Launched in March, the baa-ttery campaign is a collaborative initiative between Renewi, Valpak Limited, Westmorland and Furness Council, Cumberland Council and Plus3K.
It seeks to address a pressing environmental issue: a staggering 3.2 million batteries are thrown away in Cumbria each year - the equivalent to the weight of more than 3,650 Herdwick sheep!
To drive awareness and participation, a competition has been launched encouraging children to 'herd' their used batteries into Cumbrian schools for recycling.
Schools in both council areas will compete for the top three spots and the chance at winning some prizes, with the deadline to collect the most batteries set for Christmas.
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Have 'ewe' seen this flock out and about?
The council's Waste Reduction team has been out and about over summer at various events across the area talking to people about how to recycle batteries properly.
And they had some help... from a ‘flock’ of 8000 pompom sheep!
By answering a question on battery recycling correctly, people had the opportunity to win a pompom sheep to take away with them.
The Baa-ttery recycling campaign has run in tandem with a project called ‘Release the Flock’ which ran out of Penrith rail station and encouraged people to pick up a pompom sheep and take it on their travels. The idea was to disperse the ‘Flock’ and see how far around the world they could get.
Check out their Release the Flock Facebook page to see where the sheep have got to so far on their travels all over the world!
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Not sure where to take your batteries?
It’s easy to think you are doing the right thing by popping dead batteries into your general household waste bin, but did you know that they can cause fires in bin wagons and waste processing plants if you do?
When your waste or recycling is collected, any batteries that are in there are likely to be squashed, compacted, punctured or shredded. When this happens, they can ignite resulting in dangerous fires.
In 2023, UK fire services responded to 921 lithium-ion battery fires, a 46% increase from 2022. This equates to almost three fires per day. Lithium-ion batteries are the type of batteries usually found in laptops, tablets and mobile phones as well as some toys, shavers, electric toothbrushes and even e-cigarettes.
Batteries can also hide in toys and other items where it is difficult to remove them if the item no longer works.
Never put them into your general waste bin or any of your home recycling boxes or bags. Always take your used batteries to a proper battery recycling container – you can find them in shops and supermarkets and at your local Household Waste Recycling Centre.
Why not try rechargeable batteries? They could save you money, are overall better for the environment, and can even last longer per charge than most disposable batteries.
As a council, we are making nature recovery a priority and recognise the need to restore, enhance and protect nature while also addressing biodiversity loss in Westmorland and Furness.
The way to deliver this is through collaborative working with our partners such as the Environment Agency, Lake District National Park Authority, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Cumberland Council and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.
As part of Government’s Green Finance Strategy, Defra has launched the Local Investment in Natural Capital (also known as LINC) pilot programme.
Led by the Environment Agency, as part of the Borderlands Deal, Westmorland and Furness Council alongside Cumberland Council and Northumberland Council, have been successful in securing £1 million, over two years, to support sourcing new opportunities for funding and securing private investment in order to deliver local priorities for nature.
Last month, we visited the Ullswater Catchment Management CIC who has been successful in receiving some of this funding. They are exploring funding models which deliver nature recovery and natural flood management works on farms that benefit the natural environment but in a way which is mindful of farming cultures and traditions.
As nature recovery is always place specific, it is important it is delivered and led by those with local knowledge and skills which is why we wanted to support this farmer-led project.
We look forward to seeing how this and the other projects supported by our LINC funding progress.
Last month, we opened our third compost demonstration site in Westmorland and Furness.
Thanks to funding from Westmorland and Furness Council, and additional funding from Cumbria Action for Sustainability’s Community Fund, the new composting site has been established to allow the public to learn how easy it is to compost at home.
The site, gratefully provided by Alpacaly Ever After and Basecamp North Lakes, will be used by volunteer Master Composters from organic gardening charity, Garden Organic, to explain the various composting systems. Garden groups and other organisations will be able to book visits to the site for talks and demonstrations, and a series of interpretation boards will also allow people to look around the site unassisted.
For several years, Garden Organic has been contracted by the council to train Master Composters to provide home composting advice to residents across the area. As part of this work, the volunteers give presentations and attend events to promote and encourage home composting.
This latest site joins those at Ford Park in Ulverston and Appleby Road Community Garden at The Queen Katherine School in Kendal.
For more information or to book a group visit to any of our compost demonstration sites, please email mccumbria@gardenorganic.org.uk.
Read our release for more about this new site.
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Last month, we were in Carlisle for a Cumbria Strategic Flood Partnership Workshop event which we were hosting and facilitating alongside Cumberland Council on behalf of the Risk Management Authorities (RMAs).
