Get involved in Fairtrade Fortnight

This year, Fairtrade fortnight runs from 27 February to 11 March and there are many ways to get involved. This year’s theme is Take A Step and, as a Fairtrade borough, Lewisham is encouraging residents and businesses to do just that.

 Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world.

 It doesn’t matter whether your step is big or small. Every single one counts because together they lead to life-changing projects in developing countries.

 Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, said: “Lewisham has been a Fairtrade borough since 2005 and we have already succeeded in taking a very significant step this year by qualifying to be a Fairtrade borough for a further two years.  I am extremely proud that Lewisham has a strong and active steering group that overseas our activities and involves many of our major borough partners such as Goldsmiths, Lewisham Hospital and the South East London Chamber of Commerce.

The Mayor Sir Steve Bullock is supporting Fairtrade Fortnight

“We all recognise that Fairtrade goods can cost more than similar products but the quality is very good, and for those that can afford it, we encourage them to support workers in the developing world by buying more Fairtrade products. For people that can’t afford it, there are always other ways to get involved – perhaps by joining our local steering group, helping to raise local awareness or persuading your local business to stock products.

 “In Lewisham we also recognise and reward businesses, community organisations or individuals that promote Fairtrade in the borough. We now have a Fairtrade category in our Lewisham Business Awards. So why not nominate someone?”

 Some ideas for what you can do:

  • Invite a friend out for a Fairtrade tea or coffee.
  • Organise a Fairtrade chocolate tasting (Lewisham is home to the owner of the Fairtrade chocolate producer, Divine Chocolate).
  • Buy Fairtrade tea bags when it’s your turn at work and encourage your work colleagues to do the same.
  • Use more Fairtrade products when your local community or faith group holds its regular get together.
  • Find out about the wide range of Fairtrade products that now exist. It’s not just tea, coffee and bananas! Most of Lewisham’s libraries and leisure centres are supporting Fairtrade Fortnight so drop by to find out more.
  • Tell your friends on Facebook about your favourite Fairtrade product.
  • Ask your local shop to stock more Fairtrade choices.
  • Nominate someone for a Mayor of Lewisham business award. There’s now a Fairtrade category because Lewisham Council wants to reward businesses, community organisations or individuals that are promoting Fairtrade in the borough. Nominees can be retailers, cafés, Fairtrade suppliers, voluntary organisations, or entrepreneurs.
  • Become a member of Lewisham’s Fairtrade Steering Group or start your own campaign.
  • If you’re a teacher, use some of the available resource packs to teach children about the importance of Fairtrade and perhaps set up a Fairtrade project at school.
  • Register the step you are taking on the Fairtrade website and help us reach a national target of 1.5million steps.

 Find out other ways to get involved.

 See the Fairtrade guide to London.

Irresponsible dog owners beware

Dog Fouling on Lewisham Streets is a high source of complaints – not only is it unpleasant, its also dangerous.  The biggest threat to public health from dog excrement is toxocariasis (http://ow.ly/9dgFF ). This campaign will be tackled in conjunction with our housing partners and Safer Neighbourhood teams  to remind owners that it is their responsibility to clear up  fouling left by their dog.

Owners can dispose of their dog foul by using any general litter bin that can be found in many public areas.  Most dog owners are very responsible, but we want the small minority of irresponsible dog owners to be very aware that we will not tolerate this behaviour.  If you are caught failing to pick up after your dog you will be fined  £75 and if unpaid, a court can impose a fine of up to £1,000.

Real Nappy Week

This year Real Nappy Week is being held between 16th and 22nd April 2012.

Real Nappy Week logoDetails of  events:

Friday 20th April, 11-3pm – Lewisham Town Centre Information Stand.  Come along to find out more and get your free £25 voucher with proof of residency and pregnancy/baby’s birth certificate

Saturday 21st April, 2-6pm – Leemore Central Community Hub, Bonfield Road, Lewisham

Real nappy and baby clothing swap event incorporating ‘The Great Cloth Diaper Change’ record attempt at 5.30pm.  Please arrive at 5pm to register to take part.

