MEMBERS NEWS

Bristol Wood Project
Bristol City Council have extended the amount of time that Bristol Wood Recycling Project can stay at their site, potentially to three years! The site, based on Cattle Market Road, near Bristol Temple Meads train station, was due to have it's lease terminated on the 21June. Instead, the council has changed the terms of the lease, allowing the Project to stay for at least an additional 12 months, and up to three years. The Project is very positive both about the amount of time they will be able to stay and the great future this gives them.

Family First
A community farm in Nottingham has been given a helping hand to make the most of rainwater, thanks to CRN UK member Family First. The Nottingham-based charity has provided around £3,000 to enable Stonebridge City Farm in St Anns to extend and improve its rainwater recycling system so they can be self-sufficient in collected water.

The farm, which provides work experience for people with learning and physical disabilities, mental health problems and addictions has used the donation to buy new water butts, a high pressure pump and pipes. The new system covers the entire garden and polytunnel areas and has been designed to be simple and accessible to those who work on the farm. It can store large quantities of rainwater, which is then used to water plants and vegetables in periods of dry weather. It is also visible so the local community can see a working conservation programme in action.

Family First has also provided the farm with two picnic tables to increase seating for visitors to the community cafe and children’s play area. The tables are made from recycled material and specifically designed to be wheelchair-friendly.

Patrick Taylor, Managing Director at Family First said,

“We are delighted to support the farm and hope its visitors enjoy the new facilities. Family First is committed to recycling and reducing waste and to supporting individuals with a range of needs and this donation helps us meet both of those aims.”

Family First is part of the LHA-ASRA housing and regeneration group and is a leading provider of affordable housing, care and support and recycling services. It provides accommodation for teenage parents, mental health services, and is a landlord to almost 400 homes in Nottingham. The charity currently has a fleet of six vans which travel around Nottinghamshire collecting donations of good quality, unwanted furniture such as sofas and beds, electrical items and children’s equipment like cots and pushchairs. Essential items are then redistributed to people in need and non-essential items are sold in the charity’s two shops.

Contact: www.familyfirst.org.uk patricktaylor@familyfirst.org.uk

Monmouthshire Community Recycling
A pilot scheme to establish if peoples littering habits can be changed if financial incentives were available is to be piloted in the Abergavenny area by environmental campaigners Keep Wales Tidy and kerbside recycling operators Monmouthshire Community Recycling.

The Welsh Assembly funded ‘Reward Shop’ scheme is being piloted in north Abergavenny (Monmouthshire) and currently eight shops have committed their support. Customers will receive vouchers when they return their used clean drinks cans and plastic drinks bottles. The vouchers can then be redeemed in any of the participating stores.

A maximum of 20 cans and/or plastic drinks bottles can be returned per person per day. All cans and plastic bottles collected will then be processed and recycled by the Monmouthshire Community Recycling team.
Earlier in the year Monmouthshire Community Recycling litter picked the streets of north Abergavenny to find that drinks cans and plastic drinks bottles account for more that 75% of all litter (by volume and weight).

Since beginning the project in mid June Monmouthshire Community Recycling regularly pick up over 5000 plastic bottles and cans every week. These are drinks containers that would otherwise be dropped as litter, landfilled or at very best transported to a local Civic Amenity site.

Incentivising residents has caused a behavioural change, especially amongst previous non recyclers. Anecdotal evidence has shown this scheme to be successful at engaging hard to reach groups into recycling. A return to litter analysis should show a marked reduction in the amount of plastic drinks bottles and drinks cans that were discarded during the life of this project.

In addition to evaluating the benefits of incentives the team will also investigate the long term impact that discarded cans and bottles have on the environment and the financial cost of disposing of the items in landfill sites.

Prior to the commencement of the pilot a survey was conducted to establish the current state of the environment in the locality and the survey will be repeated at the end of the pilot phase to establish if any improvements have occurred.

Tegryn Jones, Chief Executive of Keep Wales Tidy commented,

“Hopefully this project will show that there is value in empty cans and bottles. All cans and bottles returned can be recycled and turned into cash. It will also mean that the cost of collecting and transporting them to landfill sites will be greatly reduced.”

