birminghamrecycled Issue 128

Birmingham City Council’s recycling policies has ranked place 307 out of 394 in the latest figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Birmingham Recycled wants to know, what do we need to do to get into the top ten? We compare our council to high achievers Huntingdonshire District Council to find out.

Huntingdonshire District Council came in at number five, with an overall recycling and composting

rate of 55.14%. The chart showed that Birmingham had a shockingly low recycling rate of 14.84%, whilst composting for the area was at a dismal 11.59%.

So why is Birmingham lagging so far behind? Looking into other Councils’ work may help reveal what our own council is lacking in and Huntingdonshire District Council are clearly doing something right.

ServiceBoth councils provide door collection service for recyclable waste, but they have their differences.

Huntingdonshire District Coun-cil offers a weekly collection using three different bins for composting, recyclable waste and general waste. Education and Promotion Officer for the council, Heidi Fields said: “I think it really helps that

EventsEvents, campaigns and incentives are a key tool to get the residents of an area motivated about an issue, particularly one like recycling. Huntingdonshire District Council holds a number of events throughout the year to raise awareness for environmental issues, including taking part in Recycle Week and Compost Awareness Week.

A major event coming up in the council’s calendar is the first ever Huntingdonshire Green Heart Community Awards, whichwill take place on World Environment Day. The awards give recognition to individuals and community groups who have worked to reduce their environmental footprint within the community. The winners will be announced at a special ceremony on the day, and awarded with cash prizes; giving people an incentive which will inspire them to work towards their goals.

Birmingham is not to be discredited in the area of events either though, after hosting the UK’s first climate change festival in 2008. This event now takes place every year, starting on World Environment Day and spanning over a weekend.

It is events like this that can make a real impact in the long term, educating the public and raising awareness of issues in a fun way. Although Birmingham has a number of small-scale events within it’s constituencies, events like the Climate Change Festival that brings all areas of Birmingham together to consider the con-sequences of climate change are very rare.

recycling

How can Birming ham’s recycling be more like Hu ntingdonshire?

we collect so many different materials – including three different types of plastic and tetra packs – and it all goes in the same bin, so the residents don’t really have to do anything!”

Birmingham, on the other hand, has a weekly collection for general waste but only a fortnightly collection for recyclables and

garden waste, which are divided into different

boxes and bags. They are a lot

more limited in what they collect, with no collection for kitchen waste or other

recyclable items such as

tetra packs.Spokesman

Richard Green explained: “We don’t

have the facilities to sort through the materials at the moment, which is why they have to be placed in different boxes. We are really lucky as our paper goes to local organisation Kappa, but the plastics and foils all go to different places which are further away.”

The services provided by our Council certainly leave room for improvement. Although their spokesman offers a valid reason, if Birmingham City Council took steps to implement the use of one bin for all recyclable materials, recycling would be easier for it’s residents, and in turn residents would be more likely to make the effort. The problem is that it would take additional time and money,

We are really lucky as our

paper goes to local organi-sation Kappa, but the plastics

and foils all go to different places which are further away

- Spokesman Richard

Green

“

”Huntingdonshire - Photo by: michellebflickr

which the council claim that they do not have for recycling.

birminghamrecycled Issue 129

Campaigns and schemesHuntingdonshire District Council runs a variety of campaigns and schemes throughout the year, including a Huntingdonshire Spring Clean, aiming to reduce litter and promote recycling as a community. They have also been working on a Green House Project, due for completion later this year.

Heidi explained: “We’ve bought two 1960s houses and are in the process of renovating them to incorporate new green technologies such as solar panels and a green roof. They will be open to the public as show homes in the summer, to demonstrate what people can do in their own home within the current housing stock.”

These practical demonstrations and activities as a community serve as a great help to get residents motivated about recycling and sustainability.

