The next Waste & Recylcing meeting is at 6.30pm on Tue 27 May at The George pub, Trafalgar Street (map). All welcome. For more info, email waste*at*transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk
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Showing posts with label waste and recycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label waste and recycling. Show all posts
The Great Reskilling – Sat 10 May
May 10th, 10-4pm, The Cowley Club, 12 London Road, Brighton (map).
There are no longer just three 'R's, now there are seven! - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair, Revamp, Restore, RESKILL!
Following on from the hugely successful Buy Nothing Day event six months previously, this will be a free community event aimed at reskilling the people of Brighton and Hove in some of the skills our grand-parents took for granted.
Workshops include: basic bike maintenance, candle-making, cloth bags, knitting, mending, electrical repair, jewellery, paper-making, nettle beer brewing, natural cleaning, hand warmers, and more...
Kids recycled art workshops running all day. A delicious vegan meal will be available at 12:30pm, £3.
This event is inspired by Transition Town Totnes and their 'Reskilling' programme, aiming to make our community more resilient in the face of climate change and fossil fuel depletion.
This one day event will mark the beginning of a range of reskilling courses and workshops held by Transition Brighton and Hove. Information will be available on the website as events are confirmed. Please get in touch if you have a skill you can share. For more information contact reskilling@transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk
Notes from Waste & Recycling group meeting – Tue 15 April
Notes by Jessica Gwynne. For more info, contact waste*at*transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk
1. As of now Mel has persuaded the Peace and Environment Centre to become a 'drop off' point for milk bottle (plastic screw) tops, which she collects for recycling...
2. In relation to the ongoing campaign against a major incineration plant being built at Newhaven, from 1 - 5 May there will be Direct Action training available at the Cowley Club - 52 Providence Place entrance at the back.
If you are interested in helping organisationally, please leave contact details at the Cowley Club for Peter.
3. Jo's Great Re - Skilling to take place at the Cowley Club on Saturday 10 May - the preparations continue apace - confirmed workshops include:
Recycled candlemaking; Doly's handwarmers; Cloth bags, baggies, cushions & make do and mend; Knitting, crochet, patchwork and weaving carrier bags out of plastic ones; papermaking; electrical repairs. The flyer will be out by the coming weekend.
IF YOU'D LIKE TO DO A WORKSHOP PLEASE LET US KNOW; ALSO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PROVIDING FOOD, WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU
- This announcement was followed by a discussion on the viability of running some of the workshops over further consecutive weeks, and it was agreed that the best way forward would be to assess how they go on the 10th first!
4. Public Meeting at the Brighthelm Centre on June 19 on the subject of waste - speakers already confirmed - Peter Jones/Biffa and Professor Marie Harder/University of Brighton - It won't be just a talking heads event - there'll be stuff to involve the audience, local recycling providers etc
NEXT WaRTiG meeting will be at the George again on Tuesday 6th May.
Council consultation on their Waste Plan – Mon 7 April
The council are carrying out a public consultation on their Waste and Minerals Development Framework at the Jubilee Library Conference Rooms, between 6 and 8pm on Mon 7 April. If you are interested in the future of waste in Brighton, please go along and make your views known. More info here.
Notes from Waste & Recycling group meeting – Tue 4 March
Notes from WaRTIG meeting 4.3.08, taken by Jessica Gwynne
Jo/Alice/Mel and Jess were there.
1. Previous: Lack of momentum - meetings left a feeling that people really aren't interested in the subject: BUT NOT ANY MORE!!