Visit the facebook page for the Great Cloth Diaper Change event

Come at any time for nappy advice.  A £25 voucher is available towards the cost of real nappies for Lewisham residents with proof of address and pregnancy / baby’s birth certificate.

Refreshments will be available at this event.

photograph: babies wearing real nappies

Lewisham Community Garden Forum

Following on from previous feedback requesting the establishment of a Lewisham Community Garden Forum, we would like to invite you to an informal gathering on Monday 20th February at the Creekside Centre, 14 Creekside, Deptord,London,SE8 4SA.

Location of the Creekside Centre

 The aim of the meeting will be to explore what form future meetings can take, what kind of issues community gardeners would like help/advice on as well an opportunity to share good practice/tips and how to continue this in the future.

 Tea/Coffee will be available from 10.00am and the meeting will run until 1pm with refreshments and a buffet lunch provided from 12am.  For catering purposes please can you respond to this invite by Friday 10th February. To register your attendance, or not, please either e-mail  communitygardens@lewisham.gov.uk  or call Katy Delaney on 020 8314 2277

Looking forward to seeing you there.

No butts, stub it, bin it

The Council have been embarking on a campaign recently to tackle the issue of cigarette litter. Dropping cigarette litter is a crime (Environment Protection Act 1990 and Cleaner Neighbourhood & Environment Act 2005)

 Cigarette litter is the most common littered item in England and affects 78% of our streets. As part of the campaign in Lewisham, we are asking people that smoke to help by:

  • Using an ashtray, pocket ashtray or rubbish receptacle.
  • Not throwing butts out of car windows or onto pavements – they are a fire & health hazard.
  • Extinguishing your cigarette before throwing them into the rubbish receptacle.
  • Taking responsibility for your butts. Failure to do so could lead to an on the spot fine of £75 and if unpaid, a magistrates court can impose a fine of up to £2,500.

Portable ashtrays are available from the Council

Also, use a portable ash tray. These are available either during the Smoke free campaign events or you can contact: recycle@lewisham.gov.uk or 0208 3142068

 During January, February and March, 2012, Lewisham Council is working with Lewisham Public Health to spread the message about cigarette litter and to encourage smoking cessation. Officers will be on hand at various locations around the borough to give advice and hand out portable ashtrays. So far we have handed out 170 since the campaign started on 13 January. 

 The smoke free events will be at the following locations during January, February & March.

 January 2012

Lewisham Market, Fridays 13th and 27th

Catford Centre (Rushey Green) Thursday 19th

Deptford Market (GriffinSQ) Friday 20th   

February 2012

Lewisham Market Fridays 10th and 24th

Catford Centre (Rushey Green) Monday 27th

Deptford Market Friday 3rd

March 2012

Lewisham Market Fridays 9th, and 16th

Lewisham Market Wednesday 14th (No Smoking Day)

Catford Centre Thursday 8th

Deptford Market (GriffinSQ) Wednesday 7th

 Remember, No butts, stub it, bin it. Bin your butt or risk a £75 fine

Estates recycling update

We’ve previously reported on the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) estates recycling programme http://ow.ly/8s8Tc . With the start of 2012, and the programme well underway and making good progress, it seemed the right time to give an update on the scheme so far.

 This Monday saw the environmental organisation Waste Watch come to the Wearside depot to spend a day with their team of experienced recycling advisors. The day was a chance to refresh the recycling advisors on the issues of health and safety when door knocking and also to learn all about the new estates recycling programme in Lewisham and the new materials that can now be recycled in the borough.  The recycling advisors will also be making a visit to the  Bywaters materials recycling facility this Monday to see what happens to all the materials as they get processed.  This will help them to explain to residents what happens to the materials after they are put in the recycling bin.