RMAs have responsibility for managing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion across Cumbria.
Feedback from the event will help to develop how flood and coastal erosion risk management actions are delivered locally.
Thanks to all who joined us including the Environment Agency, Natural England, United Utilities, Lake District National Park, as well as representatives from local action, response and emergency groups across the county.
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The council's Climate and Nature Partnership Fund aims to support collaborative partnership working to tackle climate change, support nature recovery and ensure a fair transition to a low carbon future for our communities in Westmorland and Furness.
This fund has allowed us to support 24 different partnerships that are working on an exciting variety of projects across Westmorland and Furness, and Cumbria as a whole.
Below is a focus on just some of the partnerships that received funding through the Climate and Nature Partnership Fund:
People Planet Pocket CIC
The People Planet Pocket Partnership has a focus on promoting carbon reducing behaviour change.
They have done this through a series of FixFests, which have been run in three locations with each one in collaboration with a partner and other local organisations.
For example, Ulverston collaborated with Ford Park, Barrow-in-Furness with Art Gene and Grange-over-Sands with PEAT South Lakes.
At these events a variety of different workshops and activities were run including:
- Visible mending and clothes mending workshops
- Recycled and foraged paper journal making
- Scrap wax and recycled jar candle making
- Making foraged materials head dresses
- Bike repair workshops
- Making bird boxes with scrap wood
A key achievement of the FixFests has been the strengthening of community resilience, by bringing together local organisations in conjunction with the local community.
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Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership (ZCCP)
The funding the ZCCP received helps to fund their four emissions sector groups, deliver the inaugural Zero Carbon Cumbria summit and to support community-led environmental activities.
One community-led activity supported by the Climate and Nature Partnership funding, together with funding from Westmorland and Furness Council’s Locality Boards and the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund, was the Great Big Green Week 2024. This occurred between 8 and 16 of June with a theme of 'Let’s Swap Together for Good'.
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ZCCP supported more than 25 events in Westmorland and Furness that helped raise awareness of climate change, allowed people to learn about actions they can take to lower bills, reduce consumption and waste, avoid plastic packaging and much more. These activities engaged with over 2000 people and included:
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CandoFM Radio who held a series of engaging and educational sessions on their community radio station.
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Ormsgill Stronger Together who carried out a clothes swap and recycled unwanted clothes and have made this a permanent initiative.
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Rag Tag Arts who ran a family fun day, helping to raise families' awareness of environmental issues.
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Another Way who ran a citizen science project with local schools in Ullswater looking at tree health. The data collected will contribute to a national research project led by The Tree Council.
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Terri Prophet from Ormsgill Stronger Together in Barrow said:
"We had a great time taking part in Great Big Green Week and doing a clothes swap at the community centre. We asked our local community to bring in any old, unwanted garments they no longer use or have grown out of to exchange for someone else's clothes they will use. We also collected surplus clothes from Asda that have not sold in store – a much better solution for the community as well as the planet, rather than good clothes going off to landfill."
ZCCP runs a variety of other projects which you can learn more about on their website: Zero Carbon Cumbria - Carbon reduction action across the county.
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SENS in partnership with Staveley with Ings Parish Council
The Sustainability and Energy Network in Staveley (SENS), in partnership with Staveley with Ings Parish Council, received one of our grants to help protect nature in Staveley and achieve several of the priorities in the Staveley with Ings Community Plan.
Key achievements the grant has helped deliver to date:
- Installing accessible picnic tables and a bench at Alec Row and cleaning the recycling bin area
- Tree planting and landscaping at the entrance to Staveley to create the Green Gateway
- Community composting at Staveley CE Primary School, involving the pupils, their families and the school kitchen in composting through providing two 'dalek' bins, compost caddies for each classroom and a master composter to guide their work
- Hosting pop-up repair and skills cafés, repairing items that may otherwise have gone to landfill, whilst creating a social space for food, crafts and community connections
- Updating the SENS website and building SENS’ social media presence.
For more about SENS’ work and how you can get involved: Current projects - SENS - Sustainability and Energy Network in Staveley (sustainablestaveley.org.uk).
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Flourishing Ulverston - Mycelium Thinking CIC
One of Mycelium Thinking CIC's key initiatives has been the co-creation of the ‘Flourishing Festival’ pilot area which was featured as part of Another Fine Fest. This initiative aimed to inspire behaviour change, encourage reuse, and foster a greater sense of environmental stewardship within the community.
As part of the festival, they:
- Hosted sustainable drop-in workshops which focused on redistributing approx. 500 bottle caps and non-recyclable pens, alongside promoting the use of natural, organic, and found materials.
