, said, “I am delighted that we are
able to promote recycling in Cleator Moor. Many
people are aware of the reasons for recycling, and
the ways that they can do it, but it is important we
get this message out to as many more people as
possible. I feel confident that by promoting our
services, which we have worked hard to improve
– particularly with the kerbside scheme, we can
increase recycling in the area, and throughout
Copeland.”
Ian Stewart, chairman of Resource Cumbria and
Cumbria County Council cabinet member for
waste management, said, “This is a great scheme
to help get more people recycling more of their
waste. We are doing well all over Cumbria with
the improvement in recycling rates for household
waste but we can do much more. This is a way
of making sure everyone knows what they
can do to help benefit the environment
by keeping waste out of landfill and
to help keep down the cost of waste
disposal for Council Tax payers.”
The intensive campaigns are not
just about recycling though, we are
encouraging both reduce and reuse
practices too. Recycling ranger Mark
Buchanan explains how. “We’ve been
tackling plastic carrier bags in a big
way. We’ve held two plastic bag amnesties
at the local Co-op where we’ve been able to
spread the 3Rs message while helping people pack
their groceries into a reusable bag for life. We’ve
even developed a slightly cooler ‘Teenage DirtBag’
to encourage younger shoppers to reuse”.
Copeland Borough Council will be monitoring
Cleator Moor closely over the next couple of
months to see how successful the campaign has
been. The next stage is to roll the formula out to
other areas in the County. So who knows, you
might see the Resource Cumbria team up close
and in person in a town near you soon.
Wanna Swap?
A couple of years ago there was a story in the news
about a Canadian man who swapped a paper clip for
a house. Balderdash I hear you say! We’ll tis true. He
started with a paper clip swapped it for a pen. He then
swapped the pen for a door knob. Then the door knob
for a camping stove. A series of 14 trades ensued, all
bigger and better than the last. He ended up with a
house in the town of Kipling in Canada.
True story!
Anyway the point is that people love to swap. And why
do we love doing this so much? Quite simply so that we
can get something that we want for something that we
don’t. And it doesn’t cost us a bean.
What you maybe don’t realise though is that there is a
very real environmental benefit to swapping. If you swap
it, you don’t bin it and that’s good news for everybody.
Resource Cumbria are trying the resurrect the practice
of swapping in Cumbria through our website,
recycleforcumbria.org/swapit. Here people can post
items that they have available to swap or even highlight
items that they would like in exchange.
The brand new swap shop is just one of the new
interactive features that have been added to the recycle
for Cumbria website. The site has recently undergone
an overhaul to make it easier to navigate and so more
useful to the people of Cumbria.
Recycleforcumbria.org is the one stop shop for all
recycling service information and advice on all aspects
of the 3Rs. Why not take a few minutes to have a look
through the site and see what’s on offer.
Teenage DirtBag image courtesy of the Whitehaven News
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a lesson in
LATS
The importance of
biodegradable waste
The EU Landfill Directive, includes a
requirement for member states to achieve
phased reductions in the quantity of
Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW).
The Directive is aimed at reducing the
contribution of waste management to global
warming by reducing the amount of methane
emitted during the rotting of biodegradable
rubbish in landfill sites.
To achieve this the EU has issued targets
which limit the amount of BMW which is
sent to landfill. These targets are enforced
through the Landfill Allowance Trading
Scheme (LATS).
1
10
tonnes
MSW
NO ACTION TAKEN
So for every 10 tonnes of MSW
sent to landfill 6.8 tonnes of it
would be biodegradable and
liable for fines.
2
10
tonnes
MSW
If we then recycle or compost 1
tonne of our 6.8 tonnes only 5.8
tonnes of it would go to landfill
and be liable for fines.
3
9
tonnes
MSW
And why is it so important?
The reason biodegradable waste is so
important is that this is the single factor
which dictates how much Cumbria would
be fined under the LATS scheme. The
government states that 68% of municipal
waste is biodegradable and will issue fines
accordingly. Our main priority is to therefore
remove as much of this from the waste
stream as we can.
However, biodegradable waste is so
important to LATS calculations that as long
as we are able to recycle it, there is even
benefits to be gained from having it in
the waste stream. This is explained in the
diagram to the right.
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tonnes
MSW
LATS fines
5.8
tonnes
BMW
Lowest
LATS fines
OUR SECOND BEST ACTION
If we were to first remove a
tonne through waste reduction,
only 68% of 9 tonnes, which
would be 6.12 tonnes of
biodegradable waste, would go
to landfill and be liable for fines.
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11
BMW
OUR BEST ACTION
So what is biodegradable waste?
This is anything that is capable of undergoing
anaerobic or aerobic decomposition basically anything that rots. Things like
kitchen waste, garden waste, paper, card,
disposable nappies, wood, and textiles.
6.8
tonnes
6.12
tonnes
BMW
2nd Lowest
LATS fines
OUR THIRD BEST ACTION
If we increase the MSW by 1
tonne of biodegradable waste
but recycle it, we’d be looking at
68% of 11 tonnes which is 7.48
tonnes. But as the extra tonne
has been recycled we’d only be
dealing with 6.48 tonnes going
to landfill.
Our key LATS priority is recycling as much
biodegradable waste as possible even if it
means collecting more of it. This is the most
effective way we can limit the onerous fines
that LATS present.
6.48
tonnes
BMW
3rd lowest
LATS fines
QE
D!
Got a suggestion for REVIEW? Contact [email protected] or 01228 607773