WASTE AND STUFF

We were encouraged to start spending to get out of the last recession, but how often is this spending necessary? Sit round a table of transition minded people and it starts to make you think about whats already in the cupboard, what can be repaired and the satisfaction that can be gained from repurposing items. We sense that more people are realising that happiness gained from a shopping trip does not last long but decluttering our lives has a more lasting impact. Take a look at the Story of Stuff for a thought provoking video.

TTL arranges talks and trips to improve knowledge on how to minimise waste and maximise recycling. TTL also have an awareness of County Council plans for waste disposal and have provided feedback to encourage a reuse and recycle approach rather than incineration.

TTL have signed up to be the Community Leader to help the town gain the status of PLASTIC FREE LETCHWORTH.

STUFF / WASTE RELATED BLOG POSTS

Plastic Free Project Update

Posted on by April 4, 2018

Our Plastic Free Letchworth Campaign is gaining momentum. We are now registered with Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Community project and Letchworth Garden City is on their map. We are busy planning our public launch event in Leys Square which will be at the Farmers Market on the 21st April. To mark Earth Day on the 22nd April we will be holding our first litter pick. The children’s art competition at the Letchworth Festival is going to be themed on ‘Plastic Free Letchworth’. Click here to find out how your school or youth group can take part. We have asked local business if they … more

FANTASTIC PLASTIC?

Posted on by January 31, 2018

A record breaking 44 people attended TTL’s Tuesday talk this week. Plastic is hot news at the moment! After an introduction to the topic giving a global overview and a description of what happens to our recycling waste, the attendees gathered into groups to explore the issues of: Reduce, Re-use / Repurpose, Recycle and Influencing.   The ideas which came up were many and varied, some useful, others amusing! Well. you can’t be serious all the time! Here are some of them: REDUCE:  in the home, use glass for containers and wood for things such as chopping boards and stirring spoons;  instead of clingfilm use plates and … more

Eco Waste and Recycling

Posted on by November 19, 2017

In mid May TTL hosted a Talk by a team from a local recycling company, Eco Waste & Recycling Ltd (www.eco-skiphire.co.uk). The company is keen to promote sustainable best practices. As far a possible, it is part of a ‘circular economy’ of many kinds of materials.Their business is commercial skip hire, they do not receive municipal or household waste, but they do handle skipfulls of commercial, industrial, construction and demolition ‘waste’ materials and objects. They sort the waste by type of materials, including up to ten kinds of plastic. When a sufficient quantity of any kind has been gathered, it … more

Recycling in Herts

Posted on by June 27, 2017

UK Government decision allows for future high rates of recycling in Hertfordshire In mid-July, Greg Clark, the new Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government re-confirmed his predecesor Eric Pickles’ decision to refuse planning permission to waste contractor Veolia Environmental Services for a Mass Burn Incinerator to be sited in New Barnfield in Hatfield. What has this to do with TTL? Well, the proposed central facility would have disposed of residual, municipal waste from every part of the county, including mixed materials with recyclable components such as the foodstuffs and plastics that householders choose not to put in their recycling bins. … more

Kick The Consumerist Habit – notes from June’s Transition Tuesday

Posted on by June 27, 2017

After our meeting on consumerism on the 9th June, I said I would provide references, so here they are. The presentation slides can be downloaded from below. The first half of this file contains A4 slides and the second half has the same slides, but with explanatory notes. At the beginning of the talk, we showed the excellent “Story of Stuff”, which can be viewed at www.storyofstuff.org. We watched the original video from 2007. There are several more recent films on the site. E F Schumacher’s “Small is Beautiful” (1973) is one of the seminal texts of the environmental movement. … more

Tips for a Green(er) Christmas

Posted on by June 27, 2017
7232553

One of our members received this list of tips for having a more ethical and greener Christmas.  The whole “living sustainably” arena can be fraught with unintended consequenses so I wondered what you thought of them.  Are they sound?  A bit grinch-like?  Are there more practical things we could do?  For example, point 3 about renting a Christmas tree… I’m not sure I’d know where to begin doing that!  But a bit of greenery brought in from the garden can make good decorations in place of a tree. Please cast your cynical eye over it and let us have your … more

Giving scrap wood a new purpose

Posted on by June 27, 2017
Picture

Are you one of those people who walks past skips and peers in, thinking “I can’t believe they’re chucking that out!” or even “If I could just get my hands on that I could make something else out of it…”?  If so, you’re not alone. Transitioners will be amongst the first to say we have to start re-thinking what we commonly know as waste and consider it to be resource with a future use.  Which is why we were so pleased to hear about the wood-recycling social enterprises springing up round here.  They collect waste wood from local businesses, sort … more

Let’s talk about food waste

Posted on by June 27, 2017
Picture

The subject of food waste has been a hot topic ever since NHDC announced they were no longer going to be providing compostable liners for our food-recycling caddies.  In fact from the number of letters The Comet received I think the topic deserves it’s own name: WasteGate. TTL has received some correspondence on this subject too, from people concerned that this change will reduce the amount of food recycled, but also asking what they should do with their food waste now.  The answer can be found on the Council’s website, but if you’ve only got a minute the answer is: … more

TTL’s trip to Cumberlow Green Composting Facility

Posted on by June 27, 2017
Picture

A group of five TTL members visited Cumberlow Green Composting facility on 3 October, togged up in our wellies ready for a wet farm yard visit.  We were met by Mark Simpkins (Contract Manager for Hertfordshire County Council) and James Hodge (the owner of the site), who both gave us a tour. We were seeing the site which for obvious reasons was after the day’s work had finished and the workers gone home. Each day the collecting lorries take their morning’s collection straight onto the weighbridge at the front of the site. HCC pays for the weight of each load delivered and … more

Letchworth Shopping Challenge – How much choice is enough?

Posted on by June 27, 2017
Picture

Some of you may have been wondering why things had gone a bit quiet. I have realised one of the stumbling blocks to a Christmas present blog….It all has to be written in the run up to Christmas! So apologies for the extended gap in posts. I have been busy shopping (and baking, writing, wrapping etc) so I’m now going to do my best to make a few last posts to bring you all up to date with how I’ve got on. So, rolling back a couple of weeks, I was still in the midst of shopping (I am a … more