Birmingham City Council has implemented a new scheme with the Birmingham Envi-ronmental Partnership, helping businesses recycle. Since March, workshops have been running to help local restaurants improve their green credentials and the

What can we do?Birmingham produces a whopping 500,000 tonnes of waste a year and so it is important to ensure this colossal amount of waste produced is distributed through the right channels. Maybe the sheer size and industrial nature of Birmingham city makes it difficult to get the message across to all areas, as Huntingdon’s Heidi Field says: “I think it makes it easier that we are quite a rural district, it’s smaller and communication is easier.”

Birmingham City Council seems to have difficulties publicising their schemes and reaching such a wide area. One thing they could do to easily combat this problem is to utilise their website to make their events and campaigns more visible and easily accessible to the public.

However Birmingham is making gradual progress, and some of the campaigns proposed for over the next year show innovation and inspiration. Kris Kowalewski said: “If you look around, the throw-away culture is certainly changing. People are starting to think about what happens to things once they are finished with. We do admit more needs to be done by the Council, but we’re making positive steps in the right direction.”

recycling

How can Birming ham’s recycling be more like Hu ntingdonshire?

next step will be to introduce a Green Restaurant award, to recognise the progress local eateries make in environmental responsibility. Recognising

businesses efforts and providing incen-

tives to go greener is

certainly a worthy idea, but the scheme has had very

little exposure

and some restaurants in

the city have not even heard of it.

Birmingham also boasts the innovative Energy from Waste” scheme, in partnership with Violia Environmental Ser-vices. Kris Kowalewski said: “Our recycling rates may look bad, but it’s important to bear in mind that the amount of waste we send to landfill is actually very low because of this scheme.” However, although Energy from Waste is a promising scheme, a closer inspection reveals that some of the materials being burnt are recyclable anyway, and so could have been used to make recycled products.

Our recycling rates may look bad,

but it’s important to bear in mind that the amount of waste we send to landfill. -

Kris Kowalewski, Enviromental

Services

“

”

What do you

do to contribute to

Brum’s recycling

system? Check our online

recycling articles out and

comment to let us

know!

Image by: TheTruthAbout...

birminghamrecycled Issue 130

science

It had already been a long time coming when last year an innovative new project was an-

nounced with the aim to get electric cars on the roads of Coventry and Brum.With fossil fuels dwindling and the need for transport to move away from the traditional fuel-reliant technologies, this news came at exactly the right time.

Thanks to funding from the Technology Strategy Board, the Coventry and Bir-mingham Low Emission Demonstrators (CABLED) project was formed, aiming to show that electric cars are a practical alternative to conventionally fuelled vehicles.

A spokesman for Birmingham City Council said: “We believe we have the necessary technology, skills and manufacturing base to ensure we would deliver a highly successful pilot project.”

Planning and developmentWord on the street was that over twelve months a total of 110 low emission cars would be given to test drivers across the two cities, both known traditionally for their successful motoring and manufacturing industries.

On top of this, plans were made to provide the appropriate infrastructure for electric car users, including installing charging points at loca-tions within the drivers’ own properties and in public places, with help from major electric company Eon.

A total of thirteen businesses and organisations jumped on board the CABLED project bandwagon, led by Arup Manufacturing based in Solihull.

The vehicles submitted for testing by trial drivers have been contributed by six ve-hicle manufacturers including Mitsubishi, Smart and Jaguar Land Rover.

Data from the test drivers will be collected from the trial drivers and analysed by re-searchers at Aston, Birmingham and Coventry Universities, in order to pro-duce detailed information and analysis to help support future plans to develop low carbon vehicles for the mass market.

Action and implementationBut after a flurry of media attention in summer 2009, the CABLED project seemed to slip in the media and public agenda, with very little coverage over recent months.

As the end of the initial twelve month stage creeps closer, Birmingham Recycled wants to know what real action has been

taken to get the roads of Coven-try and Birmingham to go

green?

Neil Butcher, man-ager of the CABLED project told us: “The reason the project appeared to take so long to get off the ground is because

after we won the grant we went into

an initial develop-ment stage, planning

and researching the project, before putting it into practise.

“It was actually a two-year plan, with an initial development stage followed by the implementation, which is the stage we’re at at the moment.”