2. Mel talked about 2 years spent doing research - trying to increase awareness of reducing/re - using in B&H - set about it looking at her own life and how she dealt with stuff she didn't need any more - each time there was something that there wasn't an established recycling facility for, she'd contact the Council and ask around - did a stall at Hove Station and the Farmers Market to talk to people about recycling and get discussion into the community - set up a website - http://www.thegreencentre.co.uk/ -idea being that every possible recycling scheme is on the website, updated weekly - soon getting a double decker bus to travel around and get the recycling message out to places where people congregate (eg Tesco's) - also doing workshops in schools and businesses
Mel handled half a ton of screw - on plastic milk bottle tops in the last 6 months - there's a company in Portsmouth that granulates them, then the stuff goes to another company in the Midlands which mnakes them into stuff like binbags and garden furniture
3. Alice asked about community composting - definitely an area that needs to be looked at in B&H
4. Jo - the Great re - Skilling - Cowley Club 10 May 10 till 4 - following on from vv successful Buy Nothing Day last November, the next -the Great Re - Skilling - will be on 10 May - during Brighton Festival: so far -
Beth has volunteered to do 3 workshops inc. papermaking and wormeries
Alice will be involved in a Fixing Things workshop; patching/darning/mending/sewing on buttons etc
NEED more people to do workshops
ALSO HELP wanted to set up and be there on the day
Suggestions
- get people to bring fresh herbs from their gardens for tea
5. Purpose for the group:
?Closing the loop; finding and recommending sustainable solutions for dealing with Recycling and "Waste" in Brighton and Hove?
6. Jess - idea of setting out a brief for an audit from a long term Sustainability point of view(defining sustainability along Gaian lines) of how Recycling and "Waste" is dealt with in B&H, from a list of ALL perceived 'waste streams' and recycling streams; a snapshot of the companies that currently deal with it and their processes, networks and geographical locations; concluding with what IS sustainable, and what isn't, with sustainable recommendations.
NEXT MEETING TBA (asap)
No Plastic Bag week – 1–8 March
In Brighton and Hove a "no plastic bag week" will be held between March 1 and 8, when councillors hope shoppers will use their own bags and not accept free plastic carriers at the tills.
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Waste & Recycling meeting – Mon 11 February
The next Waste & Recycling meeting is at 6pm on Mon 11 Feb in the Cowley Meeting House, 52 Providence Place (map).
For more information contact Jessica at jessica*at*jessican.co.uk
Films + speakers: Hawai'i – Message in the Waves at Duke of Yorks – Sun 3 February
Plastic Bag Free Brighton are screening Hawai'i – Message in the Waves at 1.30pm on Sun 3 February at the Duke of York cinema, Preston Circus (map), the film made by Rebecca Hosking that kick started the successful Modbury plastic bag-free campaign (watch the trailer). Free entry/donations.
Following this are 2 award winning short films made by Balfour juniors school about plastic bags, plus a short talk by local artist Lou McCurdy, who spent a year collecting plastic from Brighton beach and made an installation from it.
Plus more speakers to be announced.
Meeting: Waste & Recycling group – Thu 24 January
The next meeting of the Waste & Recycling group will be at 6pm on Thu 24 January at the Cowley Club – please use the entrance at 52 Providence Place (map). All welcome.
For more information email jessica*at*jessican.co.uk
Meeting: Waste & Recycling group – Tue 8 January
The next meeting of the Waste & Recycling group will be at the Park Crescent pub (map) on Tuesday 8 January from 7 pm onwards. See notes from the last meeting here.
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Notes from first meeting: Waste & Recycling group – Tue 11 December
Ten people came to the first WaRTIG meeting; Discussion ranged from recycling ideas to composting to education and beyond. Notes taken by Jessica Gwynne.
(To be put on the mailing list for this group, either email the website or, if you are registered on the forum join the Waste and Recycling usergroup – click on the link in the top row of the forum main page.)
The group will in time be putting forward the Waste and Recycling part of the Energy Descent Action Plan for Transition Brighton&Hove, and in order to start the process off, we each voiced some initial thoughts:
We need to think about closing the loop - ‘moving people up a step’
people must take back their autonomy - composting schemes - could have community collection point; why not a subset of Freecycle to match up recyclables? Also get schools involved - ‘energy detectives’ etc
Have waste disposal and recycling facilities based in, say, six ‘community areas’ across Brighton and Hove
Should be more self - determination - we should learn to look after ourselves using permaculture principles as underlying basis. We should all talk to as many others as we can about Transition Town ideas - person to person is the most sustainable method
Lets have a system where everything inside your house can be re - used. Need to find ways of making it easy for people to not throw stuff away. Education.
