Talking Rubbish on the Radio Again

This morning I was asked to go on BBC Radio WM to defend councils' abilities to fine people for not recycling or persistently putting waste in the wrong place after Caroline Spelman said the government were going to put a stop to bin fines.

Up against "Big Brother Watch" (another of those right-wing libertarian organisations set up by Matthew Elliot of Tax Payers' Alliance), I was presented with a view of a world when councils send people out to spy on innocent residents, handing out fixed penalty notices every time a wheelie bin is a couple of inches from where it should be.

Now, going on to defend councils fining people wouldn't be everyone's favourite thing to do, so it was important to make points on cost above all else. Fines are (or certainly should be) a last resort, but the government is just playing to certain parts of the press with this latest announcement.

The real issue should be that we are no longer living in a world where waste management is about disposal. Resources are too valuable for that and prices are going up all the time, so recycling is not just an environmental imperative, but a financial one too. This means that in fiscally stretched times, it is more important than ever that people do recycle and recover value, rather than costing the council more money by chucking everything into the bin to be burnt or buried.

Last week we gave evidence to the scrutiny committee review on this and are very determined that Birmingham should transform services to a "resource recovery system". This means mainly working with communities and companies that can give us the best value and environmental outcomes possible. If fines are removed, it simply gives the wrong message to people about the value of doing the right thing. It should never be near the top of actions to be taken and I think it is very unlikely that it ever is.

People want their streets to be clean and their bills to be lower. Councils need to work together with residents and recycling companies to achieve this, reduce carbon emissions and create jobs.

Joe Peacock

Green New Year's Resolutions

Have you made a new year's resolution this year? If so, is it one that will benefit the environment as well as yourself?

There's no reason why you couldn't make a late one now if you haven't got round to it yet...

How about one of the following?

Transport

• Fly less, or not at all if you can help it. Flying is the most polluting activity a person can take and not doing it will make more impact on reducing your carbon footprint than anything else. The reason why it is only a small proportion of the UK's carbon emissions is because relatively few people do it still.

 

• Drive less. Per mile, driving can also have very high CO2 emissions (although people don't tend to drive as far as they fly). It also has a negative impact on the area in which you live in terms of congestion, air pollution, noise pollution and creating a dangerous environment for pedestrians and cyclists. If you can cycle, walk or take the bus/train, please do. It's good for your health and can also mean lower stress levels than driving in the rush hour.

 
Waste and Resource Use

• Think about buying things with less packaging. Plastic bags are an environmental problem, but then so is the packaging that most food (and other products) is encased in. If you buy fresh fruit and veg to cook from scratch, it almost always has less packaging and you could also make a point by unwrapping things in the shop and leaving the retailer to deal with the waste - they might re-think what they stock then.

• Try to find ways to re-use as many things as possible rather than throwing them away or putting them in the recycling. It can be fun to think of new uses for things. 

 
Food

• Buy local. Use local independently owned shops/market stalls as much as possible and try to find products that are produced locally, too. The smaller the distance between where things are produced and bought, the better for the environment, generally speaking. Also, eat less meat and dairy, as these foods have a bigger environmental impact.

  
Energy

• Ensure electrical devices are turned off when not in use, both at home and at in the work/study places you go to. Also, make sure you don't leave doors/windows open when the heating's on.

 
Campaign

• Get involved with Birmingham Friends of the Earth and help us to campaign for change and a better environment.

Do you have any other ideas you'd like to share?

A good time to contact your councillor about waste

Next week Birmingham Friends of the Earth (along with other interested parties) will be giving evidence to the scrutiny committee's Municipal Waste review.

If you wish to read in detail a lot of the work we've done on this, then it's on our website, but I just want you to grab this opportunity to get your councillor to feed in to this review, too. I have been made aware that councillors have today received details of the terms of reference of the review, so will know it is happening and can respond if they wish.

If you are unhappy with the current system, do not want black bags whose contents get strewn everywhere, would rather we moved away from burning rubbish and creating 280 000 tonnes of CO2 per year from the incinerator to a system where we get maximum value for money out of the resources we have, please contact your councillor today and ask them to put this case.