New sign and brand new bins on the Sydenham Hill estate

The role of the recycling advisors is to visit 30,000 properties on all estates, small blocks and new developments across the borough. They will be knocking on the doors of estates residents and talking to them about recycling in Lewisham, how you can now recycle beverage cartons, mixed plastics and even textiles.

 As well as the recycling advisors making door to door visits, 5 estates have also been given brand new bins and additional signage in a bid to improve the participation in recycling on those estates as well as to increase the tonnages. Increasing the tonnages will benefit the Council in two ways. Firstly, it will contribute to the overall recycling rate of the borough, but there is also the benefit of it raising an income for the Council. Under the new contract that the Council have with Bywaters, an income is generated for every tonne that is collected – a real incentive for all residents of the borough to recycle.

Another one of the 5 recycling sites on the Sydenham Hill estate

If you are a resident living on an estate, in a small block or new development, you might be receiving a knock on your door from one of the team of recycling advisors soon. If you do receive an estates recycling bag, please use this to recycle paper, cardboard, glass, cans, plastic bottles, mixed plastic, beverage cartons (Tetra Paks), textiles, aerosols and shredded paper.

Visits to Bywaters and Closed Loop

On 16th December, 2011 a contingent from Lewisham Council visited our new dry recyclables contractor Bywaters (Leyton) Ltd. The contingent included the Mayor of Lewisham, Steve Bullock, Cabinet member for Customer Services, Cllr Susan Wise, Executive Director for Customer Services, Kevin Sheehan and members of staff from the recycling team.

From left to right: Michael Pusey (Bywaters), Kevin Sheehan, Executive Director for Customer Services (Lewisham), John Glover (MD Bywaters), Cllr Susan Wise, Mayor Steve Bullock and David Rumble (Bywaters)

 The visit to the materials recycling facility (MRF) was a chance for everyone to see what happens to the contents of the recycling bins when they are tipped by the Council’s collection vehicles at the east London plant.

 The tour of the MRF was conducted by David Rumble, Bywaters Strategic Development Manager who explained all the different procedures that the materials have to go through to separate everything into its component parts until the final baling process at the end. To ensure that the materials are of a premium quality and therefore command higher prices, Bywaters employ two separate teams of hand sorters who pick and sort from the fast moving conveyers all the items that shouldn’t be on that particular line. The removed materials are then added to another stream for that particular material where again they are collected in bulk and then baled.

View of part of the Bywaters materials recycling facility (MRF)

 Bywaters have been very pleased with what they have received so far from Lewisham. However, that doesn’t mean that we are by any means the perfect recycling borough and always need to be vigilant when it comes to keeping on top of any potential contamination. Bins that are contaminated with food or garden waste will cause big problems at the sorting process as it will be wet and will smell and so ruin any potential for any material that has been collected and stored with it to be recycled.

 We will be working more closely with Bywaters over the contract period to implement measures to improving much of what goes into the recycling bin and also to get more people involved in the process so that we can increase tonnages.

 After the Bywaters trip, the rest of the recycling team went on to visit Closed Loop http://www.closedlooprecycling.co.uk/ in Dagenham who receive plastic bottles from Bywaters. This was a very interesting tour and gave everyone the opportunity to see how all the plastic bottles are dealt with after leaving the MRF process. We witnessed how they were able to separate the lids from the plastic bottles using a tank. In flake form, they were able to separate them as one floated and the other sank. There was a huge emphasis on running all the flakes through as many cleaning processes as possible to make sure every last trace of metal was removed as a great deal of the flakes were destined for the dairy market and the production of new milk bottles.

Happy Christmas and New Year to all Lewisham residents

....and don't forget to recycle all those bottles, cans, wrapping paper, cardboard, shredded paper, mixed plastics, plastic bottles, beverage cartons

 image digitalart

Be a champion in your community!

