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News for May 2008
| Community E-Bulletin May 2008 | |
| Organics | |
| Reuse & | - TREE becomes an ARC more... |
| Recycling | - Recycle Now Week more... |
| Networking | - Local Food Programme more... |
| Eastern | - Resource Awards more... |
| Region | - Free left-overs from Chelsea Flower show more... |
Local News · Voluntary Sector News · Regional + National News · Funding News
Awards · Volunteering · Website of the Month · Freebies
LOCAL NEWS
Reusing Rooms
The event was organised by ECORRN in partnership with Essex County Council and took place in High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Chelmsford.
Everything in the shop had been donated to charity by residents of Essex. The display showed a small sample of the range and quality of items available from local furniture projects and charity shops.
The aim of the event was to encourage people to donate items that are simply too good to throw away, giving them a new lease of life as someone else's prized possession.
We also provided information on where to buy these affordable pieces of furniture. Visitors were also offered the opportunity to bid in a silent auction on the items displayed, as well as receiving two energy-saving lightbulbs for pledging to reduce their carbon emissions.
The event: • Had 1713 visitors over 11 days • Raised £589.50 for the participating charities • Resulted in 194 completed energy surveys and pledges • Will save 272kg of CO2 per year through energy-saving lights and power-downs TREE becomes an ARC Congratulations are in order to Tendring Reuse & Employment Enterprise for becoming one of only eight Approved Re-Use Centres in the country, and the only one in the Eastern Region. The award is issued by the Furniture Reuse Network following a rigorous audit process. Mark Penn, Chief Executive, said he was 'delighted' by the result and saw it as the culmination of five years hard work - a tribute to everyone involved. Chelmsford furniture projects merge CROFT and TREE2 are combining to provide an enhanced furniture reuse opportunity to residents of Chelmsford. The new organization will operate from CROFT's old premises at 8 Hoffmann's Way. The merge will provide greater capacity for processing of electrical items and has allowed creation of a 'showroom' on the mezzanine floor. The news has been welcomed by Chelmsford residents, who are already queuing up to donate and purchase items. The new organization will be launched in June to coincide with Recycle Now week. Elsenham shortlisted for new 'Ecotown' status A shortlist of 15 locations that could house the Government's flagship eco-towns has been announced - and none of them will involve building on green belt. The shortlisted sites will go forward to the next stages of the application process, which includes public consultation and detailed sustainability appraisals, before the final shortlist is published later this year.
VOLUNTARY SECTOR NEWS
EU launches WEEE consultation The European Union has launched a public consultation on a review of its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, with a new mandatory collection target expected before the end of the year. The revision comes five years after the WEEE Directive was adopted into European law, but just months after the legislation, which aims to promote producer responsibility for the recycling and reuse of WEEE, was finally implemented in the UK (see letsrecycle.com story). Interested parties have until June 5 to offer their opinions on a review which aims "to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Directive in achieving its environmental goals, and to eliminate any unnecessary costs to business, consumers, NGOs and public authorities arising from implementation of the directive". The full consultation can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/consultations_en.htm You can send comments to ENV-WEEE@ec.europa.eu. To submit opinions and information on paper, please use the postal address: European Commission DG Environment, Unit G4 BU5 - 5/121 Review of Directive 2002/96/EC (WEEE) B-1049, Brussels, Belgium. Examining networks for social enterprise The Office of the Third Sector has published a report which looks into social enterprise networks in England. The research identifies national, regional, sub-regional and local networks and makes recommendations on how gaps might be addressed. Download the full report at www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/080328_social_enterprise.aspx Plan to 'unlock millions' from grant-making trusts Charities are being invited to take action if they feel that grant-making trusts are not distributing their money effectively. The Boost Initiative, run by the Community Foundation for Merseyside, wants to hear from them about trusts that are in difficulties so it can work with the Charity Commission to help them use their assets effectively. Ineffective trusts will be encouraged to give their money more efficiently through their local community foundations. Trustees who feel their own trusts are struggling to distribute money can also make use of the scheme. The foundation hopes the scheme will unlock millions for local charities. Donations website targets small charities A new website that will enable small charities to accept credit card donations aims to raise £10m for UK charities in its first year. Help.co.uk takes credit and debit card donations for any charity without charging set-up, registration or monthly fees. All eligible donations will automatically generate a Gift Aid claim, which is processed on the site. The donation will then be forwarded to the charity, minus a processing fee to cover administration costs. The