- Held a series of performances which highlighted the importance of caring for nature and addressing the climate crisis.
- Helped develop a community-powered poem titled 'Another Fine Future' which promotes a vision of a more flourishing future in an inspiring manner.
Visit their website for more about their work and how you can get involved.
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Cumbria People and Nature Network
The Cumbria People and Nature Network has a new website.
The network is part of the Cumbria Local Nature Partnership and aims to bring people together who are involved in delivering or supporting people and nature activity in Cumbria.
The new website offers a digital space for people and nature activity in Cumbria, with:
- A searchable map of people and nature activity for Cumbria
- Links to other useful networks and groups working in the sector
- Signposting to support for volunteering and training
- The opportunity to join the network.
Visit the new website to find out more and join up.
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Cumbria's new Land and Nature Skills Service (LANSS) officially launched at the Westmorland County Show on Wednesday 11 September.
LANSS is a unique partnership with the Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, University of Cumbria, The Farmer Network, and Cumbria Wildlife Trust, with funding support from a range of other organisations including Westmorland and Furness Council.
The purpose of LANSS is to support a skilled and inclusive workforce fit for the future of land and nature-based work in Cumbria. LANSS is an information hub and one-stop shop, providing a searchable database of courses and work based opportunities in the land and nature-based sectors in and near to Cumbria.
Visit the website for further information.
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We want to know what is important to you and where you feel nature in Cumbria needs our help the most.
We want our Local Nature Recovery Strategy to reflect what is important to the people of Cumbria and want to hear, why and where habitats or species should be prioritised.
Your views will help shape our Local Nature Recovery Strategy, the issues it could address and what we could do to tackle them.
More information and to complete the survey.
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The Cumbria LNRS team recently hosted a series of webinars aimed at a variety of audiences including residents, farmers and landowners, and schools.
The purpose of these webinars was to introduce the LNRS to those who may not already be aware of it, explain what nature recovery is and why it is important, and allow attendees to share their views on what they are either already doing to enhance biodiversity or what they would like to see more of.
Check out the latest LNRS newsletter for more information and updates.
International e-Waste Day
Almost all of us have unwanted, broken cables clogging up our drawers - as well as unused, forgotten about electrical appliances in our cupboards such as toasters, kettles and hairdryers.
That’s millions of unwanted cables and thousands of kilograms of copper going to waste, that could be repurposed and recycled.
Why not be a part of The Great Cable Challenge – a UK-wide challenge to recycle 1 million cables in the run up to International e-Waste Day on 14 October.
Find your nearest local household waste recycling centre to recycle them.
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Would you like to reduce your costs whilst reducing your carbon footprint?
A third of food and drink produced by businesses ends up in the bin, and 75% of that food could have been eaten. This has a significant carbon cost, but also can have a big impact on an organisation’s bottom line.
WRAP estimates that on average food and drink businesses in the UK could save up to £10,000 a year by eliminating wasted food.
Legislation is also set to change, requiring organisations with over 10 staff to separate food waste from general waste before disposing of it. So there has never been a better time to start your food waste reduction journey.
Thanks to the Westmorland & Furness Green Enterprise Hub, funded by UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Cumbria Tourism is running two interactive workshops which cover the main sources of wasted food, mechanisms for reducing this and an introduction to the Guardian’s of Grub Scheme by WRAP.
You will also develop a personalised waste reduction action plan for your business to take away with you and links to tools to enable you to deliver this.
To qualify for this FREE support, you need to be an SME based in Westmorland and Furness area. You also need to have not received over £300,000 of Government support over the last 3 years.
Book your place - 13 November 2024, 2-5pm, Kendal
Book your place - 5 December 2024, 1.45-4.45pm, Penrith
How we talk about climate change can inspire and motivate people to act, or make it feel more overwhelming and confusing than it needs to be.
By understanding the issues, we can help explain to others why it's important to act on climate change, the scale of that action and how to be part of that change on an individual and community level.
To help, we'll be sharing useful links and highlighting some great resources that help explain the main issues.
Cumbria Local Nature Partnership
Cumbria Local Nature Partnership is a nature partnership which represents and works across the whole of Cumbria; acting as a hub for nature.
Cumbria has an amazing range of landscapes and geology, supporting a rich and diverse wildlife. The Cumbria Local Nature Partnership promotes and supports our wildlife.
It's taking a lead on ‘nature recovery’ in Cumbria; ensuring nature is fully considered in local decisions for the benefit of nature, people and the economy.
Visit the website for more information.
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