Real Recycling for Zero Waste Conference

'Real Recycling for Zero Waste' Conference Report

Saturday 28th June 2008
Friends Meeting House, Rainsford Road, Chelmsford
Report by Paula Whitney:

LibDem, Labour and Green county and district councillors attended from Essex and Suffolk, with a LibDem councillor and a Green councillor from Norwich City Council. No Conservatives attended. Campaigners came from Surrey, London, Cambridge, Norwich and Essex.

We had brilliant presentations from Brian Head of Berryman glass, Gill Denbeigh of Aylesford papermill and Stuart Foster of Recoup (plastic reprocessors' body), who showed the value of real recycling in energy and climate change terms and the need to support our UK reprocessors by providing valuable clean recyclables.

We had a 'Fame' flatback kerbside collection vehicle on display, with separate metal stillages for sorting the colours of glass at the kerbside - metals are usually also collected in a larger separate stillage, for sorting by magnet at the depot. These are purpose-built in Colchester, and are used at various places, such as York, Harrogate, Gloucester, Gwynedd, Redditch, Oldham, Waltham Forest and Colchester. It is an excellent way to separate glass at the kerb and I haven't seen a better vehicle.

Brian Head said this was only the second presentation he had made on Real Recycling and it was the first for Gill. I think getting them together with a receptive audience of councillors and campaigners gave them a boost of confidence and it was brilliant for all of us. Brian brought a pile of mashed metal, rubble and broken glass left at the end of a MRF - no good for recycling as glass as you might imagine.

Unfortunately the presenter for the Preston kerbside bucket collections of food waste did not manage to make it down to Chelmsford from Preston. This was an excellent presentation given at a recent London ReMade seminar showing the lidded buckets, electric collection vehicle and now going to a local invessel composting plant. It started with 7,500 households and has now been extended to 15,000 I was told. It was modelled on the Italian scheme designed by Enzo Favoino.

WRAP has just produced a timely report showing that separated kerbside collections were much cheaper than collecting in wheelie bins or sacks, compacting in wheelie bin HGVs and thundering the compacted and contaminated materials to central costly MRFs to be mechanically-sorted for a high gate fee and materials of dubious quality.

The afternoon speakers included former and current Essex county and district LibDem and Labour councillors and Cabinet waste portfolioholders, who have chaired key waste committees and been part of the decade-long Essex waste war. We have just had the PFI bid and Outline Business Case confirmed for two massive MBT plants and an incinerator to burn 250,000 tonnes p.a. at one of the sites, against the ruling Conservatives' pledges since 2001.

The eleventh-hour hope for us in Essex after the May election was a break in the county and district Joint Waste Management committee ranks, with a change of administration at Colchester council. We bucked the national trend and the Tories lost five seats to the LibDems and Labour, with the coalition of opposition groups taking control from the Conservatives. Colchester has now opposed the Essex waste strategy and PFI bid, and complained about the recent trick consultation which was designed to show 'broad public support' for the PFI bid.

The final roundtable discussion between all the councillors and campaigners with various different county waste proposals was very productive and energising.

Presentations

David Stowe was unable to attend the conference, but sent information about the Preston foodwaste collection scheme, which is modelled on the Italian bucket system with electric collection vehicles.
People can see the video of the crews working at this YouTube link, and here is a link to an updated version of the London ReMade presentation (.PPT).

Page updated 17/7/08