Email us via campaigns@birminghamfoe.org.uk if you want advice on what to say.

Joe Peacock

Highlights of 2011 Part 3

The campaign to save environmental protections within the planning system was taken up by many organisations this autumn and we played our part in pointing out the damage that will be done if developers just have free reign to build what they want where they want.

Friends of the Earth gave us the campaign slogan "Talk half as much rubbish" earlier in the year, but we found most people didn't associate David Cameron with their bins (strange as it may seem), so we put our focus on lobbying the council to halve the amount of rubbish. We got about 800 signatures on a petition for food waste collections and better recycling, as well as producing reports on the waste system and the damage done by the incinerator. We are now engaging with the Municipal Waste Review being conducted by the scrutiny committee to whom we'll give evidence in January.

This was the tenth year we've done a Santa Parade in Birmingham for Buy Nothing Day. This year we got a big piece on the radio about consumption and Christmas as well as press coverage and lots of people dancing round the streets with us :-) This video provides pictures from many of those ten years and the radio piece:

As part of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, we always put on events to raise awareness of what is happening amongst the public and politicians. This year it was a screening of the film Dirty Oil at the BMI, followed by a discussion.
The talks in Durban weren't as bad as we feared they might be, but still haven't done anything yet to prevent runaway climate change. Here's Andy Atkins of Friends of the Earth talking about it:

All that makes it even more important that our Final Demand campaign makes a big impact both on the way the energy market is run and the carbon emissions it's responsible for. We are hoping to get thousands of signatures to show the government that people really want a shift in power away from the Big 6 with people taking control over producing their own energy, not just pouring money into shareholders' pockets.

This shot is from Bristol, but we are all ready to hit the streets of Birmingham next year and make a real difference to the carbon emissions of retailers by getting them to close the doors. We have the materials and just need an army of volunteers to go round speaking to shopkeepers. Let us know if you want to help.
The last slide is for our wonderful volunteers, without whom, none of this would happen:

Birmingham's 150-year-old recycling centre

Yesterday, I was allowed to attend a visit to the paper mill run by Smurfit Kappa along with members of the scrutiny committee of Birmingham City Council. Beforehand, they visited the incinerator in Tyseley (to which I was not allowed to go on the behest of Veolia - wonder why).

As the council delegation was substantially delayed at their incinerator visit, I was able to ask quite a few questions before they got there and found the hosts very obliging and willing to talk about a range of environmental subjects. Mostly, though they were proud to be in this place where recycling has been taking place for about 150 years (there will apparently be some sort of celebration of this next year).

It turns out that they are quite happy with the current system of how paper and card is collected in boxes for kerbside collection, so long as it's not mixed with other recyclable materials (glass, tins plastic). They are happy to take all types of paper and cardboard and it all gets turned into one type of material (the outer layer on cardboard boxes, which you can see here on massive rolls.

I'd never been to a recycling plant before, so to see the scale of it was quite impressive. I realise that there are economies of scale from collecting all types of paper together, but it does seem a bit of a shame that better quality paper all gets turned into the lower grade stuff for cardboard boxes. Is there nowhere in Birmingham that makes recycled office or toilet paper? How far does that have to travel?

We are continuing our work to prepare evidence to give to the committee for the Municipal Waste Review when we want to propose a transformation of what's done in Birmingham and move to a resource recovery economy rather than a waste disposal system. See the articles on our website for more information.

Joe Peacock

Power To The People? Unlikely.

On Monday 3^rd October, Birmingham City Council/Birmingham Environmental Partnership held a Sustainability Forum at the Council House from 6pm to 8.45pm. The theme of the evening was: “The Future of Our Streets?”. Rather than finding answers or solutions however, we were left asking a number of questions.

