 Reduction of blue rubbish bags from 2023
The council’s decision-makers have approved the proposal to reduce the number of blue rubbish bags supplied to households from 80 to 54 per year. We will review the provision for larger families.
This will take effect starting with the next annual delivery in spring 2023.
They have also agreed to stop supplying single-use plastic food caddy liners to residents, as it was announced in July.
The decision about blue bags will avoid an increase of £149,000 in our waste budget, while stopping caddy liners will avoid adding around £120,000.
We are facing unprecedented financial pressure, due to rampant inflation, reduction in government funding and the rising cost of providing basic services, particularly for the elderly and children.
We are striving to cut down our day-to-day running costs to protect the most vulnerable in our community.
We encourage you to continue recycling as much as possible, as we all know this is the right thing to do for us and the environment.
 Re-use and re-purpose polystyrene
In the last issue, we talked about disposing of waste polystyrene in blue rubbish bags, instead of recycling bags. A resident has written to us and suggested we could also share how to re-use and re-purpose polystyrene.
Waste polystyrene can be useful around the house. Here are some great ideas:
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Use as drainage in the base of plant pots: line the base with a layer of smallish chunks and plant as usual. To be on the safe side, don't use it if you are growing edibles.
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Use for cushioning delicate items: polystyrene bits and bobs are perfect for protecting breakables. Simply cut them to fit the required shape.
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Use as presentation mounts: use polystyrene to display your homemade goods with a sharp pointy end, like badges, brooches and hat pins.
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Use for modelling with children: glue on a few paper details on moulded polystyrene pieces to make model buildings and build a toy city
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Use as raised beds for a patio: large, deep, moulded polystyrene pieces, from big box appliances or coolers at fish markets, for example, make excellent DIY raised beds for the garden.
You can learn more from Greenredeem blog or by doing a quick search online.
 Give it a second chance: Repair café in Spencers Wood
Recently, we've visited the repair café at Spencers Wood Village Hall and got to know more about how a community space can be turned into an avenue for reducing waste and helping the environment.
Run by Billie Bachra and a group of volunteers, the repair café in Spencers Woods started in May this year. A total of five sessions have been held so far and over 100 old broken items were given a second chance to become worthy again. Besides, over £600 has been raised for the village hall.
Worldwide movement to reduce waste
Repair cafés are a worldwide movement to encourage repairing broken items instead of throwing them way. It provides a meeting place for people to come together and mend things which can still be used for longer.
Billie learnt of the ethos of repair cafés when she was told her friend’s husband volunteered at one in Hampshire.
Having been living in Spencers Wood for seven years, she wanted to support the village hall in her neighbourhood, which is an independent charity funded by venue hire for clubs and private events. She therefore suggested setting up a repair café to increase the use of the village hall and raise money for it.
Volunteers are key
At a repair café, you will find volunteers with repair skills in different fields to help mend a range of household items, like clothes, computers, bicycles, gardening equipment and more.
At Spencers Wood Village Hall, laptops, lawn mowers, lamps, garden tools are the most-repaired items. The most unexpected, according to Billie, was a cuckoo clock, which a volunteer had to take back home for the repair.
In fact, it has not been easy for Billie to recruit volunteers, as repair cafés are still something new to many people. She’s tried spreading the word through different means and channels and finally managed to gather a group of volunteers to kick-start the repair café in May.
Everyone is welcome to give this meaningful initiative a hand. As she said, “I would never have enough volunteers.”
Going forward
Since May, the repair café has been running once a month at Spencers Wood Village Hall. Apart from repairs, books are also welcome for exchange on-site. There is a café for residents to have a drink while they wait for their repairs.
Billie is also thinking of running workshops to help people do their own repairs at home, such as how to change a bike tyre, general maintenance for phones, laptops and garden tools.
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Dates: Sunday 9 October, 6 November, 4 December
Time: 1:30pm – 4:30pm
Place: Spencers Wood Village Hall
All repairs are free. Donations are welcome, which go to the maintenance of the village hall
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