eNewsletter

Welcome to the first of a new quarterly eNewsletter from Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (OWP).

In these eNewsletters we'll be updating you on the latest partnership news. We hope you find the information useful: please forward it on to other colleagues.

If you've any comments or ideas for future articles please email us.

New waste contract awarded in South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse

A weekly food waste collection service will be introduced in South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts through a new contract with waste management company Verdant.

New collections:

Weekly food waste in kerbside bins
Fortnightly recycling in wheelie bins
Fortnightly non-recyclables in wheelie bins
Fortnightly, chargeable, opt-in garden waste collections.

The new service will start in South Oxfordshire in June 2009 and in the Vale in October 2010. Verdant will also be responsible for street cleaning in both districts.

The new schemes mean more recycling opportunities for residents with Verdant agreeing to recycling over 50%.

A joint client team will start from 1st April (an interim team will continue to manage Vale’s old contract until October 2010).

Find out more about the new arrangements.

Future waste disposal

Oxfordshire County Council is procuring a new facility to treat the waste that is left after reduction, reuse, recycling and composting. This will help meet tough government targets, avoid heavy fines and help reduce methane gas (a powerful greenhouse gas) produced in landfills.

The two remaining companies competing for the contract are both proposing incineration with energy recovery with a capacity of approximately 300,000 tonnes per annum.

The proposals are:
•Viridor Waste Management Ltd, at Ardley landfill site
•Waste Recycling Group Ltd, at Sutton Courtenay landfill site.

Each facility is designed to produce enough electricity for approximately 23,000 homes and treat some commercial and industrial waste too, providing further environmental and cost benefits.

Campaign groups have singled out Energy from Waste (EfW) as an option to be opposed. However, EfW is widely and safely used by many of our high recycling European neighbours. There are approx 20 EfW facilities in Britain, 128 in France, 65 in Germany, 30 in Denmark, 29 in Sweden and 28 in Switzerland.

The Environment Agency and the Health Protection Agency have very strict rules for EfW facilities with neither agency allowing anything to be built that is unsafe.

Final tenders are expected to be submitted this spring and a contract is expected to be awarded in summer 2009.

Find out more about the process, including more details on EfW plants.

Introducing… John Tanner

Position/s held:

I am a Labour councillor representing Oxford City’s Littlemore ward. I am the board member for a Cleaner, Greener Oxford and currently chair Oxfordshire Waste Partnership.

What does this involve?

I chair the quarterly meetings that bring together five districts, which collect the waste and Oxfordshire County Council which gets rid of it. It happens to be Oxford’s turn to chair the partnership and I’m enjoying every minute.

Why/how did you end up in this role?

To play a part in increasing recycling and sending less to landfill across Oxfordshire.

What makes you proud about what you do?

As above because reducing our carbon emissions is vital to tackling climate change and making sure our children and grandchildren have a future.

Pet-hate?

The chewing gum that people spit out and which makes black sticky messes all over our pavements and squares.

One thing you love about Oxfordshire?

I love the fact that Oxford City throws away less waste per person than anywhere else in the South East.

What would you like to be remembered for?

I’d like to be remembered as the councillor who got the buses out of Cornmarket in Oxford.

How do you relax?

My great joy is digging on my two allotments which I can do more since I retired from the day job.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

If I won the lottery I’d be surprised because I’ve never bought a ticket.

Finally, give us your favourite green tip?

My green tip is don’t buy the rubbish in the first place!

Love Food Hate Waste

In the UK one third of the food we buy ends up in the bin! With the average Oxfordshire family wasting £610 worth of good food every year there's not only a serious environmental problem but a financial one too.

Over the next month or so the Love Food Hate Waste campaign will be hitting Oxfordshire with roadshows, radio campaigns and a leftovers recipe competition.
Plastic Bag Free Towns

The first phase of the Plastic Bag Free Towns scheme is under way!
£32,700 worth of grant funding from OWP and Oxfordshire County Council was made available to groups, to reduce plastic bag use.
A Wallingford group will use funding to supplement their existing cloth bag scheme.

Wake up to Woodstock’, a new volunteer group will be working closely with the local business organisation, schools and other local groups to set up a reusable cloth bag scheme.

We'll keep you updated on the progress!

Spring Clean

Following the successes of last September’s Big Tidy Up and OxClean Spring Clean 2008, OWP is coordinating another litter tidy up throughout March.
The campaign kicks-off with OxClean Spring Clean 2009 on 6/7th of March, with Oxford Civic Society co-ordinating litter picks across Oxford City.

Schools, businesses and community groups across Oxfordshier are all invited to take part and help clean up their local area during the rest of the month (or even to raise money through sponsorship of their event). All groups who register will be entered into a prize draw with one lucky group winning £250!

Find out more on the OWP website.
Community Action Groups (CAGs) swap electrical items
OWP has funded testing equipment and PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) training for Community Action Groups (CAGs) to enable exchanges of small electrical equipment at CAG run swap shops.

Fourteen members of the CAG network are now fully PAT trained to help enable electrical items get reused rather than be thrown away.
Paul Bailey from Wheatley CAG, PAT tested for the first time last month. He said “PAT testing went well. The things that passed and were taken away included a tea maker, PC monitor, hairdryer, and several AC/DC power supplies. We will PAT test small electrical items at all our future swap shops.”
Find out more on the CAG website including details of the countywide swap shop on 7th March.