Background:

A number of groups turned up by 5.30pm, some of which set up stalls (among those present were Grease Lightening/CSV environment, Localise West Midlands, local allotment plotholders, West Midlands police, the Co-operative Society, Smurfitt Kappa, councillors, Sustainable Moseley); people mingled over soup until around 6.30pm (very nice, thank you BCC); and then we all withdrew to the other side of the room for presentations on waste, renewables, food security and transport.

David Bull from BCC took on transport, Kevin Mitchell talked about the forthcoming Municipal Waste Review and related issues, John Boyle from the WM Co-op covered food security, and Phil Beardmore from Localise WM gave an in-depth presentation on anaerobic digesters.

We then got to discuss these issues and made posters expressing our views and ideas on how to make Birmingham more sustainable. The forum itself was billed as an opportunity to “make a real difference by voicing your views” and this is where I am somewhat unconvinced, despite the many positive things to come out of it.

On the plus side:

+ It certainly was a good opportunity to network. The Council clearly caters for that very well.

+ The speakers themselves were for the most part clear, articulate and informative during their presentations, and certainly provided us with some good anecdotes.

+ Importantly, it was a demonstration of the Council's willingness to engage with, and listen to the ideas of, different groups in society.

On the negative side;

- It would have been nice, however, to have a more diverse, representative picture/take on the current situation and best-fit practices in the presentations. The speakers were either speaking for their department of the council or for other organisations, so it seemed we were talked at, rather than engaged with. Also, they didn't really seem to stick to the topic if there was one (the cooperative may be a good organisation, but we heard very little about food security).

- There wasn't nearly as much time as we would have liked to discuss the issues and even get further information. “Q&;A” with the panel consisted of a couple of minutes of answering 2 questions, most of which were only superficially covered or dodged completely. It was like watching David Beckham in that press conference after the allegations about Rebecca Loos. Except that this perhaps was slightly less glamorous.

- The feedback time (moment to 'make a difference') was less than an hour, regrettably, meaning people didn't have a chance to go into much detail, have a truly meaningful debate, and give considered, innovative, original responses. The responses that were given, were recorded, but we are not sure what will be done with it. I contacted the forum's organiser, Lorraine Cookson, for information about how our input would be used, whether we would get any feedback from the Council and where I could get access to copies of the four presentations given. I have yet to receive a reply, but local organisations such as ours and the others represented last week have a unique perspective on how things are on the ground, what work needs to be done to change people's behaviour and how best to go about doing it. They can give vital insight into how to make Birmingham more sustainable in a real, practical sense; some council decisions and plans, whilst good on paper, might be ineffective, inappropriate or impracticable in reality. Listening to the experiences and suggestions of grassroots organisations brings the Council closer to the real world, so we hope there will be reporting on what they do with the feedback from the forum, or they will struggle to attract people to come along in future.

To sum up then, my suggestions are that there should be some kind of formal record of our input, which is distributed among participants; information should be given to us on specific upcoming projects (and who is involved in them), planning- and decision-making dates and outcomes, and contact details for the main policy-making groups or individuals. That way we can assess the democratic process and monitor progress.

In order for these events not just to be considered talking shops that give the impression that the council is listening to our opinions, they should be more focussed and the aims and methods of achieving these aims be made clearer. Then it would be a really worthwhile exercise, which would hopefully result in a larger audience, too.

>>>>>>>>>>>  THIS IS AN EDITED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE I WROTE.  The original was edited by Joe Peacock and included comments on Andrew Mitchell.  I cannot say for sure which bits I wrote and what has been changed, but would like the record to show and for people to know that this is not entirely my work and not the original work.
Gergana (4th October 2012)

Comments from Our Waste Round Table Dicussion

Last week, we held a round table discussion with the Chamberlain Forum including representatives from residents' groups and community recyclers to talk about the issues of waste in Birmingham connected to our campaign to Halve Rubbish.

During the discussion, people were invited to put their thoughts onto post-it notes, in a similar way to how people might be tweeting comments in other meetings. They were collected and written up afterwards to provide an interesting snapshot of the thoughts of the participants, so here they are:

• Zero Carbon FC. What do they do with the rubbish from playing fields?

• ‘Nature’ is good at recycling.

