SITA ReView No.1

T H E S I TA C O R N W A L L C O M M U N I T I E S N E W S L E T T E R
HIGHLIGHTS
WELCOME
SITA Cornwall begins its
£15m refurbishment
programme for recycling
centres across Cornwall
A note from Louis
Welcome to the first edition of ReView,
the offical SITA Cornwall newsletter.
Investing in Recycling P.1
Welcome to the first edition of ReView. I arrived
in Cornwall back in September with my wife
and daughter and after only 8 months they are
telling me they never want to leave. The village
has warmly welcomed us and although every
morning, because of our surroundings it feels
like we are on holiday, I feel a strong duty to
work very hard to make SITA earn its place
in a county where the environment is such a
precious part of its character.
The Cornish Real Nappy
Project help to divert up to
1,000 tonnes from landfill
Considering Real Nappies? P.3
Community Assisted
Projects re-use
72.5 tonnes of furniture
over the past 12 months
Extending the reach of recycling P.3
Liskeard Connon Bridge
increase recycling rates
by 59.7% from March
2006 to March 2007.
Statistics P.4
I want this newsletter to be at the heart of a
lot of our communication in Cornwall. We want
to hear from people all the time to make sure
that what we do, works for them. The SITA
Cornwall helpdesk is there for anyone to call
including all staff to phone or write with any
queries or complaints.
In the meantime I hope you enjoy reading
the newsletter.
Louis de Poncheville
General Manager, SITA Cornwall
SITA NEWS
Investing in
Recycling
Since starting to deliver Cornwall’s integrated
waste management contract, we have already
made major improvements in the appearance
and efficiency of recycling centres, including
replacing old skips; providing additional
containers to enable the recycling of more types
of material; and greater assistance by site staff
to encourage the public to segregate their waste.
As a result of these initial changes, recycling
rates have increased and a number of letters
of thanks from the public have been received.
Having achieved this...
We have now begun a £15m
refurbishment programme
for the centres across
Cornwall, to further increase
recycling rates and reduce
the need for landfill.
Bude’s recycling centre will be the first to
benefit from a full ‘SITA make-over’ starting in
May. St.Erth will also be fully refurbished and
by phasing the construction works, this facility
will remain operational during the works.
Other sites will be modernised and brought in
line with SITA standards.
Work started earlier this month to increase
capacity at our two materials reclamation
facilities (MRFs) in Bodmin and Pool.
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SITA CORNWALL NEWS
We want to meet
Mrs.Baggit’s Children!
In 1988 Cornish school children entered a
competition to invent a character to encourage
people to take their litter home. The winning
character was Mrs. Baggit, whose image then
took up residence in many of our lay-bys,
where she can still be seen today, putting
across her simple message.
Nineteen years later, things are not that simple.
Now schoolchildren are taught that, unless
rubbish is treated as a resource, our environment
is put in danger.
We are asking the county’s school children to think
again. What would Mrs. Baggit’s children say
today? What would they be called? And how
would they look to best get their message across?
We are running a competition
with Cornish children,
to design three young
characters to encourage us all
to reduce, reuse and recycle
the rubbish that we create.
SITA Cornwall Trust to be
launched in the summer
Every tonne of waste sent to landfill is taxed,
at a current rate of £24 per tonne. However, the
Government allows waste companies to retain
a portion of the tax to support community and
environmental projects.
The landfill tax credits must be administered
by accredited environmental bodies working
according to guidelines set out by the Government.
SITA Cornwall Trust will be launched in the
summer of 2007 when they will announce
full details of how to apply and what kinds of
projects will be funded.
It is estimated that up to
£500,000 will be available
to qualifying community
organisations across
Cornwall each year.
This is in addition to funds from SITA’s national
funding body SITA Trust, which has already
given to a variety of schemes in Cornwall,
including the Eden Project.
Louis de Poncheville meets Mrs Baggit
Entry forms are being made available for schools
on their information exchange website but can
also be obtained from the helpdesk and in the
Western Morning News from the 24th April.
Entries will be displayed and judged on our
stand at the Royal Cornwall Show and the
characters will be used to promote reducing,
recycling and re-using across Cornwall.
