Tag: Food Waste

This week, it’s the European Week for Waste Reduction, getting us all to think a little more about what we waste.

To give you some practical advice on what you can do to cut down the amount you throw away, we’re going to hand over to some of the members of the University of Chichester who have submitted their tips!

To encourage the team to reduce their printing costs and the amount that they print each month, Katie sends out the monthly printing statements from the print shop, which shows how many pages each colleague has printed. Katie Akerman, AQS.

Instead of throwing away food that is leftover from meetings, it is brought back to the office in the first instance, and depending on volume would then be shared with other offices. Katie Akerman, AQS.

ASC Scrutiny Group committee members were asked if they are happy to accept electronic copies of papers, whilst still offering paper copies to those who need them. Most members have electronic devices that they can bring to meetings, meaning much less papers is used to distribute copies. Helen Bicknell, AQS.

On windows PCs, if you go to the left hand side by the start button and type ‘sticky notes into ‘search programmes and files’ you can get electronic post it notes on your desktop screen – thus you can save paper and waste when you’re at your PC and keep things handy! Suzanne Jones, Human Resources.

Most forms that are created by the department are handled electronically, and we have worked to ensure that students / staff and externals can access these form either via the website, intranet, or are sent out electronically. We have a small supply of mitigating circumstances forms on paper for students, and Ellie and Helen ensure that only a small amount are ordered at a time, and stock levels are monitored so that more can be ordered when needed, but we aren’t left with any leftover at the end of the year. Helen Bicknell, AQS.

AQS collects incoming envelopes and reuses them in preference to new envelopes – for internal use to other colleagues. Helen Bicknell, AQS.

To remind the team to team to only print things when they are needed, Katie produced some small labels and attached them to the printer to remind colleagues to think about what they are printing. The University’s system sends a document to the printer, and you have to click on the document at the printer in order to print it, so you get the chance to delete the document from the print queue if you realise you don’t need to print it anymore, therefore the labels on the printer are in an effective place. Katie Akerman, AQS.

One of the papers going to the group was made up of nearly 50 pages, most of which were appendices (which more than likely wont even be looked at), so I decided to just print the main body of the document (only 7 pages) and ensure members receiving hard copies had the whole document electronically, saving a whole bunch of paper. Helen Bicknell, AQS.

Residents across the Borough have started being rewarded for wasting less and recycling more through the London Green Points – Havering scheme, with 25 per cent of households in the borough now signed-up.

The scheme, which launched in January this year, is free for all Havering residents to participate in. All they have to do is activate their account by visiting www.localgreenpoints.com/havering, emailing info@teamjump.co.uk or calling 0207 326 5055 (Mon-Fri 9am-5:30pm).

Once residents have activated their accounts they will be sent a London Green Points – Havering Card as a thank you, which provides access to discounts and offers in 120 local retailers across the borough. Once activated, residents will also start to earn Green Points for reducing their waste and increasing their recycling.

The levels of waste and recycling collected in the Borough are measured, with kerbside collections, bring bank tonnages and levels of recycling being taken to Gerpins Lane all analysed to determine how many Green Points households earn. This number is based on the waste and recycling levels in eight ‘communities’ across the borough, with each household awarded points equally. Points are awarded every three months, with monthly newsletters sent out to keep residents up-to-date.

The points residents earn can be used to purchase over 1,000 products from an online store, including iTunes vouchers and M&S vouchers as well as swims at Everyone Active leisure centres in Havering. Green Points can also be donated to one of nine local community projects in the borough: the Thames Chase Trust, Havering Mind, the Havering Family Diabetes Group, the St. Francis Hospice, the 7th Hornchurch Scout Group, Friends of Bedfords Park, Harold Hill Foodbank, Motorvations and Friends of Cottons Park, as well as a Local Schools Fund.

Angela Dyos, a member of the scheme from Upminster, says:

“London Green Points – Havering is a great way to encourage us all to be more environmentally friendly, which is why I signed-up. As keen gardeners we also took advantage of the free compost bin and kitchen caddy so that we can use our food waste to grow our veggies! We’re planning to donate the points we earn through recycling to the Thames Chase Trust.”

Currently, residents can also be awarded 1,200 Green Points when they purchase a free compost bin and kitchen caddy from www.havering.getcomposting.com. A postage fee of £5.99 applies and points will be added to residents’ accounts within 28 days.

Councillor Robert Benham, Cabinet Member for Environment, says:

“It’s great to see so many Havering residents getting involved. The more people who sign up and start reducing the amount they throw away, the greater the impact the scheme will have, so to reach a 25 per cent sign-up rate within six months of our launch is fantastic.”

