UPDATES

GENERAL UPDATES

Hilary Benn to speak at CRN UK conference

Rt Hon Hilary Benn Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will be speaking at this year's annual CRN UK & LCRN Conference ' People & Resources: Third sector, first choice'.

Conference dates: Wednesday 4 - Thursday 5 June

Jury's Hotel, Great Russell Street, London.

Wednesday 4 June, showcases the sector's achievements and potential with a full day of speakers and workshops followed by a gala evening of entertainment and awards. Thursday 5 June offers the opportunity to take part in organised project visits, including wood, composting, waste awareness, kerbside, food waste, furniture schemes.

Download a booking form: http://www.crn.org.uk/ Contact: 0117 9420142 events@crn.org.uk

Feasibility Study on Building Material Reuse Centres

Any organisations interested in translating the US concept of Building Material Reuse Centres to the UK can download new UK-focused business planning documents at www.bioregional-reclaimed.com/get_report.php including

• A Generic Business Plan which is intended as a template to be developed by individual projects
• A costed financial model based on the operational costs of existing UK based reuse organisations
• Guidance appendices providing case studies and covering essential issues.

Interested organisations will also need to undertake a detailed site-specific feasibility study to establish the local potential supply of materials, demand for sales and costs of operation.

Compost Doctors

The Compost Doctors have been providing on-site composting advice for businesses for the past two years funded by the BREW programme. Although the funding for the Compost Doctors pilot project has come to an end we are continuing to develop the programme and provide a consultancy for businesses and the public sector on on-site composting.

Two events were held in March - one for the community composting sector and the other at HM Young Offenders Institution Wetherby targeting prisons, hospitals and colleges (funded through Recycling Action Yorkshire). We anticipate these kinds of organisations will prove to be the initial clients of the service.

We also have our new website up and running with presentations from the events. We will be developing more case studies to add to the website www.compostdoctors.org.uk in the near future.

The past two years of funding for the programme has given the Compost Doctors an opportunity to compare and work with various composting techniques and equipment, and to share experiences of working with businesses. This has given the Doctors unique expertise and knowledge of available composting equipment and we hope to share this further within the sector.

The CRN UK in partnership with the Community Composting Network are managing the development of the Compost Doctors project and we are interested to hear from any composting experts who would like to be contacted should an opportunity arise in your area.

Contact: Lizzy, email compostdoctors@crn.org.uk

Site waste management plans (SWMPs) for the construction industry

From 6 April 2008, all construction projects in England worth more than £300,000 must have a site waste management plan (SWMP). Typically it will identify the following:

• Who will be responsible for resource management
• What types of waste will be generated
• How the waste will be managed - will it be reduced, reused or recycled?
• Which contractors will be used to ensure the waste is correctly recycled or disposed of responsibly and legally
• How the quantity of waste generated from the project will be measured.

Information and a simple guide to Waste Management plans:

http://www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/sectors/
1842950/1843542/1865635/?version=1&lang=_e

Recycle Week - Recycle Now Partners

If you are wondering what event to run during Recycle Week, Recycle Now Partners have produced a Campaign Guide that is full of ideas for events you might want to run based around the theme of "Just one more thing we can recycle". From giving your recycling banks the green carpet treatment, to shopping trolley races and displays, there is a vast array of ideas to choose from.

There are also opportunities to link with 21 BBC local radio stations during Recycle Week in Birmingham, Brighton, Coventry, Cambridge, Devon, Gloucester, Ipswich, Kent, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Oxford, Reading, Swindon, Truro and York.

Recycle Now Partners: www.recyclenowpartners.org.uk

Local Authorities programme to tackle climate change

A new £4 million programme to help local authorities tackle climate change was announced by Environment Minister Phil Woolas and Local Government Minister John Healey last month. The programme will spread existing best practice on climate change among local authorities, and provide training and mentoring to help them reduce emissions and adapt to the already unavoidable effects of climate change.

Phil Woolas said, "Local authorities have a vital role to play in tackling climate change through local leadership and service delivery. They need to look beyond their own estates and operations - important though these are - for opportunities to cut carbon, and work with people and businesses in their area to inspire change across the whole community.  

This new programme will provide additional support and guidance for authorities to learn from the best practice that is already out there, and to identify and implement effective measures that suit their local circumstances."

Changes to Waste management licenses

On 6 April 2008, the Environmental Permitting Regulations come into force. They combine Waste Management Licensing (WML) and Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) into one new, streamlined scheme called environmental permitting. If you've got a Waste Management licence or PPC permit, it will automatically become an Environmental Permit on the 6 April 2008. You don't need to reapply, and we won't be sent you a new one. The conditions and subsistence fees stay the same.