service will be open to all charities but small organisations are expected to benefit most. By Hannah Jordan, Third Sector Online, 29 April 2008 Defra Research: Benefits of Third Sector Involvement in Waste Management- Your Input Needed It is widely recognised that the third sector makes significant contributions to the welfare of communities, over and above its delivery of waste management services. These include provision of jobs and training, educating the public in the need for waste minimisation and recycling and encouraging them to get involved, as well as providing refurbished household goods to families in need. The sector is also perceived to increase social welfare through, for example, increased community cohesion and social inclusion. This project will clarify and, where possible, quantify the benefits of the third sector in delivering waste management services.This is intended to help third sector organisations communicate more clearly the benefits they can deliver to local authority procurement officers. Please take a few minutes to answer this questionnaire about which third sector benefits are the most important for us to focus on in our research. www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=UD6raoRwpIE1_2f_2bBTFD7bsw_3d_3d This research is funded by Defra's Waste and Resources R&D Programme and is due to complete in June 2008. It is being delivered by Resources for Change in partnership with the New Economics Foundation, Resource Futures and Community Environment Associates. Clever Communications: Free Book for Charities Wanting to Work with the Media The Voluntary Action Media Unit has produced a free book for charities called 'Clever Communications', with articles by media and charity insiders giving an insight in to the secrets to building successful media relationships. It includes the Clever Communications Directory, listing hundreds of media contacts and useful resources for charity communicators. To be sent a free copy of the book, just email your name and address to book@vamu.org.uk.
REGIONAL + NATIONAL NEWS
Regional Directory- Changes CRN East plan to up-date and re-print their regional directory in the next month and have contacted everyone in the directory to make sure we have the correct details. If they have contacted you, and you have yet to reply, please get back to Heidi Seary as soon as possible at heidi@crn.org.uk so they can make the appropriate changes. The directory has been a huge hit with local authorities and the business community and is kept up to date on the website. Have a look at www.crn.org.uk/cwne/directory to make sure you are in there and that they have all the right information. Volunteers work for Resource Saver Over 30 volunteers have been helping Resource Saver survey businesses in Cambridgeshire to determine what they are doing with their waste. They have now seen over 300 businesses in St Neots, Ely, March, Sawston, Histon, Cambridge and Peterborough. Their work has helped build a picture of how the business community deals with their waste and the research has discovered that 61% have no recycling collections and the costs vary enormously. A detailed report about the information the volunteers have gathered has now been written and will help the county with their future work on waste reduction with the business community. If you would like an emailed copy of the report then email me at heidi@crn.org.uk. Environment Agency highlights landfill concerns Figures released by the Environment Agency have revealed an average of just seven years worth of tipping capacity in England and Wales. Although the Agency has said this does not necessarily mean the UKwill run out of landfill capacity, it noted an "urgency" in the need to cut the amount of waste we produce. The statistics, published in the form of the Waste Data Update 2006, also confirm a significant increase in the proportion of waste being sent to permitted treatment facilities between 2001 and 2006. The six year period represented in the data also saw a quadrupling in throughputs at MRFs, with the facilities dealing with five million tonnes more waste per annum. Similarly, inputs to licensed composting facilities increased by five times between 2000 and 2006, reaching a figure of 2.3 million tonnes in the last year of the new data published. 2006 saw incinerator capacity top eight million tonnes for the first time, a landmark that the report largely attributes to the opening of new municipal waste incinerators in the South East. Waste companies must open documents to public A new landmark ruling under the Freedom of Information Act will now allow members of the public to directly request environmental information from waste companies. Following a formal complaint by environmental charity, Friends of the Earth, the Information Commissioner has ruled that a private waste management company, when working under contract to a local authority, is required to make environmental information public because it is classed the same as a public authority under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs) 2004. Defra study backs weekly food waste collections A Defra-funded study, which will be published later this spring, highlights the environmental and economic benefits of separate weekly food waste collections. The study, which examined why householders do or do not take part in food waste recycling, found only 1 in 10 homes did not see the point in separate food waste collections. Two in three households said they used their food collection regularly but 23% admitted they had never tried it. The study, carried out by consultants Brook Lyndhurst, also found dedicated food-only systems capture more food waste than collections that mix it with garden waste. If combined with fortnightly residual waste collections, this system generated the highest amount of food recovery. Defra is also funding work by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to trial weekly household food waste collection systems in partnership with 19 local authorities. Defra said the early results of the trial suggest that the schemes have been well received and are diverting about 3kg of food waste per week from the households taking part. The final results of the trial are expected in early June.Retailers ready to roll with new recycling label A new packaging recycling logo is in the process of being rolled out across the UK. The standardised label is designed to display whether packaging is widely recycled, locally recycled or not recycled by local authorities. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) came up with the initiative to replace multiple recycling logos with a single one. With the introduction of the voluntary industry-wide logo it is hoped that people will recycle more of their waste. There have been various recycling logos around in the past, but there has not been a universally accepted one that all customers understand." Carpet industry forms recycling alliance Carpet manufacturers, retailers and recyclers from across the UK have teamed up for the first time to boost carpet recycling rates. The stakeholders have formed an alliance called Carpet Recycling UK, which has 15 founding members, including the UK's first carpet recycler, Swindon-based Greenback Recycling. Kate Atkinson, who set up the initiative alongside carpet industry experts Laurance Bird and Bill Tippett, said that carpet recycling was a "growing concern", and the organisation showed there was "a real recognition that something should be done". In particular she highlighted the impact that Site Waste Management Plans, introduced earlier this month, might have on demand for recycling services, with landfill charges also boosting interest in the sector. www.greenback-recycling.co.uk. If anyone wants detailed information about carpet recycling Lewis Herbert has also done a feasibility study in the North East which he is willing to share. Contact him on lewis@wastewise.org.uk.
FUNDING NEWS
Win Free PR A chance to win £5,400 worth of professional consultancy services from Blue Rocket is being offered to social enterprises and charities in the UK. Applicants will need to write up to 1500 words explaining what their social enterprise does, why it is special and how PR would help. Blue Rocket will devote three days a month for four months and put together a bespoke package to help meet the winner's marketing and business goals. For further information contact Kim Stoddart on 01273 779196 or kim@bluerocketgroup.com. Ecominds Thanks to the Big Lottery Fund and their Changing Spaces programme, Mind has been announced as an award partner to run an open grant scheme funding projects around England over the next five years. These projects will integrate mental health service users into the community via the delivery of environmental projects conducive to good mental and physical health. Ecominds is expected to launch in mid-2008, at this time more information about the funding rounds and timelines will be available, along with the application process, and access to download the application pack. During this development phase, Mind is unable to enter into detailed discussions regarding the Ecominds scheme. www.mind.org.uk/ecominds/ Local Food Grants Now Open! Local Food, a new and exciting grants programme funded by the Big Lottery Fund, is now open for applications. The £50 million programme aimed at making locally grown food accessible and affordable to local communities has been developed by a consortium of organisations, and is managed on their behalf by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT). Local Food is the first Award Partner scheme funded by the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme to open its doors for applications, and will look to distribute grants to a variety of food-related community projects across England. Grants from £2,000 up to £500,000 are available for not-for-profit groups and organisations in England delivering such projects as growing, processing, marketing and distributing local food; composting and raising awareness of the benefits of such activities. There are three levels of funding available through Local Food: small grants, main grants and beacon grants. For more information go to: www.localfoodgrants.org/index.php/home And to help you get started with an application….. Local Food Programme - Training events for potential applications 19th May 2008 Local Food is organising a series of events (9) throughout England for groups interested in applying for funding in this programme. The first event will be held at Girton College, in Cambridge on 19th May 2008. These sessions are aimed at groups that are in the process of submitting a First or Full Stage Application to Local Food for a Small, Main, or Beacon Grant. The day will be split into a morning and an afternoon session. In the morning, the Local Food Adviser Team will explain the Local Food Programme and the application process, then present a number of general handy tips for applying for a grant, whether to Local Food, or another funding body. This will be done through a presentation, exercises and general discussion. The afternoon will be a surgery session, where you will get the chance to have a chat with someone from Local Food about your project and any specific questions you might have about completing any of the Local Food application forms. The event is free and lunch and refreshments will be provided. However, in order