We are looking for Lewisham residents who are interested in becoming ‘street champions’ and help their neighbours to create a cleaner and greener street to live in.

Can you be a Street Champion?

What does it involve?

Speaking to people who live in your street to make them aware of what they can do to make a difference to their environment. You will be delivering leaflets asking people to sign a pledge to make a small change to the way they get rid of their waste, use their gas, electricity or water, how they get to work or to think about growing their own food.

Do I need experience?

No experience is needed. We are looking for adults of all ages and backgrounds who are keen to help to change their local environment.

Will I have to give lots of time?

We will ask you to commit to one informal training session held in January 2012. After that, you can spend as much time as you want but it can be as little as an hour a week.

What will I get from it?

We will provide one informal training session which will raise your awareness about the latest initiatives in Lewisham for sustainable energy, recycling, community gardens scheme, composting and waste minimisation. We will provide all the leaflets and information needed to promote this.

We will provide on going advice and support from two named officers from the council.

We will award a prize to the residents who manage to get the most ‘pledges’ from their neighbours and community.

By becoming a street champion you have an opportunity to gain experience of waste issues, of raising awareness and promoting in your community.

How do I get involved?

Email Beth.sowden@lewisham.gov.uk or Kate.parkinson@lewisham.gov.uk or call them on 020 8314 2245. It would be helpful if you can let us know that you are interested by Friday 13th January 2012.

You will need to commit to attending one of the training sessions which will be held in Ladywell on Friday January 20th between 11am and 1pm or Tuesday 24th January between 7- 8.30pm. Refreshments will be provided and we may also be able to reimburse travel costs to this event.

Please contact us if you have any questions and want to find out more!

Refuse bins refuse to take the WEEE

Christmas is a time that see’s a huge demand in the purchasing of electronic goods, be it something for the kitchen, a new games console or a DVD player. This increase in the purchasing of electrical goods also results in a lot of what’s known as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, or put more simply, WEEE. WEEE waste or electronic waste can mean anything from a toaster to a hairdryer to a radio through to an old video recorder or microwave oven.

During the year we enlisted the help of WEEE Man to raise the issue and profile of electrical waste and to encourage more recycling of small and large electrical appliances. Now that Christmas is nearly upon us, we thought we’d take the opportunity to reinforce the message again using the advert below.

This is aimed at encouraging everyone that has old and redundant items of electronic waste to dispose of them properly, which means not putting them into your black refuse bin where they will only get incinerated.

If items of electronic waste are simply incinerated then the opportunity to recycle them will be completely lost and a resource wasted. Instead, this kind of waste can be taken to either our Reuse and Recycle Centre at Landmann Way or taken to one of our 6 small appliance banks that are dotted around the borough which can be found if you click on the following link http://recycleforlewisham.com/recycling-map/

Also, if you are considering purchasing a new item as a replacement for something you already have in the January sales, why not ask the electrical store if they will take the redundant item off you if it no longer works. And of course, don’t forget that we can also take all your old batteries through our kerbside battery collection scheme or through our many battery collection points in the libraries.

Merry Christmas

Dreaming of a Green Christmas

Recycle for Lewisham have put together some tips and hints on how you can have a great Christmas and be good to the environment. This will of course involve the 3 R’s of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

There are many aspects of green thinking to consider when it comes to Christmas. For example, where to shop, what to buy and the type of Christmas tree to get and from where to get it amongst many others. Most of these decisions will have some impact on the environment.