Would like people to feel they can use less - when you do buy, the whole cycle begins again
What about punishment for not doing the right thing? Ask Council for copy of report from recycling research/consultation exercise; kitchen waste collection would be a good idea
Would like to see commmercial food waste collection - also encourage supermarkets to stop producing plastic wrappers
Why not get supermarkets and suppliers to recycle their own packaging. Also consider other ways of dealing with sewage - other countries convert it into fertiliser
Find out what the council does with green waste - Jo is going to copy and paste the council waste and recycling list into the forum to enable Sean to carry out his research
There was discussion of how to encourage people to recycle/develop awareness of the issues;
- One way of doing this would be to build towards a Public Meeting sometime in the Spring, and Peter Jones from Biffa has already offered to speak; we would also need a local ‘champion’ to speak from the particular perpective of Brighton and Hove: Ideas?
next meeting: Park Crescent Tuesday 8 January 7 pm onwards
Links:
ones to do with the recent withdrawal of the incinerator pollution permit:
The Argus: Why was incinerator information withheld
www.dove2000.org.uk
Decision notice 2007 (pdf)
www.storyofstuff.com (short film)
Gaian Democracies by Roy Madron and John Jopling (book)
(www.greenbooks.co.uk)
STOP PRESS: Send objections to the Newhaven incinerator
We have received notice that East Sussex County Council have given until 7 November for people to raise objections to the latest plans for the incinerator at North Quay, Newhaven. If you wish to send an objection letter, please get them off right away. Sample letters here, here and here (please personalise them if possible). More information here.
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Plastic Bag Free Brighton success
Plasticbagfreebrighton.co.uk is pleased to announce a brilliant result for the campaign, the site and for Brighton & Hove.
Following an overwhelming majority vote in favour of the motion, Brighton & Hove Councillors have launched an official bid to ban plastic bags from the city. The local authority is lobbying the government, the city's three MPs and the Local Government Association for an outright ban on plastic bags in Brighton & Hove.
The continued efforts of this and similar campaigns across the city, holding talks and meetings with local councillors Gill Mitchell and Amy Kennedy, has helped bring this about.
Click here to read the full article in the Argus.
So what happens now?
We're obviously delighted with the result but the emphasis on individual responsibility is not diminished! A ban will take time to implement, so we can all support our local retailers by continuing to use reusable bags in the meantime.
Keep raising awareness
There are so many benefits to you, your business, the local community and the global community of becoming the first plastic bag free city. Keep raising that awareness - this isn't my campaign it's ours. Plasticbagfreebrighton.co.uk is a resource, spread the word by forwarding this email to your mates, family, colleagues and keep this issue buzzing!
Need a reminder why plastic bags are an issue?
Watch this great short film to see why: PLASTIC PLANET: THE CURSE OF THE CARRIER BAG
• A person uses a plastic carrier bag on average for only 12 minutes*
• A plastic bag can take between 500 to 1000 years to break down in the environment
• Plastic bag litter is lethal in the marine environment, killing at least 100,000 birds, whales, seals and turtles every year. After an animal is killed by plastic bags, its body decomposes and the plastic is released back into the environment, where it can kill again
• In the UK at least 200 million plastic bags end up as litter, potentially ending up on our beaches, streets and parks ever year
• Contrary to popular belief...plastic shopping bags aren't FREE...they are a cost to retailers, to our environment and to us...and we could do without them, as there are many other sustainable alternatives to use instea
• 47% of windborne litter escaping from landfills is plastic - much of it plastic bags
• Plastic bags do not biodegrade, they photodegrade - break down into smaller and smaller bits, contaminating soil, waterways and oceans, and entering the food chain when ingested by animals
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