‘Reward Shop’ scheme info: 01291 430 550, or email admin@monrecycling.co.uk.

Seagull Recycling
Seagull Recycling in Lincolnshire are submitting an expression of interest to the National Lottery 'Reaching Communities' fund for development and expansion of their operations.  They are hoping to buy a green powered bio fuel vehicle enabling them to collect more items and cut down the number of miles travelled.

They are also looking at expanding their recycling facilities and starting up a Furniture Re-use scheme in partnership with Renew of Louth, who have successfully run a smaller operation for 5 years. They would like to take on a Volunteer Development and Training Officer to work with all their trainees and volunteers allowing them to develop their Craft and Resource Centre. There are plans to move into another business unit which is a purpose designed shop that can then be opened to the general public as well as their members (charities, community groups, educational establishments and many others) currently Seagull Recycling support 250 community groups.

The Craft and Resource Centre is stocked with items that are surplus to industrial usage and manufacturing processes. Items are processed here having been diverted from landfill, brought to the Recycling Centre in Skegness.

Development plans include a ‘Coastal Eco College’ delivering a wide variety of environmental and sustainability based courses that can be accessed by the local community and beyond. They will also create a hub where environmental groups and businesses from across the county can advertise themselves on the Eco College Prospectus website and use it as a conduit to increase their trade and turnover.

The Seagull Recycling Company Ltd by Guarantee will be retained as a trading arm and will undertake all of the recycling activities currently being operated. Fingers crossed that the lottery bid comes off as the developments will be really exciting!

Contact: Paul Charles Seagull Recycling Ltd www.seagull-recycling.org.uk 01754 765 746

ECT
ECT Group is moving in a new direction. The Group, whilst retaining its commitment to the provision of high quality public services for the community and to sustainability and partnership working, is preparing for major changes in direction.

ECT Recycling - part of the ECT Group with 1,100 employees, has been acquired by May Gurney, (listed on the London stock market).

First and foremost, it’s ‘business as usual’ at ECT Recycling - the current strong management team will remain in place, led by Stephen Sears, and the focus will remain on delivering service quality for its customers and its customers’ customers – members of the public.

For some time, ECT Recycling had been exploring ways to secure its future and to build upon its successful business formula in delivering municipal waste services to local authorities.

Stephen Sears, who has led the development of ECT since 1980 said,

“ECT has been looking for a partner for our recycling and waste management business with a good reputation in the local authority market place and with the commercial muscle to help us to secure bigger contracts. This will allow us to deliver our social and environmental objectives as well as the financial results that are essential to continued success.

Info: http://www.ectgroup.co.uk/index.php
?v=media&sub=news&articleid=98&sa=2&sg=1

Essex Community Reuse and Recycling Network
Essex Community Reuse and Recycling Network (ECORRN) in partnership with Essex County Council held a ‘Reusing Rooms’ event which featured several mock rooms made up of good quality furniture donated by local furniture projects and charity shops.

The exhibition will took place in the High Chelmer shopping centre in Chelmsford consisted of a bedroom, dining room, kitchen, living room and study, all made up of reused furniture. Everything in the exhibition had been donated to charity by residents of Essex and the display showed a small sample of the range and quality of items available from local community waste projects. 

The aim of the event was to encourage people to donate items that were simply too good to throw away, giving them a new lease of life as someone else's prized possession. County Councillor Tracey Chapman, Cabinet Member for Environment & Waste said,

 “Reusing Rooms is an excellent way to show the good quality furniture that is available from reuse schemes. Hopefully this will also encourage more Essex residents to donate their unwanted furniture rather than throwing it away.”
The event had 1713 visitors over 11 days, raised £589.50 for the participating charities and resulted in 194 completed energy surveys and pledges. It also saved 272kg of CO2 per year through distributing energy-saving lights and power-downs.
Info: www.ecorrn.org.uk  

MillRace IT
Local residents from Writtle, Essex enjoyed a virtual trip down ‘Memory Lane’ bringing their memories to life by scanning photos onto the computer then uploading them to the internet to share with family and friends. The Silver Surfers’ Day event also celebrated the launch of the Essex UnITe Project 2008.

