Presentation by Stephen Armstrong, Rachael Courtney, Groundwork North East and Cumbria
Minutes:
A presentation was given to the Committee on waste and recycling education in South Tyne and Wear by Stephen Armstrong and Rachael Courtney, Groundwork North East.
Stephen updated the Committee on the position relating to the Visitor and Education Centre project which had been running for four years now and has a full time dedicated officer, Wendy Fail, to support work with community groups and schools. The centre itself has a design which is certified as respecting the environment. A wide range of activities are co-ordinated at the Centre which hosts a number of community and school groups and these are often curriculum linked. The Centre has proved really successful with 150 / 200 school sessions per year equating to approximately 3 to 4 a week. The Centre also created a garden with a greenhouse made out of bottles from the Great North Run.
The Committee was provided with a case study of the work carried out by the Centre with St Mary’s RC School in Sunderland. The School carried out waste audits with their eco-group and managed to reduce waste in their classroom and kitchen through simple advice. In the kitchen waste was reduced from 260 Kilo per year to 75 kilo per year and in the classrooms waste was reduced from 154 kilo to 40 Kilo’s. Some of the actions leading to this drop in waste were having smaller amounts of the right food for lunch; having cutlery in the right place so it did not end up in the bin; waste free Wednesdays and carefully planned lunches.
Rachael updated the Committee on the Waste Electronics and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) project. The aim of the project was to engage with children and residents to reduce WEEE through a range of different mechanisms and built on the 2016 project in North Tyne & Wear.
There was a need for the project as it was found that there was not a great deal of public knowledge on how to manage batteries and WEEE etc. The project uses educational activities and is community and school driven using venues such as libraries and museums / road shows and competitions.
Rachael advised that in Springwell Village, Sunderland they had engaged members of the Ladybird Group and held an amnesty event where 45 local residents dropped off small WEEE following the event.
Work has been carried out primarily with primary schools via assemblies and has involved activities such as making electricity out of potatoes. The battery competition with a £500 cash prize for schools has proved popular with schools as have amnesty events in schools as a way of getting parents engaged.
Targets – see slide
Future plans – see slide
The Committee noted that recycling batteries is a big issue as these tend to be put in general bins and queried how feasible it would be to have recycling collections for batteries. Colin advised that whilst it would be feasible the cost to authorities would be prohibitive and so authorities should instead be promoting the use of recyclable batteries to the public.
It was queried whether battery recycling venues were promoted as this was important and it was suggested that consideration should be given to promoting this in the Council News.
The Committee noted that one of the big things Rachael was doing was having collection boxes for this type of waste in schools.
Colin indicated that it was recognised that electronics and electrical waste was an issue particularly at our Energy from Waste facility with problems arising due to contamination of the bottom ash from lithium batteries and this is why work is taking place to raise awareness.
The Committee noted the work being carried out in the community but considered that due to funding cuts / and the loss of some charitable community organisations the messages about recycling in the community had become diluted and lost focus. The Committee considered there were however significant opportunities to promote the recycling messages through community associations etc.
The Committee also queried whether linking work at the Education Centre in relation to recycling to other campaigns e.g. Dementia Friendly might assist with funding for projects in the future. Stephen advised that the Centre is not currently classed as dementia friendly but this was something which could be explored.
Stephen advised that if councillors were aware of specific community associations/centres who would like support / advice around recycling then Wendy Fail, as part of her outreach role, would be able to provide that if councillors provide her with the relevant information.
The Committee considered that it was important to get the message out about recycling electronics / electrical waste as a lot of damage was being done via batteries being placed in general waste.
Stephen indicated that they were planning a push on promoting this issue. Fiona advised the Committee that there would be a massive promotion amongst schools in September in relation to rechargeable batteries and recycling with a range of prizes. Fiona agreed to contact the Joint Communications Team to see what information could be sent out to schools.
The Committee was advised that anyone who sells batteries has to have a recycling point in place and it was noted that there was a collection point in the foyer at the Civic Centre Gateshead.
The Chair stated that it would be important in schools to train a number of individuals so they could continue to train others to get the message out. The Chair queried whether there was the potential for school councils to have named people in each class and competitions between classes to engage young people in the recycling agenda.
RESOLVED - That the Joint Executive Committee noted the information presented.