Site staff to
help their local
communities
We are planning to support each of our sites
to raise money for their local community.
We want the sites, all over Cornwall, to adopt
a local cause or project for a year and come
up with a plan of fund raising ideas and we
will match what is raised up to £500.
Each site will set up a small team of people
from the staff and to include the local county
councillor, to decide which community or
environmental project the whole staff team
would be happy to adopt and what kind of
things they might like to do.
The fund raising events
can be anything such as
sporting events, fun runs,
fetes, raffles and quizzes.
Should any group need any tips on ideas, help
or advice, please call Simon at Ashley Public
Relations on 01579 370991 and he will do his
utmost to help in any way he can.
The Helpdesk will coordinate all of the projects
across Cornwall to make sure that there is a
good spread throughout the year and to set up
the publicity to help to make them a success.
So all that is needed now are some good ideas!
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SITA CORNWALL NEWS
Official opening
for re-use centre
Mark Barrett of Recycling Westcountry invited
local residents to the official opening of their
re-use outlet in Mount Hawke on Tuesday 13th
March to discover some of the treasures including
bric-a-brac, furniture, toys and antiques that are
in need of a good home and still have years of
use left in them.
The shop was opened by Adam Paynter Executive
Member for Environment and Heritage at
Cornwall County Council and Louis de Poncheville.
Since their contract with us began late last year,
Recycling Westcountry have been collecting and
checking reusable items to offer them for sale to
the public.
The re-use of good quality items plays a major
role in addressing the waste crisis we are facing
in Britain, even ahead of recycling, as reusable
items do not have to be reprocessed.
We can all minimise our
impact on climate change by
reducing our consumption
by re-using again and again.
Recycling Westcountry have outlets in Hayle and
Mount Hawke with another opening in Liskeard
on the 8th May.
Getting ready
for the Royal
Cornwall Show
We are making plans for the Royal Cornwall
Show. Our marquee will be hosting a number
of events including round table meetings with
various groups and the judging for the
Mrs. Baggit competition.
Falmouth based artist Chrissie Wallace will be
exhibiting a wooden tower sculpture created
by using wood collected from the Landfill site
at St Day.
Visitors to the marquee will
also be able to find out
about recycling and waste
management with fun and
games for everyone.
WORKING TOGETHER
Community News
Revitalize, Retrain and
Regenerate with Furniture.
That’s the message from Cornish environmental
not-for-profit enterprise ReZolve Kernow who
are developing a brand new furniture and
appliance reuse centre called RE:SOURCE set
to open in Bodmin in June. RE:SOURCE will
work closely with North Cornwall and Caradon
District Council to divert a significant proportion
of unwanted household goods from landfill by
recycling and reusing.
RE:SOURCE will also provide a range of training,
work placements and volunteer opportunities
through partner organisations such as Connexions,
Jobcentre Plus, DMT and Pentreath Industries.
Anyone interested in finding out more can
visit the website www.myresource.org.uk or
call freephone on 0800 3213356.
Extending the
reach of recycling
Home Comforts is a scheme under the
umbrella of Community Assisted Projects,
providing household appliances, furniture
and other household items free of charge to
vulnerable people in Cornwall.
Working with many partners including:
Cornwall’s Women’s Refuge, St Petrocs Society
and National Children’s Homes; Home
Comfort’s response is rapid.
Over the past 12 months Community Assisted
Projects have re-used a staggering 72.5 tonnes
of furniture, which if piled on top of each other
would be as tall as the Eiffel Tower!
George Braines, Co-ordinator of Home Comforts
said, “Not only have we re-used a huge amount,
we have helped over 200 families achieve an
acceptable standard of living that most of us
take for granted. We are thrilled that we have
managed to achieve so much with no funding
and only unpaid volunteers!”
Considering Real Nappies?
It’s Child’s Play!
Nearly 8 million nappies are thrown away
in the UK every day; the estimated disposal
cost of land-filling disposable nappies in
Cornwall is £285,000 per year.
Trial kits are available for up to a month,
providing the opportunity to road test many
different types of nappies before investing
any money.
In 2006 The Cornish Real
Nappy Project helped to
divert up to 1,000 tonnes
from landfill, saving £40.