to secure a place we will expect you to send us a deposit which will be refunded on the day. Numbers will be limited to 30 per event. If you are interested contact: Kirsty Richardson, Adviser Team Administrator, RSWT, The Kiln, Waterside, Mather Road, Newark NG24 1WT Email: krichardson@rswt.org Tel: 01636 670056 Heritage Lottery Fund to make grants 'quicker and easier' The Heritage Lottery Fund has said it will make it quicker and easier for voluntary organisations to apply for £1bn worth of grants over the next five years. The fund, which launched a new strategic plan today, said it would offer more help to applicants and make decisions earlier in project development. Charities seeking funding will also be able to apply online for the first time. The fund has also announced that stricter green criteria will be applied to all future bids. Projects will be asked what they are doing to minimise their impact on the environment and ensure that they are using sustainable resources. By David Ainsworth, Third Sector Online, 8 April 2008
AWARDS
Resource Awards 2008 Do you know of a community recycling project that deserves recognition? Think the scheme where you work is the most innovative of its kind? Are you putting real value back into the community and diverting an impressive tonnage of material from landfill? If the answer to any of these question is 'YES!' then you should nominate your local community recycling project for the Resource Awards 2008 and give yourselves the chance to win £2,500! 2008 categories: • Novelis Community Recycling Project of the Year • Yell Best Partnership Project • Biffa Climate Conscious Award • Berryman Kerbside Project of the Year • Individual Contribution to the Community Waste Sector (this is a non-financial award. The winner receives a year's subscription to Resource magazine and recycled glass award.) To download nomination forms visit: www.resourcepublishing.co.uk/resource-awards.php for more information.
VOLUNTEERING
Sierra Leone Waste Management Project Do you have expertise in recycling, campaigning, collection, treatment or other aspects of waste management? Are you free for 10 days in November, if so would you like to assist with a voluntary project looking at using waste management expertise in Sierra Leone. Ten to twelve Chartered Waste Managers are being sought. If you are interested contact Stuart Henshaw at shenshaw@integrated-skills.com.
FREEBIES
Free recycled leftovers from the Chelsea Flower Show Community gardens, city farms, school gardens and allotments associations could get their hands on free plants and materials from the Chelsea Flower Show this year, thanks to a scheme set up by Good Gifts, the ethical gifts catalogue. The company has recently negotiated with RHS to run a recycling depot for gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show, which runs from Monday 26th May to Monday 2nd June and expects items like plants, turf, bricks, stone, paving, breeze blocks, plant pots and timber to be available. This year, because exhibitors are being encouraged to recycle, there may be a great deal, but to get a chance of grabbing some free goodies, Federation of City Farms and Community Garden members need to register and groups will be selected on a first come, first served basis. Once registered groups will then be given a specific time between Monday 26th May and Monday 2nd June when they can come and collect. Groups will need to provide their own transport and enough manpower to load up their own vehicles. To get involved you will have to complete an application form. On this form you can list items you are particularly interested in having. If you would like any further information regarding the scheme or an application form please contact Alex on people@charitiesadvisorytrust.co.uk or on 0207 7949835.
WEBSITE OF THE MONTH
Specialists in the composting of catering waste, Compost Doctors is managed by the Community Recycling Network (CRN) UK in partnership with the Community Composting Network. Sharing case studies and experiences of on-site composting has built up a unique body of expertise within this group, ranging from equipment to legislation. We provide consultancy to all kinds of catering establishments from pubs, hotels and visitor attractions to prisons and hospitals. If you are interested in setting up an on-site composting system, but don't know where to start, please contact us.
AND FINALLY...
Getting rich in waste-Rich List reveals wealthiest in recycling High-profile figures from throughout the waste and recycling sector have again featured in the Sunday Times Rich list of the 1,000 wealthiest people in Britain and Ireland. This year, Sean Quinn and family - who heads Ireland's Quinn group, which incorporates Quinn Glass - makes 12th place - and is the richest in Northern Ireland, with a wealth of £3,730 million. The company has built a £120m plant at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, offering a significant new outlet for recycled glass. Among other figures included in the list is Michael Cornish and family, who retain a stake in the Lincolnshire packaging group Linpac after selling most of his shares in 2003 for £700m. The company is one of the UK's largest plastic recycling firms and is estimated to be worth £640 million. Sir Michael Smurfit and family, who ran Dublin packaging and paper recycling firm Smurfit for 53 years, is also included at an estimated at £398 million. Other high-risers include Sir Martin Laing and company - the last family chairman of London-based construction company John Laing, which is the preferred bidder alongside Viridor Waste Management for Manchester's multi-billion pound waste management contract. He is worth an estimated £175 million.