Veolia Volunteers

 

Volunteers from local recycling firm Veolia have been helping maintain the grounds of the historic Shrewsbury Castle. 

One of the volunteers, Phil Hartshorn said: “I usually spend my day driving the refuse vehicle around the town so this has made a nice change.  I think it’s great that my employer, Veolia, gives us the time off to help out in the local community.”


Shrewsbury Town Council had been trying to get something done about the trees opposite the Mayor's Parlour at the Castle for several years and finally received planning consent last month to remove them.

The volunteering is part of Veolia half day volunteering scheme where employees are encouraged to give something back to the local community.  All 12,000 staff who work for Veolia across the UK can spend a half day working in the local community or for a charitable organisation of their choice.  This amounts to 6,000 days each year across the whole company.

All the horticultural waste generated over the course of the day was taken to the Town Councils site in Meole Brace Shrewsbury for composting and chipping and thus will ultimately be re-used on public parks around the town. 

Recycle your Christmas tree

Did you know? In the UK we get through 8 million real Christmas trees every year! As such by my estimate that means there are around 40,000 dead Christmas trees left over in the Shropshire Council area alone. Please don't let them go to waste.

You can recycle real Christmas trees simply by putting them out for collection along with your garden waste or by taking them to your local Household Recycling Centre (HRC).  All real Christmas trees collected will be 'recycled' (actually they get sent for composting) and turned into valuable soil improver for local farmers.

Top tips

•Make sure you put the tree out on the correct day for your garden waste collection.

•If you can please try to get the tree into your garden waste bin.

•If you cannot, you may leave the tree next to your garden waste bin.

•To help the crews please cut trees down to a maximum 5 foot (1.5m) lengths.

•Please make sure you remove any tinsel and other decorations first.

Christmas 2011 recycling tips

There’s snow time like the present to be thinking about how to reduce your waste over this year’s festive celebrations.  Here are some top tips to help you save money and have an eco-friendly Christmas and New Year!


Reduce


- This year email your Christmas greetings to your friends and family. You can often send e-cards for free on the internet and so save money on postage and packaging


- Plan your meals and portion sizes in advance and try asking your guests to RSVP.  You may find that you can buy less and throw less out - saving money too! Visit http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/ for a handy portion calculator for Christmas meals and parties.


- When shopping for Christmas treats, keep an eye on packaging. Try and buy food with as little packaging as possible – choose loose fruit and vegetables instead of pre-packed goods.


Re-use


- If you are buying electrical items like toys for Christmas, invest in a good battery recharger which means you can reuse you batteries again and again - saves money too!

- Before recycling your old Christmas cards, reuse the front image and turn it in to a gift tag for next years presents!


- If you have a clear out in the New Year take your unwanted gifts to your local charity shop or to your local Furniture scheme.


Recycle


- Make sure you recycle all your paper, cans, glass bottles and jars, and plastic bottles using your kerbside collection service


- Remember you can recycle clean tin foil, biscuit tins, aerosols and aluminium packaging along with your cans.


- Put real Christmas tree out for recycling with your garden waste collection service


- Wrapping paper and Christmas cards can be recycled in your kerbside paper recycling box

 - Any fruit and vegetable peelings from your Christmas dinner can go on the compost heap. See www.recyclenow.com/compost for more ideas.

‘Tis the season to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!.....

NEW cardboard recycling banks

To make it easier for people to recycle cardboard there are now cardboard recycling containers out around the county.  For a list of locations click here.

You can also recycle cardboard at Household Recycling Centres (HRC's):

•Shrewsbury HRC (Battlefield Enterprise Park)

•Oswestry HRC (Mile Oak Industrial Estate)

•Whitchurch HRC (Waymills Civic Park)

•Craven Arms HRC (off Long Lane)

•Bridgnorth HRC (Stanley Lane)

 They accept all types of cardboard.

The cardboard is all collected up by Veolia and then sent for recycling.

Shropshire's bulky waste collection wins award

An innovative partnership between Shropshire Council, Veolia Environmental Services, South Shropshire Furniture Scheme and Shropshire Housing Alliance has been recognised as an excellent example of partnership working.

The 2011 Shropshire Compact Award recognises the pioneering Bulky Household Waste Collection Scheme, which is delivered by social enterprises, South Shropshire Furniture Scheme and Shropshire Housing Alliance as a not-for-profit operation.

The scheme employs a wide range of volunteers and people disadvantaged in the labour market who gain valuable training and work experience working alongside professional staff to collect unwanted household items from residents in Shropshire.

Wherever possible the items are repaired and reused and sold on to less well-off households in Shropshire, which has a huge socio-economic benefit for the county as well as protecting the environment.


Jean Jarvis, MBE, Chief Executive of South Shropshire Furniture Scheme, said:


“We’ve worked hard to be in a position to work alongside such a large corporation as Veolia, and Shropshire Council supported us in our aim to service a contract on this scale. It is indeed a great example of partnership working and it has been held up nationally for this reason.”

Food for Life Partnership wins prestigious BBC Award

The Food for Life Partnership (which has been active in Shropshire schools alongside Shropshire Master Composter volunteers) has been awarded the prestigious BBC Radio 4 Derek Cooper Award. The award recognises "unsung heroes, whose work has increased our access to, and knowledge and appreciation of, good food".

Award ceremony host Sheila Dillon, presenter of The Food Programme, has described the Food for Life Partnership as "the most important food project in Europe”. She commented: "For years, for decades, we've been looking for this golden way of changing attitudes to food. The Food for Life Partnership has changed things. You've seen the evidence, it's remarkable. It seems to me that if we lost what the Food for Life Partnership has achieved it would not only be a disaster for the schools and the children, it would be a disaster for the entire British society".

Emma Noble, co-director of the Food for Life Partnership, collected the award saying:

“I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of the Food for Life Partnership and the 4,200 schools and communities across England who are working hard to transform their food culture. This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate impact the Food for Life Partnership is having. We know that children are eating more fruit and veg as a result; that the programme helps ‘close the gap’ in health and academic attainment between disadvantaged children and their peers; schools show a significant increase in free school meal uptake which is crucial in encouraging healthy eating habits; and twice as many primary schools received an Outstanding Ofsted rating after working with the Food for Life Partnership.”

Shropshire scoops top award

A day service for adults with learning disabilities has won a prestigious national award for their community recycling activities.  Shropshire Council’s Oak Farm, won The Community Recycling Champion, at the prestigious national 2011 Chartered Institute of Waste Management Awards for Environmental Excellence.

The group were presented with a trophy by TV celebrity Alistair McGowan, who praised the waste sector for the work it does in reducing society’s environmental impact and raising awareness.

Oak Farm in Ditton Priors is a busy farm run by people with learning disabilities. Everyone is involved in looking after animals, and growing and selling home grown produce.  The farm champions local recycling by enthusiastically encouraging villagers to compost at home or via their community composting scheme, and looks after the village’s recycling banks.

Councillor Steve Charmley, Cabinet member covering disability, said:

“This is brilliant news for Oak Farm who have demonstrated a very innovative and sustainable way of supporting their local community in disposing their recyclable waste. I am so glad Oak Farm have won this prestigious award and congratulate everyone for their hard work.”