The combined Silver Surfers’ Day and launch event brought together Essex UnITe ‘Digital Ambassadors’, residents, friends, the local community, tutors, mentors and representatives from the organisations involved, to recognise the success of Essex UnITe.  Councillor David Finch, Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Community Wellbeing at Essex County Council was joined by ‘Silver Surfer of the Year’ Joan Barker and other partners to launch the project. 

Essex UnITe project, funded by Essex County Council, Chelmer Housing Partnership and Genesis Community will see over 600 older people throughout this year introduced to computers and the internet for the first time.  The project began in 2007 and has already benefitted over 100 older people in this way. Refurbished computer equipment and reuse desks and chairs will be installed into housing schemes across Essex by CRN UK Member MillRace IT who will also provide training for the residents and run ‘Memory Lane’ workshops in the housing schemes and in the wider community.

Joan Barker, Silver Surfer of the Year, encouraged other residents to take part in the scheme, she explained how she had been able to send e-mails and keep in contact with friends and family,

 “It has opened a new world for me.”

Councillor David Finch said “I am looking forward to coming back next year to hear about the training and to see how the project has developed.”

The innovative pilot project funded by the partnership,  East of England Development Agency (EEDA); Essex County Council; Genesis Community; Springboard Housing and BT, has been widened to include Chelmer Housing partnership and Age Concern Essex and is helping to reduce social exclusion among older people in Essex.  Its aim is to reach socially excluded groups – people who are generally in most need from e-delivered services but often not able to access and to benefit from them.  Together with voluntary and social enterprise partners Help the Aged, InterAct and MillRace IT, each supported housing scheme is provided with PCs, broadband connections and the essential training and support that residents need to use the equipment, as well as training for the staff that look after them. 

Info: http://www.millraceit.co.uk/      http://www.essexunite.org.uk/

STRIDE
The Leicester based organisation that makes money to help tackle homelessness through selling furniture, has been awarded £50,000 in a ground-breaking competition called Spark which aims to get hundreds more people off the streets and into accommodation and regular employment.
STRIDE assembles, recycles, renovates, sells and delivers furniture. It aims to help, among others, people who have been homeless to improve their chances in life by offering training and placements in a working environment.  Using its winnings from the Spark competition, STRIDE plans to establish a workshop and retail outlet to assemble and sell flat pack furniture. This initiative will create a range of work experience and training opportunities, items then sold earn money to help more local people get off the streets permanently.
STRIDE joined 14 other winning organisations who shared the £500,000 prize fund and more than 100 other guests (all associated with initiatives to tackle homelessness) at an awards ceremony in London. Guests included Junior Housing Minister Iain Wright and The Rt Hon. Patricia Hewitt, MP for Leicester West.

Congratulating the finalists on their innovation and commitment, Housing Minister Iain Wright said,

 “The scheme shows what can be achieved by people and organisations adopting an enterprising approach to tackling homelessness, giving former homeless people the opportunity to get involved in the workplace to help end the cycle of homelessness. With expert business mentors backing them up along the way, these social enterprises have every chance of flourishing. I want to congratulate all the winners for the impressive range of their ideas and I know they’ll make a huge difference to many more people’s lives. "

Spark is a £1.5 million competition launched in December 2007 for organisations that make a profit to tackle and prevent homelessness, following in the footsteps of the well-known The Big Issue group. It is a joint collaboration between Communities and Local Government, The TREES Group, Big Issue Invest (The Big Issue group’s specialty finance company for social enterprise) and Eastside Consulting.

As well as the prize money, the 15 winning organisations will receive business coaching and mentoring from high-profile social entrepreneurs, including Nigel Kershaw, Chief executive of Big Issue Invest and Tim Campbell, the winner of The BBC’s The Apprentice, plus business insights and management support from Spark’s corporate partners: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Places for People and BT, to increase the winning organisations’ impact on homelessness.

The Spark competition is part of a major refocusing of the Government’s homelessness strategy, encouraging hostels and charities to adopt an entrepreneurial approach and give homeless people opportunities to develop the skills and confidence to move to sustained independent living. While homeless services have an important role in providing food and shelter to society’s most vulnerable, this strategy sees their role also as a springboard to jobs and opportunity.

Info: http://www.leicesterstride.co.uk/