PRESS RELEASE
May 7 2003
CRN/AN/PR40 To be released immediately
HOMING IN ON HIGHER DIVERSION
Delegates at next week's Community Recycling Network 14th annual conference will hear how innovation and investment are the essential elements in juggling the social, economic and environmental agendas behind achieving high diversion rates.
Speakers from the UK's leading community sector projects, social enterprises and local authority partnerships, such as ECT Recycling and the Furniture Resource Centre Group - including several winners of prestigious awards - and guests from as far afield as Philadelphia, California, Canada and Belgium will be at the conference at Liverpool's Adelphi Hotel, May 14-16.
Speakers will talk about developing successful green waste collections, wood recycling, the WEEE directive, batteries, hazardous household waste, the End of Life Vehicle directive, cross sector partnerships, community sector funding, pedestrian controlled vehicles and source separation among many other hot topics. Simon Hewitt, DEFRA's Head of Waste Implementation Programme, will be giving the Government's view on the latest waste issues.
The Marks and Spencer/Resource Publishing Award for the Community Recycling Project of the Year will be presented by Ray Georgeson, WRAP Policy Director, and Rowland Hill, Environmental Affairs Manager for Marks and Spencer, at the annual dinner on Thursday May 15.
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One of the key speakers, Dr Dominic Hogg of Eunomia, will be revealing the latest research on the way forward for kerbside collections. "The most important thing for higher diversion is to get some local authorities collecting kitchen waste but a prerequisite to this is that the right systems need to be place. Until now there has been a block on that but it is essential that we start getting the appropriate facilities.
"Government has to recognize the strategic importance of this. Adequate funding needs to be made available. And local authority waste plans have to recognize the need for these facilities at the planning stage."
Dave Mansell - the newly appointed Recycling Development Manager at Somerset County Council and formerly of Avon Friends of the Earth, one of the most successful kerbside recycling organisations in this country - will be speaking about developing successful green waste collections. "The latest research on the composting collection trials carried out by Bath and North East Somerset has now been compiled. The trials have compared different frequencies, alternating with household collections, charging and using different containers. And food waste is due to be added to the collections."
Andy Moore, CRN's coordinator, said:
"Every year I say 'this is the best conference we have ever held' and wonder how we can better it. However, this year I have no doubt we can top it again."
ENDS Notes for editors:
The Community Recycling Network is a national umbrella organisation for more than 300 community groups, co-operatives and not-for-profit businesses in the community waste sector. Its aim is to promote community-based recycling as the most effective way of tackling the UK's growing waste problem. Its members have achieved some of the highest recycling rates in the UK and offer separated kerbside recycling collections to 1.6 million households - seven per cent of the UK population. The Community Recycling Network is based at Trelawny House, Surrey Street, Bristol, BS2 8PS, tel: (0117) 942 0142. The CRN website is www.crn.org.uk. For all media enquiries please contact: Andy Nelmes, CRN Press Officer, (0117) 908 0415 or 07949 626119, andyn@crn.org.uk For information about the Resource/M&S awards please contact Anna Maris, Resource Editor, (0117) 907 4107 or anna@resource.uk.com