The Cornish Real Nappy Project can also
offer an interest free loan to help spread the
cost of new nappies and can access further
money to buy a washing machine or perhaps
a tumble dryer. For advice or information
please call the team, completely free of
charge on 0800 3288175 or alternatively
email [email protected] or visit website
www.crnp.org.uk.
Washable nappies are a practical and healthy
nappying choice. One baby in washable nappies
can save as much as £20 per month or £500
while that child is in nappies. If you have
additional children the savings are
considerably more.
The project runs informal nappy based coffee
mornings across the county called nappicinos;
a first step to finding out a little bit more about
the choice of nappies and an opportunity to
meet other parents facing the same decisions.
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DISTRICT COUNCIL NEWS
Watching waste
in Penwith
Cornwall produces 295,500
tonnes of household waste
per year. Enough to fill Truro
Cathedral in two years.
Currently all of the waste from Penwith (apart
from that which is collected for recycling) is
taken to landfill sites, however Cornwall is
rapidly running out of valuable landfill space.
It is vital that all of us, individuals, households,
organisations and businesses do our best to
reduce the amount of waste we create. Penwith
District Council is a firm believer in the message
of Reduce Reuse and Recycle and are actively
promoting the message in the Penwith area.
STATISTICS
Composting is also a great way to reduce
waste, helps the environment and gives you
free compost for your garden. Compost bins
are available from Penwith District Council
at a heavily discounted price. The cheapest,
a 220 litre compost bin is only £8 delivered!
For more information contact Operational
Services or visit your local library.
Recycling Rates
Statistics shown are the recycling rates at
the household recycling centres at March ‘07.
Liskeard
+ 59.7%
Helston
+ 58.3%
Improving efficiency Bodmin
(Wheal Prosper)
in recycling
Saltash
+ 58.1%
(Connon Bridge)
(Gays Hill)
Restormel Borough Council is to implement
a new ‘Same Day Solution’ which brings
waste and recycling collections together on
the same day. This makes it much simpler for
the public to remember which day of the week
to put out the waste/recycling. It also means
that there are fewer days in the week when
there is material left on kerbside, enabling
tidier neighbourhoods.
St.Austell
+ 56.7%
Redruth
+ 52.4%
Bude
+ 44.8%
Tintagel
+ 38.2%
(Menear Road)
(United Mines)
(Tiscott Wood)
2 MINUTES WITH…
Phil Rudin
Operations
Manager
Launceston + 36.4%
(Bangors)
St.Ives
+ 26.2%
Newquay
+ 25.4%
St.Erth
+ 23.9%
(Penbeagle)
(Trevenson Road)
What does your job involve?
Ensuring that the HWRCs, MRFs, Transfer
stations and transport operate efficiently and
comply with our contract, health and safety
and environmental legislation. And to make
sure everyone is happy while we do that.
How long with CES?
I worked for CES for about 11 years, firstly
as an engineer on the landfill sites, then as
Development Manager looking at alternatives
to landfill before becoming CA Manager in 2005.
Has your job changed with SITA?
Yes, enormously. I have far more responsibility
than before and rely on having a fantastic
team of people working with me. The extra
efforts people have put in are really starting
to show in the level of service we are giving
to our customers and the feedback from our
biggest client, Cornwall County Council has
been very positive.
+ 56.9%
What are the biggest challenges?
The biggest challenge is to bring together all
the different parts of SITA Cornwall and make
us all feel part of the same team working
together to the same goals.
Any philosophies for a good
working environment?
Always keep things in perspective and
keep laughing.
What is best about living and working
in Cornwall?
The lifestyle and being close to the sea.
(Hayle)
These figures reflect an overall
increase in recycling in Cornwall
of 22% since March ‘06.
CONTACT US
If you could be anywhere, doing anything
this weekend, where would we find you?
On the beach with my kids.
All time favourite film?
Haven’t got one, I did like Walk the Line
recently, I’m a big Johnny Cash fan.
Tel:
0845 6300 300
Email: [email protected]
Post: Customer Helpdesk
SITA Cornwall, Antron Hill House
Mabe, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9HH
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