For more information about the London Green Points – Havering scheme and to activate your account, please email us on [email protected] or call us on 0207 326 5055 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5:30pm).

Jump (Local Green Points) has just launched its latest local authority recycling partnership, with the unveiling of the Gloucestershire Green Points – Cheltenham scheme.

The scheme, operating as a pilot, is designed to reward households for recycling food waste and reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill.

The scheme is run in partnership with Gloucestershire County Council and Cheltenham Borough Council. It places a particular emphasis on food waste recycling. The two authorities are recognised as experts in the field.

Among local experts are Rose Hill Farm at Dymock, which does ‘in-vessel’ composting for processing food waste on behalf of the county council. The process places food waste in large airy concrete tunnels then outside for around 15 weeks. The result is a stable, dried organic soil conditioner, ready to use.

Raw and cooked fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, dairy products, eggs bread, cakes and pastry can all go through this process.

The UK generates 290 million tonnes of waste per year, of which 22.9 million comes from homes. In 2012, for the first time, the UK recycled more household waste than was sent to landfill.

Members of the Gloucestershire Green Points – Cheltenham scheme can benefit from discounts and offers provided by local retail partners.

Green Points are awarded to households based on the total food waste saved in an area. The more food waste that households recycle, the more Green Points they and their neighbours will earn. These can be redeemed in the eShop, or be donated to a local Cheltenham school.

Rebecca Goodwin, Waste Minimisation and Recycling Officer, London Borough of Bexley, explains how the Jump (Local Green Points) scheme is working in Bexley
The scheme was launched in Bexley last Autumn to 2,000 households in Thamesmead and has recently been expanded to a further 15,000 properties across the Borough, so how does it work and what makes it unique?
Jump (Local Green Points) works on the simple premise that avoiding waste disposal delivers cost savings to the council and this is what the scheme seeks to achieve by incentivising and rewarding residents for increasing the amount they recycle and reuse, as well as reduce .

“We want people to become fully engaged in the scheme” explains Graham Simmonds, partner at Jump (Local Green Points). “To do this, households need to activate their account and they’re incentivised through a broad range of exclusive offers and discounts provided by local, independent retailers that are only available to those that sign up. Activated households then receive a Green Points card and key fob and simply show this to the retailer when they make a purchase. This is proving very popular with both residents and retailers and this ‘local angle’ is helping to drive more business for independent high street traders”.

So far so good, but how are people motivated to recycle more? Stephen Bates, partner at Jump (Local Green Points) explains; “It starts with communication. Every household receives an information pack that includes a booklet explaining what can and can’t be recycled. Everyone gets this whether they activate their accounts or not and research has shown that people value this type of practical information. The motivation to recycle more is achieved through the rewards – Green Points – based on performance improvements. For each residual waste collection round, we establish a baseline which is simply the weight of residual waste collected over a set period prior to the scheme starting. Then, following the scheme’s launch, we measure the residual waste collected and compare this to the baseline. This approach means that we can provide a fully inclusive scheme for people living in flats as well as houses. Where a reduction has been recorded, a saving is achieved and it is from a proportion of this saving that the allocation of Green Points is made and distributed equally to activated households on that collection round. 400 Green Points equates to £1 and people can accrue these points to purchase from a range of over 1,000 eco-products or experiences from our on-line reward shop (or paper catalogue for offline accounts); or people can donate their points to one of three local charity projects, which we are finding is a popular option”.

One of the challenges facing incentive schemes is how their operation impacts on a council’s current waste service. Jump (Local Green Points) offers a distinct advantage in this respect. Graham Simmonds again; “It does not require the investment of capital equipment or any change to the way councils or their contractors manage waste collection and disposal. If anything, we’d rather changes are minimised so we can more accurately assess the impact of the scheme. All we need to know is how much residual waste has been collected on a given collection round, and if recycling generates additional income for the council, then data for this too as this can also be used to calculate the allocation of points for households”

My view is that the community approach is helping to drive behaviour change. The fact people can donate their points to local charity projects, combined with all the special offers from cafes and other local retailers, helps build a sense of community and encourages people to recycle and think more about what they are throwing out.

In Thamesmead, over 30% of residents have so far activated their Jump (Local Green Points) account and are benefiting from the offers and discounts provided by over 60 local retailers. They’re also earning Green Points, paid for by the London Borough of Bexley out of savings from reduced residual waste and increased recycling. The scheme has been part funded by LWaRB through their flats recycling initiative and is now being rolled out to cover all 17,000 purpose built flats across Bexley.