Having a Green Christmas ©Digitalart

The following list is a bit of a guide and may help with some of those Christmas decisions,

  1. Where possible try to shop locally. If you are shopping for food then Lewisham does have some great markets for fruit and veg, the following link has more details http://ow.ly/7GNlb . As well as these there are other markets and farmers markets to consider, more details can be found on the following link http://ow.ly/7GNoI Supporting your local shops will also keep your community thriving and put something back into the local economy.
  1. The purchasing of a Christmas tree can leave people wondering what their best options are. Artificial trees may last for years but aren’t recyclable and require manufacturing and use man made materials. Real trees are carbon neutral and can be chipped and composted afterwards so are much better for the environment. Some organisations such as www.caringchristmastrees.com and www.christmasforest.co.uk are involved in supporting good causes and may deliver direct. Recycling points for Christmas trees can be found here http://ow.ly/7SVVc
  1. Once you’ve made the decision about your tree, the next thing you might want to think about is decorating it. If you are using fairy light lights, why not consider low energy LED lights? What about using mistletoe, holly with their different coloured berries. Be more creative and consider making your own decorations.
  1. When buying presents, again think about shopping locally if you can. Are the presents that you’re buying good for the environment. Could you buy a wind up radio or wind up mp3 player or similar and can you wrap these in recycled wrapping paper?
  1. Christmas cards can all be recycled, some schools may even take them for a school art projects and they can raise money for some charities if dropped off at the right collections boxes.
  1. Food and drink also plays a large part in the Christmas festivities. This of course generates huge amounts of waste, particularly with paper, cardboard, glass bottles, jars and plastic bottles. Please use your recycling bin to collect all these materials. And don’t forget, we can now also collect mixed plastics, beverage cartons (Tetra Paks), textiles, aerosols and shredded paper. Where food is concerned, don’t forget to check out www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for lots of interesting ideas on using leftovers and don’t forget to compost all these peelings as well.
  1. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). Christmas is a time when people receive new electrical appliances and gadgets. If you have an old appliance that still works, why not give it to a charity shop. If the item is broken, why not use one of our WEEE banks to dispose of it or take it to our Reuse and Recycle Centre. See the following link for the locations of our WEEE banks http://recycleforlewisham.com/2011/02/11/small-appliance-banks/
  1. Finally, if you’re not fully committed to the 3 R’s of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, why not make 2012 the time to start. Your recycling will even generate an income for the Council.

The recycling team at Lewisham Council would also like to say a big thank you to everyone in the borough for supporting all the recycling and environmental services in 2011 and look forward to their support in 2012.

Christmas tree recycling locations

As well as recycling all those empty beer cans, wine and spirits bottles, clean packaging from your turkey, plastic containers from nuts, empty biscuit tins, mince pie packaging, pickles jars, wrapping paper, bubble wrap, fruit and vegetable punnets, party platters, juice cartons and composting all those sprout peelings – don’t forget that your real Christmas tree can also be recycled when you’ve finished with it.

Usual locations available to recycle your Christmas tree

As usual, we are collecting the trees at the same locations around the borough from December 28th to Jan 27th, 2012. The locations are as follows;

SE4 Hilly Fields – entrance in Hilly Fields Crescent,

SE8 Deptford Park- entrance in Scawen Road,

SE14 Telegraph Hill -Pepys Road/Kitto Road entrance,

SE3 Talbot Place- Blackheath,

SE13 Mountsfield Park- entrance top of George Lane,

SE26 Sydenham Wells Park- entrance Wells Park Road,

SE6 Forster Memorial Park- entrance top of Whitefoot Lane,

SE12 Northbrook Park-Baring Road entrance,

SE23 Mayow Park- entrance in Mayow Road,

SE12 Chinbrook Meadows, Amblecote Road,

SE13 Manor House Gardens, Old Road entrance,

BR1  Beckenham Place Park–Old Bromley Road entrance

Happy recycling to all and hope you have a green Christmas.

Further details of the new materials that can be recycled

 For those people that want greater detail on the new items that can now be recycled using your recycling bins, green boxes, estates bins or clear sacks, please see the list below. Please note that we would encourage people where possible to use charity shops or our textile banks if the textiles are in good condition. If this isn’t the case, please use your recycling bin.

As many people will be aware, the new recycling contract with Bywaters (Leyton) Ltd started today. Trucks have been out collecting and emptying recycling bins in the borough and delivering the contents to the Bywaters materials recovery facility (MRF) all day today.