• A Birmingham Problem?

• Success story on paper.

‘Rubbish Capital of the Midlands’ – Incinerator strategy.

• Rats because of the way we deal with waste.

• Hidden cost of waste includes fires/fire service.

• Fires of rubbish – how much could the fire service save per year without them?

• Waste is co-produced.

• Waste = Misplaced resources.

• Bikes are incinerated when they go to HRCs! That’s crazy. How many other useful things?

• Rubbish is mixed up waste.

• Litter is rubbish that is scattered.

• There is always waste, what matters is what we do with it.

• ‘System’ puts stuff in the wrong place.

• Separation is the key.

• “Compost is the most valuable resource in the world”. Proper job.

• Council can make it easy or make it difficult for communities to recycle.

• Decentralise: lots of little local solutions – avoid ‘grand plans’.

• What is the optimum number of AD plants for Bham?

• Council could help by providing sites for community recycling in town centres. How can this be facilitated?

• Legislation to prohibit recyclable products (food waste, cardboard etc) in landfill will stimulate the need for recycling. Is this imminent?

• Local Green Fund – get people in Bham to put money in! £40 per person will do it!

• No point exchanging nuisance social problem with a bigger one of deprivation. Economic development is the key.

Weekly compilation 24.06.2011

Here's another of our weekly round-ups of news that relates to our campaigns in some way:

Transport

RT @cyclingmobility: Analysis of highway design from cyclist’s view. Let us know ur thoughts!http://bit.ly/m75Myj

RT @birminghampost: Warwickshire County Council to object to #HS2 plans http://bit.ly/keeqsD

RT @beleben: How #Bickenhill parkway station illustrates the fundamental #flaws in the #HS2 concept http://wp.me/p1j38b-tA #disconnectivity

Surprised Bham only 13th most congested city http://bit.ly/ihojfq -urgently needs investment in public transport, cycling infrastructure etc

World Bank and OECD have recommended removing support for biofuels, yet the aviation industry continues obliviously:http://reut.rs/mJ71Mb

RT @sustrans: Encouraging more people to get on their bikes should be applauded not ridiculed http://bit.ly/jDEJb5 *applauds Wales*

RT @philiploy: NHS looking for community members looking at promotion of walking and cycling http://bit.ly/j1Fj6k by Fri 8 July

RAC has revealed some great news. People starting to think about car use more. Just need to make alternatives easier:http://bbc.in/lwJCGu

RT @sustrans: Sustrans & CTC join other environment & safety groups to fight Govt plans for longer lorries on UK roads:http://bit.ly/kzrqKC

Glad that Stephen Joseph highlighted the problems with parkway stations and #HS2 yesterday - huge problems with plan:http://bit.ly/lJKWUI

Cllrs & planning officers being misled by exaggerated claims that expansion of airports will create lots of extra jobs: http://bit.ly/jofAaf

Flying in the face of the facts - FoE Europe's report on biofuels and the aviation industry: http://bit.ly/liKV6z

Many can't afford holidays this year, almost as bad for the British tourism industry as subsidised cheap flights: http://bit.ly/mvoosP

Waste

Zero waste or zero ambition - has the Waste Review delivered?http://bit.ly/l5LF8B No, but we can still push locally: http://bit.ly/iJPiNo

Energy & Climate Change
RT @wwwfoecouk: Citizens across the world oppose #nuclearpower - new poll http://bit.ly/mINURG #climatechange

@northfieldeco Are you doing anything for Zero Carbon Britain Day? http://bit.ly/mp1VXE

RT @lucianaberger: Every Tory and Lib Dem on the #energybill cttee just voted against the Warm Home and Local Carbon Budget amendments

RT @wwwfoecouk: Please sign the petition for local carbon cuts: http://bit.ly/lKGayC #energybill

RT @guardianeco: Germany's nuclear phase-out will cause UK emissions to fall, report says http://gu.com/p/3v3ma/tf

RT @wwwfoecouk: Cameron must tackle Tory MEPs over climate vote: Tory MEPs revolt over proposed 30% EU emissions cutshttp://goo.gl/fb/RB5tR

