MEMBERS NEWS

Monmouthshire Community Recycling Scheme

Monmouthshire Community Recycling (MCR) were delighted to find that they topped a recent Welsh Assembly survey, which identified their recycling operation as being one of the most cost effective recycling services in Wales. The Survey of Funding of Municipal Waste Management Kerbside Collection in Wales, published on 13 September 2007 examined collection costs for recycling and rubbish services in Wales.

MCR were shown to have the second lowest collection costs out of the 22 local authorities surveyed at 24p per household per week and £89.50 per tonne, and the lowest cost for collections in rural areas. 

The survey showed that source separated collections were much cheaper than co-mingled collections. Monmouthshire Community Recycling (MCR) a social enterprise run by the ECT Group in partnership with Monmouthshire Environment Trust provides a weekly black box for paper, cans, glass, textiles and foil to 28,000 households in Monmouthshire. It is also piloting a ‘Zero Waste Village’, offering comprehensive recycling services, and forming partnerships to compost and reduce what is left.

The Zero Waste Village Project in St Arvans is proving very successful in recycling nearly everything the village throws out, involving most of the residents, and changing attitudes. This wide partnership including CRN UK member MCR (Monmouthshire Community Recycling), Monmouthshire County Council and a number of local groups, was officially launched in St Arvans in June this year.  Residents are offered weekly kerbside collections of paper, glass, cans, foil, textiles, plastics, tetrapak cartons, green waste and food waste, and a local site to take any surplus recycling during the week.  In the most recent measurement 95% of the village were using these services. The residents of St Arvans have been surveyed, consulted at meetings, and given feedback on the project.  Several have signed Zero Waste pledges, and taken information back to friends and neighbours.  On one week, nearly half the village avoided putting out any rubbish at all, and in an average week as much as 80% is going to recycling or composting.

Contact: David Roman 01291 430550 admin@monrecycling.co.uk

Mid Devon Community Recycling Ltd & ECT
Congratulations to Ken Orchard of Mid Devon Community Recycling & Steve Sears of ECT who have both been selected as Social Enterprise Ambassadors as part of the Social Enterprise Ambassadors programme funded by the Cabinet Office and led by the Social Enterprise Coalition.

In November 2006, the Social Enterprise Action Plan was launched by the Chancellor to help foster a culture of social enterprise in Britain. The Social Enterprise Ambassadors Programme is a key part of this drive.
Twenty five Ambassadors were selected after a thorough recruitment process, involving a variety of stake-holders and interviews across the country.

Through the stories and experiences of some of the most inspirational social entrepreneurs in the country, the programme will help the movement to achieve more by raising awareness among key groups and attracting new entrants.  The ambassadors are passionate about their work and they want to share that passion to inspire others to use business to tackle social and environmental needs.

Their aim, as ambassadors, is to show Britain that companies with social good at their core can be successful and financially secure. They can help society flourish, offer extremely practical solutions to a wide range of social and environmental problems – as well as presenting a viable and fulfilling career choice.

Visit: http://socialenterpriseambassadors.org/index.html

EMERGE
EMERGE Recycling the Manchester based social enterprise which currently recycles from over 750 businesses, 110 schools, 7,000 homes in Trafford has now opened the doors of its appliance re-use centre (ARC) .

All appliances have been safety-electrical tested (PAT and Function tested) and given up to 6 months warranty. EMERGE sells and collects; washing machines, dishwashers, cookers, tumble dryers and microwaves and fridges. The organisation which is dedicated to the 3Rs of waste management – reduce, reuse, recycle – and the ARC has helped its customers to divert 100% of their unwanted appliances from landfill. Over 30% have been repaired for reuse, with the remainder used for parts or recycled.

Until now, EMERGE has been selling repaired appliances through the charities Tree of Life and The Wesley Furniture Project and would like to welcome on board Age Concern, who have recently begun stocking repaired items in their stores.

As well as helping schools to keep recycling, EMERGE provides education workshops and resources which are highly rated by teachers in encouraging pupils to reduce, re-use and recycle. This year seven leading businesses including Gleeson homes and The Phone Co-op have taken a stand to support green issues by sponsoring Manchester’s main Schools’ Recycling Programme. Sponsorship is being used to subsidise this popular programme which is delivered by EMERGE Recycling to over a 100 local schools.

Contact: 0161 223 8200
www.emergemanchester.co.uk
or email Jo-Anne Witcombe

Changeworks
Changeworks’ charity shop initiative ‘Generous City’ was recently extended and has now become ‘Generous Scotland’.
“Charity shops provide all of us with one of the best opportunities to reduce, re-use and recycle. By buying second-hand we reduce the need for new products. By donating we stimulate re-use and we recycle items that would otherwise end up in landfill.” says Programme Co-ordinator Jess Gildener

According to Changeworks’ latest figures, Scotland’s charity shops raise at least £9 million a year for a variety of good causes. They process around 45,000 tonnes of donations and recycle at least 14,000 tonnes of textiles through rag merchants. In addition, Scotland’s 600+ charity shops develop and support over 11,000 volunteers within the community.

By working together with charities, local authorities, SEPA and SWAG, Changeworks will help charities across Scotland to attract more quality donations and prevent waste from unsuitable donations going to landfill. Initiatives that worked in Edinburgh and may now provide inspiration for projects in other areas include the Edinburgh Charity Map (a huge hit with tourists last summer), the Community Service Book Recycling Scheme and a Waste Aware Scotland training session for charity shop staff and volunteers.

The Generous Scotland team is currently producing a comprehensive resource to help a range of stakeholders implement waste prevention activities through charity shops.