All well and good, but what action have

A year on:

We will be launching the rest of

the cars within this year, and they will be tested for a year-long period. At the mo-

ment the vehicles aren’t ready. - Neil Butcher

CABLED

“

”

Electric Smart Car

they actually taken in implementing the plan? Neil explained: “Last December we had the handover of the first 25 electric vehicles, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, to test driv-ers. The triallers will get to keep the

cars for a year from the date they were handed over, and will fill in regular questionnaires and surveys to find out how they’re getting on with the cars.”

Getting 25 electric cars out there is certainly a start – but that’s all it is. At the beginning of the project, the public were promised that 110 electric motors would be making it onto our roads within the next year, so why the delay?

Neil said: “We will be launching the rest of the cars within this year, and they will all be tested for a year-long period. At the moment the vehicles aren’t quite ready as they are using very new technology; these are brand new vehicles which are not cur-rently on the market. We’re also carrying out quite a complex user selection process to ensure a variety of results – we have to take into account where they live and work and how often they drive.”

Worrying news that they haven’t yet prepared the cars or selected people to drive them, but Neil brushes these concerns aside, assuring us that “The next handovers will definitely take place between May and June this year. We haven’t set an exact date yet, but it’s definitely going ahead.”The next cars to be launched will be the

birminghamrecycled Issue 1

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31

The infrastructureAnother key aspect to the CABLED project plan was ensuring the correct infrastructure to charge electric cars is installed throughout Birmingham and Coventry workplaces, homes and public areas. As they have not managed to get many cars on the road as of yet, have they done any better at providing charging points for the cars?

“We’ve gone round to all the Mitsubishi test drivers’ houses and installed charging points for them, we’ve also installed them in their workplaces as well where possible. We will be do-ing the same for the next batch of test drivers too.” Neil added: “We’re currently working with local councils on getting the approval for charging points in public places, and unfortunately learning it’s a complicated process getting the approval for charging points in public places!”

It seems hypocritical and unreasonable that the local councils, who are working on the project with Arup, are proving less

than agreeable when it comes to actually installing the infrastructure needed to run the electric cars. A an electric car is an awkward car to n electric car is an awkward car to run,making the public even less likely to em-brace it as an alternative mode of transport.

But a spokesman defended Birmingham City Council saying: “We’ve got plans to install charging points throughout the city this year, including public places. If you’re going to have the vehicles obviously you’ve got to have the infrastructure, so that’s all in hand.”

Because of these issues, the first charging point in a public place will

not be installed until the end of April, and Neil was unable to tell us where it would be located due to “politics”. However, we can rest assured that plans are still on track for a total of 36 charging points in public places by the end of the project.

The future“It’s a very exciting project which

I’m proud to be a part of.” Neil concluded; “At the moment there isn’t

that depth of knowledge and experience in this area. Everyone, from the councils to the manufacturers, is keen to know how these cars will be used in every day life. The technology is very new to all of us, and we’re all trying to learn in this process.” It certainly does seem that way, but

If you want to find out more about the CABLED project or check for the latest news and updates, you can visit the website at:

Where are the electric cars?

We’ve got plans to

install charging points throughout the city,

including public places. - Birmingham City

Council

shortly by the Tata Indica Vista EV. We will have to just wait and see if they come out on time over the next couple of months.

http://www.cabled.org.uk

“

”

Electric silver Car

Electric Blue Car

Birmingham Recycled hopes that the obstacles and delays the project over and expertise gained in order to help the West Midlands become a successful centre for low carbon vehicles.

birminghamrecycled Issue 1

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32 37

science

“I do what I can to help; I catch the train to work instead of driving and I’d like to think my home’s pretty energy efficient” Nick Oliver, 35, Financial Consultant, Tamworth.

“Climate change does affect me – I don’t like this weather! Something really needs to be done.” Ayesha Uddin, 18, Student, Small Heath.

birminghamrecyled Emma’s opinion column: Wake up Brummies!

