Zero waste coming up from the streets

New initiative targets dramatic cuts in landfill at community, city and regional level
 
A home composting workshop, vouchers for real nappies, community ‘Green Zones’ and personal and citywide waste audits... These and many more waste-cutting measures are being adopted by participants in a new network of 'Zero Waste Places' across England.
 
There are six Zero Waste Places in the government-backed scheme, and they vary hugely in size and focus: the smallest is a street in Lewisham, while the largest is the entire West Midlands region. The other four are the city centres of Peterborough and King's Lynn; a suburb of Milton Keynes; and the London Borough of Brent. The overall aim is to provide the government with evidence of best practice on dramatically reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.
 
In Brent, the initiative is being modelled on a community Green Zone dreamt up by local housewife and mother of seven, Lorraine Skinner. She was initially motivated to act on environmental issues when some much-loved trees in her street were cut down. She helped galvanise her neighbours into action – and soon members of her street were involved in a scheme to reduce energy use, reuse and recycle.

The secret, says Skinner, is getting out there and talking to people. “Pieces of paper don’t work – but people do.”

Brent now has six Green Zones, and there are plans to bring that total to 20 across the borough.
 
Other Zero Waste Places include Shenley Church End in Milton Keynes, where measures will include school visits, a home composting workshop, a real nappy event and waste audits for all non-residential premises. In King’s Lynn, efforts will focus on city-centre businesses such as pubs and market traders, looking at ways to improve glass recycling rates and start composting food waste. Perhaps the biggest challenge will come in the West Midlands, where the target is to divert 300,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste from landfill by 2013.
 
Helen Clarkson, Forum for the Future’s deputy director for the public sector, welcomed the initiative, but stressed how important it is to focus on waste prevention as well as improving recycling rates: “You need to go right up the line in terms of reducing packaging, and [look at] what creates waste in the first place,” she said. – Chris Alden

24 February 2009

Chris Alden