Local Shops

RT @traidcraft: Supermarkets try to delay setting up Adjudicator http://bit.ly/lZMsDL

Food

RT @wwwfoecouk: US & Brazil scupper G20 action on #biofuels http://bit.ly/j48peu - despite expert food prices warning: http://bit.ly/mMT7FC

Trial of anti-aphid GM wheat awaits government green light:http://bit.ly/l2R1uF

RT @PigBusiness: New article in local paper ahead of tomorrow's town hall meeting we're hosting with @SoilAssociationhttp://bit.ly/l2IWtV

Others

Embarrassed, at all? RT @businessdeskwm: Friday Funnies: Whitby out of tune with the times! http://ow.ly/1dqsXF

Great comment by Paul de Zylva on govt making "sustainable development" meaninglessness after this planning blog post:http://bit.ly/ioeUwv

Nice of the government to clear up what sustainability is: http://twitpic.com/5c2plx

Blog: Brum-Hilde - street opera comes to Birmingham: Opera singers highlight environment with Save the Diva http://goo.gl/fb/jF36O

Beyond Rubbish?

I spent Easter weekend with some residents of South Cambridgeshire District Council, which includes the city of Cambridge. Their district has ‘Beacon status’ being one of the top 3 for recycling – it recycles 80% of domestic waste, compared to Birmingham’s 32%. They told me how it all works.

The council has invested in 3 bins for each household. All waste is in bins. I didn’t notice any rubbish or litter in Cambridge.

1. All cooked and uncooked food, along with garden waste and other compostables goes in the green bin, which is collected fortnightly. It is all composted outdoors in huge boxes, sieved and sold to residents as garden compost. The high temperatures 90 C, inside the heaps kills all the bugs that might make smells or disease. No bin bags are produced or left around. The Council has found that the rats and vermin problem has declined hugely since they did this, reports my friend who is a vet.

2. All dry paper, plastic, glass, metal etc goes into the blue bin. There is a compartment within to keep paper separate for recycling. A company called Donarbon Ltd has a plant that mechanically sorts all of this for recycling. There is an education centre where you can visit, watch and learn.

3. The black bin is for residual waste i.e. the remaining 20% by weight. This is only collected fortnightly, but my friends say they actually only need to put it out every few weeks, as it is inert and non smelly.

There is no incineration of waste. Carbon is being locked up in the composting process, so the carbon footprint must be really low. The residual waste goes to landfill, As they are successful in persuading people not to put food in the black bin, methane emissions will reduce.

Their website states: “The Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) MBT plant, which cost just over £41Million to build and equip, is the centrepiece of the 28-year PFI waste management contract between Cambridgeshire County Council and Donarbon, whereby Donarbon will be responsible for treating the majority of household waste from Cambridgeshire and ensuring that councils meet their recycling and landfill diversion targets.”

Imagine if Birmingham had an 80% recycling rate and a hugely reduced rat population, how much nicer would the city be? There would be no more sights like these:

Websites for further information;

http://www.scambs.gov.uk/Environment/Wasteandrecycling/Recycling

http://www.donarbon.com/

John Newson

28th April news round up

Here's my collection of stories from our twitter feed over this week. Putting the last one up on here had some good feedback, so I'll post it again:

Energy & Climate Change

ACTION: http://www.foe.co.uk/what_we_do/nuclear_27386.html

ACTION: http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/energy_bill_30433.html

ACTION: http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/nuclear_loophole_30408.html

Blog: Cameron's Climate Change Act under threat?: UK deregulation drive threatens Cameron's Climate Change Act: http://goo.gl/fb/1626k

RT @scccoalition: Fuel poverty has increased in recent yearshttp://cot.ag/hHGXch Is your MP working to banish #coldtimes ?#energybill

RT @wwwfoecouk: We've blown up a huge white elephant outside Parliament to say no to nuclear power - check it out:http://twitpic.com/4q2s5x

