February 2010

Project update meetings

In January and February update meetings are being held throughout West Sussex. These are a great way for Waste Prevention Advisors to update each other on what they are doing and develop new ideas. Recent activities have included:

Sue Harris who writes a column on waste issues in Selsey Life Magazine http://www.selseylife.co.uk/Decwebpages.pdf 

Ken, Grainne, Trevor, Allan and Andrew held a workshop at the Cameo Club in Crawley with almost 100 people attending. These interactive workshops have been running in Crawley for the past few years and include looking at which items can be recycled, sharing tips on reducing waste and the problems with food waste.

December 2009

Over 30 volunteers came together for an update event at Cisswood House. Phill Russell, Head of Waste Management at West Sussex County Council gave a presentation on the current state of waste management in the county and 5 existing volunteers gave presentations on projects they have been involved in.

Congratualtions to all the new volunteers that completed the recent courses in Horsham & Worthing!

CONGRATULATIONS

Dear All,

Yet more plaudits for your LARAC award !

Councillor Derek Whittington, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport, publicly congratulated and thanked all those involved in winning the LARAC "Best Waste Prevention Project" award at a full County Council meeting on 16th October 2009.

Kieran Stigant, Director of Customer and Communities has asked that these congratulations be passed on to you and adds his own.

Phill Russell, Head of Waste Management, has also asked to add a personal message saying

"This is a great achievement and it is good to get this recognition from our local Members because its with their support that we can continue to change the culture in West Sussex via the excellent efforts and dedication of the WPAs."

OCTOBER 2009 

Phil Townrow WPA and Better Tomorrows Director and Penny Line went to the prestigious LARAC Awards in Liverpool on 7th November and collected the award for the 'BEST WASTE MINIMISATION OR PREVENTION PROJECT '  on behalf of the Waste Prevention Advisor Scheme.

WEST SUSSEX WIN 2ND AWARD IN AS MANY WEEKS

A PACESETTING recycling drive in West Sussex has scooped a top national award.

The campaign has led to West Sussex residents recycling an average of 11 kg (about 22lbs) of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) per person - almost twice as much as the national average.

It won the Electrical and Electronic Recycler of the Year category at the National Recycling Awards.

The awards recognise the achievements of recycling and waste management projects across the country from both the public and private sectors.

The drive got underway in July 2007, following new legislation that enabled residents to recycle all WEEE goods, from cookers to mobile phones, at West Sussex County Council’s network of 11 Household Waste Recycling Sites (HWRS).

The sites, which are operated by Viridor, provide easily accessible and dedicated containers for all unwanted electrical goods, identified with colourful pink signs. The collected items are subsequently recycled by approved treatment facilities.

Phillip Russell, the County Council’s Head of Waste Management, said: "The success of the drive reflects the fantastic cooperation that exists between the County, Viridor and our community.

"The response from public has been outstanding. The end result is 8000 tonnes of recovered materials that would otherwise be destined for landfill. "

Derek Whittington, County Council Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, said: "This initiative goes a step further in our quest to become leaders in waste prevention and recycling."

Bill Griffiths, National Recycling Manager at Viridor added: "I’m delighted the judges have recognised that the system we’ve put in place at the HWRS network is collecting significant quantities of electrical goods. The benefits are helping to conserve valuable resources and divert materials away from landfill."

Ends…

 NOVEMBER

What is 10:10?
West Sussex County Council has become one of the founding signatories to a new climate change campaign: 10:10. This campaign is striving to encourage us all to reduce our carbon footprints by 10% in 2010.

As part of the Corporate Sustainability Programme the County Council has already pledged to meet this target, and has been working on achieving it since the beginning of this year.

Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources Louise Goldsmith said: "The County Council has pledged its support to 10:10. We're already a leading authority in sustainability and have big plans to reduce our energy and water usage at all County Council buildings and schools."

We have established an Energy and Water Management Project which has installed draught proofing at County Hall and has further plans to draught proof  The Tannery and Littlehampton Library. The Project also plans to work more closely with schools to reduce their emissions, and is currently starting a pilot project with a small group of schools.

We are also considering the carbon implications of our service redesigns, and support is available for all service redesigns projects to quantify the energy embedded in the delivery of a service and highlight its most energy-intensive processes in a detailed carbon 'footprint' report.

We are reducing our emssions by investing in renewables and improving our fleet. More infomation about these initatives can be accessed from links above.

Why 10% in 2010?
Scientists say world carbon dioxide emissions must peak and begin to fall within the next few years. That means we need large emissions reductions in the developed world as quickly as possible. The longer we leave it, the smaller our chances of avoiding the damaging consequences of global warming.

Where has the campaign come from?
The 10:10 campaign has been created by Franny Armstrong, director of the climate change film 'Age of Stupid', shortly due for national public release. A number of high-profile figures including artists, writers, chefs and sportsmen have agreed to sign up and support the campaign, as well as businesses, public bodies and voluntary organisations.

How can I sign-up?
We are also inviting all staff and residents within the County to become involved and make a simple 10% cut in their carbon over the next year.

The first 10% is easy to do. It's all about saving energy at home and cutting down on unnecessary journeys. Not only will this save you money, but if you apply these practices at work, you will be helping us meet a number of our Corporate Sustainability Programme objectives too. For example, reducing our energy use and reducing the amount of miles we travel.

All participants need to do is pledge to cut their emissions by 10% in 2010. For further information on 10:10 and to pledge your support, visit the website at www.1010uk.org.

We're on board, are you?