If you hold an exemption from WML, then from 6 April 2008, you will instead be exempt from environmental permitting. There are some changes, for example to paragraph numbers and to the regulation of hazardous wastes.

Other changes include:

• You will be able to apply for an environmental permit online, later in the year.  
• There will be a dedicated team to deal with all environmental permit applications
• There will be 27 standard permits for low to medium-risk waste activities. These permits will be cheaper to apply for, and we will be issued within three months.
• A single permit could cover all the relevant activities on your site.
• If you're a waste operator, you will soon be able to choose how you prove your technical competence.

If you hold a Waste Management Licence, your new Environmental Permit will give you more options. These include:

• Extending the area of land covered by your permit
• Surrendering your permit using a simpler process
• Surrendering or transferring part of your permit

Ensure your organisation is updated on all the changes, National Customer Contact Centre 08708 506 506 (Monday- Friday, 8am-6pm); email: enquires@environment-agency.gov.uk or visit

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/
1970146/1970198/1970207/

Changes to empty property rates

From 1 April, full businesses rates will be levied on offices left empty for more than three months, which could create opportunities for charities looking for cheap premises as landlords offer reduced rates to try to ensure that buildings are not left vacant.

Properties owned by charities and community amateur sports clubs will, in future, not be liable to empty property rates if the property's next use is likely to be wholly or mainly for charitable purposes or for the purposes of a sports club.

Ethical Property Foundation, an organisation that helps charities make the most of their properties, do however warn that some landlords may try to take advantage of the third sector. "We would encourage charities to ask themselves why the premises are empty and to look into the full costs of taking on the space," said Victoria Howse, property advice manager at the foundation. "Just because there is low or no rent doesn't mean it's a good deal. There are often hidden costs."

Members should investigate any hidden costs which may also include property maintenance, decoration costs.

www.voa.gov.uk/business_rates/empty_property_rates_changes.htm

Criminal Record checks changes for next year

The new screening system for people who work with children and vulnerable adults will begin in October 2009 and cost £64 per person, the Independent Safeguarding Authority has announced.

The £64 fee will include the existing £36 fee for clearance from the Criminal Record Bureau. Applicants will only have to pay once and will not need new clearance when changing jobs or places of work.

For volunteers and the organisations taking them on, the process will be free. However, if a volunteer with ISA clearance later begins paid employment, they will be required to pay.

www.isa-gov.org/Default.aspx?page=354

Reconomy CIC

The four leading 'third sector networks' have come together to create a jointly owned company to enable them to work together more effectively. Furniture Re-use Network (FRN), Community Composting Network (CCN), Community Recycling Network (CRN UK) and London CRN (LCRN) will continue with their own work, and the new company will be the vehicle for closer working where that is appropriate.

The company - Reconomy CIC, has now been formed and should bring valuable opportunities to the network organisations as well as to their members. Reconomy benefits will best be accessed through the existing networks in the first instance.

Reconomy will enable the individual networks to maximise the resources they bring to their members and give us a stronger more coherent voice in our dealings with Government and industry.

This company has already started working with WRAP on the design of the capacity building programme for the Third Sector promised in the May Waste Strategy.

We'll let you know as there are further developments.

Community Contracts

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has announced plans for new 'community contracts' across England today giving communities the opportunity to agree deals and written guarantees with their council on a wide range of service standards from tackling drug dealing on estates, bin collection, clearing graffiti and street cleaning.

In a speech to the New Local Government Network she announced the 'community contracts' between local communities and their council that are to be piloted in twelve areas across the country in Sunderland, Gateshead, Barnsley, Oldham, Lewisham, King's Lynn, Blyth, Kirklees, Brighton, Manton, Kidderminster and London's South Bank.

The contracts are voluntary agreements between local people and town halls that will allow residents to set minimum standards, bargain with councils for extra services and put in place checks on quality.

CRN UK Website Case Studies
At CRN UK we are always keen to know about your great work, innovative projects and examples of the way you run your organisation. We would like to have some new & up to date case studies on the CRN UK website to provide inspiration to potential groups and to keep you informed of what other members are doing.

If you would be interested in sharing this information with visitors to the website, or if you don’t have a website of your own and would like to have a page dedicated to your organisation, please complete the form available on this link: www.crn.org.uk/about/casestudyrequestform.doc and email it to Lizzy at info@crn.org.uk.

We look forward to learning what you are doing.

MEMBER QUESTIONS

Bin lift Truck

Monmouthshire Community Recycling are looking to buy a second hand compartmentalised binlift truck with capacity for at least three materials presented in 1100 litre bins.  Do you have a vehicle like this for sale?

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

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