“They say in the news that our climate’s changing; they say it’s going to snow and then it doesn’t. It’s hard to know what to believe.” – Alfie White, 16, Student, Broms-grove.

“If we re-ally wanted to make a differ-ence it would take a complete change of lifestyle, and people just aren’t willing to do it.”– Naomi Hull, 27, Teacher, Lich-field.

A particularly concerning example comes from 64-year-old Birmingham shopper Lionel Bolton from Stafford, who an-nounced boldly: “It’s all an excuse for the Government to charge more taxes. If you look at history it says you get cold winters, this is nothing new. Climate change is all a con!”

Disturbingly, he is not alone in this view. Looking for somebody to blame on the issue, many people turn to their favourite scapegoat; the Government. Ammunition for this viewpoint was pro-vided in 2001, with the introduction of the Climate Change Levy, a tax on energy for non-domestic users in the UK, which outraged many UK citizens and businesses. These people just cannot seem to understand that the Climate Change Levy was introduced for a reason; to provide an incentive for energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. Not, as Lionel would have us believe, simply to wind people up.

A different but equally disconcerting view on the matter is offered by 17-year-old Meg O’Brian from Sutton Coldfield, who brazenly admitted: “I know climate change is something that’s in the news at the moment, but I don’t really follow the news and I don’t know many people who do, so it’s not really relevant at my age. I wouldn’t really go out of my way to do anything to help the problem.”

Meg exemplifies the views of a typical teenager; more concerned with what is happening in Eastenders than news about the future of our planet. What she fails to realise is that the affects of global warming on the earth will most likely become im-minent within her lifetime but by the time that it is impossible to ignore the issue any more, it may already be too late.

Something needs to be done to re educate the people of our city of this prominent and very real problem. How will we ever get people to take action to change things? The future is in our hands, and if the people of Birmingham are anything to go by, it is in danger of slipping through our fingers.

This month I hit the streets to see what the general public

were now saying about climate change, and, as expected, met some despairing results.

From the Copenhagen summit to the “Climategate” scandal, the words on everyone’s lips for the past year have been climate change. But despite extensive media coverage, campaigns and political debates, the true message of what is happening to our planet is still lost on most of Birmingham’s citizens.

Sad but true, it seems only a slither of the Midlands population - perhaps those who would be most likely to pick up this magazine – are taking climate change seriously. I took to the streets to hear what the general public had to say about climate change and fully realised that we are in the minority, whilst the majority of people are more than happy to live with their heads in the sand, ignoring this world wide crisis that is taking place around us.

As the UK’s second largest city, Birmingham relies heavily on fossil fuels. Boasting the constantly bustling Bull Ring shopping centre, the city encourages a consumer culture, leaving little time in the busy centre for people to stop to recognise the issue of climate change and global warming.

What do you think?

Email:

editor@birminghamrecycled.

co.uk

birminghamrecycled Issue 1

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33

The world around us is changing, and with that comes more innovative and exciting developments in technology. Birmingham

Recycled brings you our pick of this season’s eco friendly new gadgets.

RRP: £14.99 and first Class delivery to Birmingham costs £1.76 per buttonAvailable at: www.eco-button.com

The award winning Eco Button makes sure that your computer is not using unnecessarily energy. At least a third of the energy generated from a PC goes to waste but simply connect the Eco Button to your Windows PC or laptop and, with just the press of a button, you can put it into the most energy saving mode available and, when you do come back to it, you will not have to wait an eternity for your computer to power up again. It is simple, cuts your carbon footprint and saves money.

1. Eco Button

2. Wattson Energy MeterRRP: £99.95 including delivery to BirminghamAvailable at: www.diykyoto.com/uk/wattson

The Wattson Energy Meter allows you to find out exactly how much energy we are using in the home and how much it is costing. This sleek, stylish little device is wireless so it can be placed anywhere in your home to measure the total amount of electricity being used at any given time. The makers, DIY KYOTO, claim that it can save households between 5 – 25% off their electricity bills every year. And to top it all off, it is recyclable too!