Early reports from the contracts manager at Bywaters indicates that they are happy with the quality of the material that they have received so far. 

Lewisham recycling vehicle tipping at Bywaters MRF

The image above gives an idication of how clean the materials are that are coming out of the vehicle. Ensuring that the materials are clean is very important. If there is any green and food waste within the recycling bin, this will lead to contamination and the loads not being able to be used.  This is a great start to the new contract and one that we hope will continue for the new 3 years and beyond.

 

Glass Metal Paper Cardboard Plastic Textiles
Perfume bottles

Jam/pickle jars

Beer & spirit bottles

Cook-in sauce jars

 

 

Aluminium takeaway trays

Tin lids

Food and drinks cans

Aerosols

Biscuit & sweet tins

Clean foil

 

Newspapers

Magazines

Junk Mail

Yellow Pages

Envelopes

(inc. with windows)

Office Paper

Catalogues

Brochures

Paper bags

Wrapping paper

Paper packaging

Tissue boxes

Kitchen paper

Chocolate wrappers (mars bars etc.)

 

Greeting cards

Packaging

Cereal boxes

Egg boxes

Corrugated card

Greyboard

 

 

Beverage cartons,

i.e Tetra Paks

Bottles; Coke, squash etc.

Takeaway containers

Trays

Cups

Coffee cups (Costa/Starbucks etc)

Sacks

Bags

Film; cling and wrap

CD’s

Supermarket carriers

Bleach bottles

Shampoo bottles

Fruit/Veg punnets

Meat trays

Margarine tubs

Ice cream tubs

Yoghurt pots

Ready meal trays

Party platters

Plastic cups

Sandwichpacks

Plastic milk bottles

Fabric conditioner bottles

Plastic bottle lids

Bubble wrap

Crisps packets

DVD cases

 Shoes

Clothing

Linen & curtains

Boost for recycling as Lewisham chooses new contractor

Over the last few months, the Council have been involved in a lengthy tendering process to find a new contractor that will take and sort the comingled (mixed) recycling for the next 3 years. The process took several months and attracted a broad range of interest from contractors involved in recycling and waste management that were keen to work with the Council and to process and sell all of its mixed dry recyclables.

Residents have been asking us for some time now about collecting other materials in the recycling bins and green boxes. Materials such as mixed plastics (margarine tubs, yoghurt pots) and beverage cartons (Tetra Paks). This tendering process has enabled us to take those suggestions into consideration and include them in the tender documents.

Click to see full range of new materials for recycling in Lewisham

On October 5th 2011 the Mayor and Cabinet met and agreed to a new contractor taking over from the previous incumbent Veolia. The company that won the contract for the sale and sorting of mixed dry recyclables were Bywaters (Leyton) Ltd who are based in Bow, East London.

What this will mean for the residents of Lewisham is the chance to recycle more materials using their recycling bins, green boxes and in some cases clear recycling sacks. From December the 5th, residents will be able to recycle the usual items such as paper, cardboard, glass bottles, jars, cans and plastic bottles. In additional to this however, they will also be able to recycle liquid beverage cartons (aka Tetra Paks) and also mixed plastics (i.e. food containers, trays, cups, cling film, CD’s, meat trays, yoghurt pots, ice cream tubs, plastic tubs, party platters, bubble wrap, crisp packets, DVD cases, sandwich packs) – providing that they are clean of course. Empty aerosols are also accepted.

As well as these new materials that can be added to the recycling bins, the Council are also going to be receiving an income for the materials. This means that the more that is collected, the more income that will be generated for the Council. This income can then be used in other service areas.

With the collections starting on Monday, you will be able to start filling your recycling bins and boxes TODAY! in readiness for the new contract.

If you need any further information about the collections, please email recycle@lewisham.gov.uk or call 020 314 7171.

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