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Issue 01 June 2014

Welcome

Hello and welcome to your monthly e-newsletter updating you on the world of waste and recycling in West Sussex.

Each month you can expect articles on notable trends, facts and figures; recycling; our EU projects; our volunteers and events; operational information and changes; and wider waste news we think will be of interest.

We hope to give you an insight into what we are trying to achieve, changes we are making, problems we face, how you can help, and UK-wide issues affecting us all.

Go green this World Cup The World Cup starts next week – if you’re having friends over to watch the football, you can still recycle. In West Sussex your glass bottles, plastic bottles and cans can be recycled at home as long as they are clean, dry and loose – not wet, dirty or tied up in plastic bags. Why not provide a container for people to place their empty cans and bottles in?

Carry on composting Last month we went compost crazy, promoting it online, on radio, in various newspaper Spring supplements, creating a blog and a 'tips by text' service. Why? Because for every 7 houses that compost, that's a tonne of organic waste diverted from landfill each year. Hundreds signed up to receive composting tips on their phone - something we are looking to repeat in the Autumn. And we still have compost bins for sale for as little as £13, so if you're not already in on the act, buy one and get started.

Total waste tonnages are up on last year At West Sussex, we have a statutory duty to report on the tonnage of waste and recycling arising within our county and have just recorded our end of year figures for 2013/14. We have seen a significant rise in the total waste and recycling that we manage as a county, up from 414,000 tonnes of waste and recycling in 2012/13 to 437,000  this year. At the top of the list is black bag waste collected from households and residual waste at our Household Waste Recycling Sites (HWRS). We have seen a small rise in the total green waste we manage as a county. This year we had 65,000 tonnes of it, which comes to us through kerbside collections and through residents bringing their green waste to the HWR sites - where it has risen the most. Last year as a County Council we managed 63,000 tonnes.

West Sussex schools selected for prestigious summit Congratulations to two West Sussex schools who  have been invited to present at the Houses of Parliament for the Primary Earth Summit looking at plastic waste pollution. Well done to Waterfield Primary School, Bewbush, Seaside Primary school, Lancing, and also to West Wittering School, Chichester, who won a special commendation for initiative. 70 schools entered the competition organised by Wastebuster, who provide our schools with education materials and teaching resources on waste. Pupils had to consider creative and practical solutions to plastic waste and on 16 June will share their ideas with a Summit panel of political representatives, scientists, NGOs, retailers, educators and leading plastic industry representatives.

No plastic bags please!

Once your recycling is collected by your local Council it is delivered to the high-tech sorting plant at Ford, near Arundel, and the message as always is for it to be clean, dry and loose. Unwanted plastic bags inevitably pass through, but take considerable time and resources (and therefore money) to be removed.

If there was just one carrier bag in each bin emptied for recycling across West Sussex, this would equate to 172,000 bags per week, or one person pulling out 32 bags per minute. Last year 465 tonnes of unwanted plastic bags passed through the Ford MRF - that's 1 million plastic bags per week!

Thanks to your efforts, last year the high-tech plant at Ford sorted over 74,600 tonnes of recycling - a small car weighs around 1 tonne...! Let's try and beat that this year. 

For more information about recycling or items not covered above please visit www.recycleforwestsussex.org

EU Project News

We are involved in two EU projects on waste; SWAP NOW which looks at new communication models to bring about behavioural change, and CONGREEN Together which is about more resident participation to help organisations promote greener living.

SWAP NOW started nearly 4 years ago and ends this autumn. The 4 partners - from Belgium and Sussex -met recently in London to update on progress. For us, this was our SMS project – see our compost article above - and how many residents we have enrolled.

Through SWAP NOW we also have a Mobile Education Trailer which we use all over the county. Last month we went to 4 workshops in the same week, working alongside project partner Adur & Worthing Council. Each day we set up in a different busy shopping area and helped by our volunteers, talked to lots of people about various waste prevention issues.

Our trailer at South Street, Worthing

On the 16 May we took 20 of our volunteer Waste Prevention Advisors to Rochester in Kent and met up with residents from the other 9 partners in CONGREEN Together.

For us, the main event was showcasing our volunteer scheme to the attendees from across Europe, providing an overview of what we do, and the E-Learning course content. Our volunteers assisted by demonstrating the type of workshops that they run out and about across West Sussex, but they also got to check out a number of other workshops at the event such as ‘Energy from Waste’, ‘Community Gardening’ and ‘Art from Waste’.

You can follow CONGREEN on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CongreenTogethe

Come and have a chat Our Waste Prevention team, along with some of our volunteers, will be at the following events. So if you're going to be there, come and say hello. 7 June - Arun Homestart Family Fun Day, Mewsbrook Park, Littlehampton 8 June - Lions Donkey Derby, Buckingham Park, Shoreham 14 June - Rustington Carnival, Worthing Rugby Club, Angmering 28 June - Crawley Festival, Memorial Gardens, Parkside, Crawley

Follow us on twitter If you can't wait for the next e-newsletter for your waste and recycling news fix, then follow us on twitter www.twitter.com/westsussexwaste or search for our hashtag #westsussexwaste. Equally, include us in your own twitter messages @westsussexwaste.

In the news Articles we have spotted which we found interesting and think you might too. House of Lords science committee want our Government to change the way they view waste – seeing it as an opportunity rather than a problem. A summary of their report's recommendations can be viewed here. Could changes be on the horizon for rubbish generated by the 4.5 trillion cigarette butts flicked away every year? Banning filters is one policy being muted in the USA as reported in the Guardian.

Where to get more information For information on composting and on our volunteer scheme, visit our Waste Prevention Advisors website www.westsussexwpa.org. For an A-Z on recycling information, plus where to find your nearest Household Waste and Recycling Site and contact details for all our Districts and Boroughs who collect your kerbside waste, take a look at www.recycleforwestsussex.org.