3. Freeloader Pico Solar ChargerRRP: £16.99 with free delivery anywhere in the UKAvailable at: www.solartechnology.co.uk The Freeloader Pico Solar Charger works in

all daylight hours and is suitable for iPods, Laptops and many mobile phones including the Apple iPhone and Black berry. The Freeloader Pico will provide enough energy for a mobile phone to run for 35 hours, an iPod to run for 14 hours or 1 ½ hours for GPS and you only need to leave it plugged in for 30 minutes! It is perfect for people who are regularly on the move.

RRP: £88.95 including a delivery to Birmingham within two days

Available at: www.greenwarehouse.co.uk

The Brill Razorcut Premium 33, the latest model from the company regarded to produce the world’s finest hand lawn mowers, having been featured in the Guardian, the Daily Mail and Gardener’s World. The Brill hand lawn mower pro-duces no air pollution or noise, making mowing your lawn a pleasure.

4. Brill Razorcut Premium 33

5. Powerplus Verio Wind Up Mp3 Player

Green gadget corner

RRP: £39.95 with an additional cost of £2.50 to deliver to BirminghamAvailable at: www.biggreensmile.com

The Powerplus Verio Wind Up Mp3 gives you instant access to your music any time, anywhere. You only have to wind up this handy little gadget for 1 minute to be provided with 15-20 minutes of listening time. This Mp3 player comes with 1 Gigabyte of internal memory to ensure you always have a vast range of tunes to choose from at your fingertips and a USB and mains charger is available for when electricity is available.

Buy all products online now!

The new eco button

Pico solar

Brill razor cut premium 33

birminghamrecycled Issue 134

Edith Brittle, 69, from

Hednesford:

“I often have 3 dogs to care for while my two daughters work in the day, which you can imagine create a lot of excess hair, so I collect it all up when I can and put it into my compost! It’s really good for the plants as it keeps the roots warm if we have any cold spells.”

<<

YOUR Birmingham Recycled

What’s your unusual green habit? By Natalie Eccleshall

Sarah Stirling, 19, from

Stirchley:

“It was my Mum’s birthday a few weeks ago and I already had her present, but a couple of days before I realised I had no paper to wrap it, so I thought quickly and wrapped it in a piece of newspaper! The best thing about it was my mum loved it! She thought it was retro wrapping paper that had cost me a fortune!.”

<<

Joanne Christian, 21, from Cannock:

“I am currently studying photography at college and I use any rubbish I can get my hands on to make ‘pinhole cameras’ to take photos. Cartons of any description are especially useful!”

<<

Lauren Perry, 20, from

Birmingham:

“My partner and I have recently decorated our dining room with a retro sixties theme in mind but we struggled to pick details as triv-ial as placemats for the table, so I came up with the idea of using old vinyls! They are the perfect touch, and work!”

<<

It is most encouraging to know that members of the great British public are indeed doing their bit to help the environment. Some notable individuals are going that one step further to recycle and reuse some unusual things that oth-

ers are shipping off to landfills and recycling centres on a weekly basis.This month we mingled with a proportion of the public in and around Birmingham to unearth some rather quirky recycling habits.

birminghamrecycled Issue 1

recycling

NEXT ISSUE:Autumn edition!

Subscribe now to recieve on 20th August

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environmental news from the midlands

www.birminghamrecycled.co.uk

Issue 1: 21st May 2010

WEST

MIDLANDS

SAFARI PARK:Conservation haven

or menace?

Lifestyle: A week as a vegan, how did it go?

Electric cars: Has any

progress been

made? Find out

inside!

The Greenest

University

Awards: University’s in

the Midlands -

Who’s our

winner?

All the latest

green news!

www.twitter.com/

bhamrecycled

Dreaming of a green Christmas? Get

planning early and do it GREEN style!

Tog up for 2010’s cold cold weather this Autumn!!

Farmer’s market photo by Photo by: Claire Malone

birminghamrecycled Issue 140

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