Contact: Jess Gildener 0131 538 7943
or email:jgildener@changeworks.org.uk
web:www.changeworks.org.uk

Chelmsford Environment Partnership
Chelmsford Environment Partnership have been running Junk Swaps for a number of years around the Chelmsford Borough with ever growing success. They are now looking to spread this community event across the county so that more people can enjoy the benefits of REUSE.

Unlike online swaps, the Junk Swap provides a time and place to bring all unwanted items and to take anything for free.

Items are weighed as they come in (necessary if reuse credits are to be paid) and divided into categories (kitchen, toys, books etc). People are free to take whatever they want. At the end ‘leftovers’ are divided into items suitable for charity shops or recycling the remaining items which go to landfill are then weighed (this is usually around 5% of all items) in order to calculate how much has actually been diverted from landfill.

These events also provide a platform for education on environmental issues and help promote other local environmental organisations.

Chelmsford Environment Partnership is offering junk swap packages. They will organise an event for your Borough, including all promotion. On the day they can also teach ‘the ropes’ to anyone from your Council or community who might want to run an event in the future

Contact: Helena Byles 01245 265787
Email:helena@chelmsfordenvironment.com

ECCO
Due to the huge success of its battery recycling scheme, Harlow Council and not for profit organisation ECCO have announced that the initiative will be extended throughout the town. In addition to the 6,000 households currently taking part in the scheme, 24,000 further households will now be able to recycle their batteries, bringing the total number of households participating to 30,000.

The scheme, which is being run by Harlow Council and ECCO in partnership with Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) was originally launched in April 2006. Since then, more than 40,400 batteries have been collected – the equivalent of over one tonne of waste being diverted from landfill to be recycled.

Contact: 01279 444 244

WISH
CRN UK Member Wessex Independent Self Help (WISH) have been working in partnership with charity Your Choice Furniture Recycling in North Dorset to assist people who have lost their possessions in Britain's worst flooding disaster for years. Your Choice, based in Sturminster Newton have been appealing to everyone in Dorset and the Wiltshire and Somerset borders to donate unwanted furniture and white goods to send to Gloucestershire for the many flood victims whose losses are not covered by insurance. Three piece suites, sofas, dining tables, chairs and white goods will be transported from its warehouse to the flood zone through the Furniture Re-use Network.
A new partnership has evolved with E On, WISH and Your Choice. E On donated 1,000 Eco kettles which are now being used by the disadvantaged, uninsured, and those on benefits. Collectively the 1,000 households which use them will be saving a massive £50,000 per annum in electricity bills! WISH have also distributed energy saving light bulbs to the value of £86,000 and are in the process of providing free ‘Power Down’ devices which send a home computer to sleep when it is not being used, resulting in dramatic energy reduction.

Email:info@wish-charity.co.uk or info@yourchoiceplus.co.uk

Family First
Re-use charity Family First is celebrating collecting 8,500 items in 2006-07, benefiting 1,100 tenants.
Managing Director of Family First Patrick Taylor said: "It's a fantastic achievement and one we hope we can beat this year."
Family First helps people who are setting up home for the first time, for whom essential furniture and white goods can be prohibitively expensive, especially for those on low incomes. With the help of the Nottingham charity, part of the LHA-ASRA group, individuals and families are given such items to help them create a home.
Six vans collect donations from the general public and businesses across Greater Nottingham and Mansfield.   The items are checked, cleaned, reconditioned and distributed where they are needed most by a team of 65 volunteers. Non-essential and surplus items are sold at low cost through the Family First charity shops, and income is reinvested in the service. As well as furniture, Family First collects children's clothing, buggies, cots, highchairs and toys through their Kidstuff project, and distributes them to people on low incomes.
Contact: Patrick Taylor 0115 9111473 patricktaylor@familyfirst.org.uk

Bradford Environmental Action Trust (BEAT)
BEAT in Bradford are now running a free waste exchange throughout Yorkshire & the Humber called Why Waste. It enables business waste to be reused and recycled by community organisations. A team of experts identify availability and demand for materials and match willing traders.
Why Waste is funded by Yorkshire Forward (the Regional development Agency) and ERDF. A second year of Business Reuse Funding has also enabled Why Waste to build its links with the Community Waste Network, providing more support to community organisations such as scrapstores, re-paint schemes, wood recyclers and furniture stores. The enhanced service has already seen about 50 tonnes of university furniture passed on to communities in the region, including those hit by recent floods.
Why Waste offers a great opportunity for CRN UK members in Yorkshire and the Humber to access resources for their projects.
To find out more about the service, register your organisation and list your requirements visit http://www.whywaste.org.uk/   or tel: 01274 718420

Owton Fens Community Association

Owton Fens Community Association has launched its Sustainable Hartlepool End of Life Vehicle Enterprise (SHELVE) Project with an opening ceremony performed by Ed Milliband MP.   The project has been assisted by CRED funding.

Owton Fens Community Association was established in 1985 to provide, promote and develop opportunities for individuals and groups from disadvantaged wards in Hartlepool. Its SHELVE Project is a sustainable community enterprise that aims to recover and recycle 85 - 95 per cent of end of life vehicles in order to reduce landfill waste in the area.   The funding from the CRED Programme has been used towards premises, equipment and staff costs.

Kevin Cranney, SHELVE Project Manager, said " We have spent a lot of time and effort developing our SHELVE project and are pleased that we have now officially launched it to offer the residents of Hartlepool a valuable service whilst also helping the local environment".

**Job vacancies on the CRN UK website**

Don't forget that the CRN UK website has job pages showing current community waste sector vacancies

www.crn.org.uk/about/jobs/main.shtml it is free for all CRN UK members to advertise their jobs here! Visit the site and enter your job details or email them to info@crn.org.uk