New post on our blog by Soraya about keeping it hot in the bedroom:http://bit.ly/eyrmKM

RT @HallGreenCND: Excellent Candlelit vigil for #Chernobyl, Victoria Square, yesterday. Blog post appearing soon.http://twitpic.com/4pqsn1

RT @carbonbrief: Carbon emissions 'hidden' in imported goods, the Beeb reports on Carbon Trust research http://cot.ag/gh2b9d

RT @foeint: [Blog] Say no to increase in 'safe' levels of radiation for children. http://bit.ly/eSXKI7

Food, Waste and Local Shops

ACTION: http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/biodiversity/press_for_change/rubbish_27135.html

News of our Big Green Spring Fair on 28th May is now up on the website: http://bit.ly/hoEQ7O

RT @buynothingday: Its OK for the free market to work for Tesco, but not for savvy shoppers? http://bbc.in/j3Ecye

RT @LocaliseWM: Just what we need. More CPOs wiping out BVSC & indie shop in Digbeth - for a **** #Tesco. Why can't BCC learn from past: http://s.coop/15ut

RT @wwwfoecouk: Supermarkets still using too much packaging – Govt must aim to halve waste by 2020 http://bit.ly/iLl9bS #talkingrubbish

Missed @res_publica report on localism & high street earlier this month. Good ideas on protecting retail diversity http://bit.ly/jcehWX

If Copenhagen are burning too much plastic, what about us? "Plastic surgery for Copenhagen’s recycling policy" http://bit.ly/iirZIm

RT @TheB44: @Bham_FOE you may like this article about local shops in Kingstanding: http://bit.ly/gwVVSt - Thanks, yes we do.

Transport

ACTION There is a ready-made response to the #HS2 consultation on the @wwwfoecouk website: http://bit.ly/efxFD5 - please use it if you agree.

The end of the age of speed? http://bit.ly/m3TDbD - would be nice for people to slow down and think about sustainability more.

A sign of the times for regional airports, hopefully; Plymouth airport is closing as financially not viable: http://bbc.in/ltShrE

Are any schools in Birmingham taking part in "Free Your Feet" week? http://bit.ly/dRIaBt

RT @RichardHebditch: Campaign for Better Transport press release on today's changes to transport appraisal system:http://bit.ly/gkL5Dk

RT @ptegSupportUnit: Abolition of Cycling England threatens cycling investment http://gu.com/p/2zk8x/tw see www.pteg.net for report & event

RT @BirminghamPress: Are parts of our public transport network a no-go zone? http://bit.ly/dG6m8x #transport #buses #midlandstravel

RT @the_ecologist: How trams could save us from the ‘tyranny of the car’ http://bit.ly/icNKgv

Birmingham Airport reported to the Serious Fraud Office:http://bit.ly/enERmE

£570 000 = a lot to add extra 164 parking spaces? RT @BBCBirmingham: Station near Birmingham gets park and ride revamp: http://bbc.in/gLlGLc

Others

RT @wwwfoecouk: Why we need stronger planning laws and a localism bill that allows local people to have their say http://bit.ly/ivSkHh

RT @peopleandplanet: Bham Anti-Sweatshop training days: learn, live link up with Dominican Republic activists, act.http://bit.ly/h5qMOb

Pleased to see that #donaldtrumpisabellend is trending. Very well deserved after what he says here: http://youtu.be/f6hsm81VXKY

The next social media surgery in central Birmingham is on 10th May:http://bit.ly/kjfxQ8

Please vote yes to AV and then we can all go to the pub to celebrate:http://bit.ly/frvwHn #yestoAV

This seems like a real shame: surely, some of the equipment would have been reusable: http://s.coop/15uh #castlevale #bcc

RT @jonwalker121: Interesting read from @politicalhackuk First fruits of the LEP - the Birmingham Enterprise Zonehttp://is.gd/qCT8oN

RT @LocaliseWM: 'Beyond Con-dem-nation' 24th May, B'ham. Planners Network UK meeting: future of planning & how to deal with it http://s.coop/qxf All welcome