Northamptonshire joint municipal waste management strategy


Recycling is an increasingly important issue in the UK. It is something we can all do in the hope of making a difference. The county of Northamptonshire, like many others, has introduced a strategy and action plan in the hope to manage the county’s waste in a more sustainable manor. The Northamptonshire joint municipal waste management strategy is a revision of the one introduced and adopted in 2002 and the aim is to ‘produce a joint approach to managing the county’s municipal solid waste in the period from 2007/8 to 2020/21.’

One part of the strategy was the recycling and composting performance. They hope that by 2020/21 50% of household waste will be recycled or composted. The recycling rates vary across the county with numerous borough and district councils having different times of residual refuse and varying recyclable and organic waste. By having restrictions on what people can and cannot recycle the different boroughs and district councils affect the percentage of household waste recycling rates in their area. For example in 2006/07 the Corby borough council had a household recycling rate of 28.0%. Corby’s details of recyclables were paper, plastic bottles and cans. Whereas Daventry district council had a recycling rate of 47.0% and its residents were able to recycle paper, plastic bottles cans and also glass and textiles. Daventry’s recyclable waste was also collected weekly unlike Corby’s which was collected fortnightly. It also appears that the councils that had a cardboard collection had a higher percentage of recycling rates compared to those who had no cardboard collection. So perhaps by making all districts have a cardboard collection we could further still improve the recycling rates of even more of the districts.

Recycling also depends on the individual. It is up to each household to decide how they will manage their recycling. We cannot force people to recycle efficiently just because we believe it is best for the environment. Some large families with lots of children may find it very difficult to watch what goes into the normal waste bin and what gets recycled. It can also be difficult for people to decide what should go where when it comes down to some of the plastics and cans. I know endless people that still do not realise that many juice cartons are not recyclable. Of course there will always be some people that do more recycling than others. For example in East Northamptonshire the annual recycling waste produced per person is 89kg compared with just 66kg in Corby.

However by looking at table 3 in the document we can see there has been a dramatic increase in household recycling rates across the whole of Northamptonshire since 2001/02. These vast improvements are being put down to new waste collection services, including the new garden waste collection and improvement of the overall recycling performance of the Household Waste Recycling Centre.

So far it is plain to see there has been great success across Northamptonshire with recycling rates increasing dramatically, but there is always room for improvement. Perhaps rather than just trying to teach people to recycle correctly, we should be thinking about trying to help them reduce their waste in the first place. This in turn will benefit the environment and help to reduce the costs of waste management. There are lots of people who throw away food still in its packaging because it has gone past its sell by date, but if people didn’t buy as much in the first place they would not be stuck in that position. So it is not just about what we can and can’t recycle but also about being sensible when it comes to buying products. By working together I see no reason why Northamptonshire cannot further improve its Household Waste Recycling Rates.

Bad News Sells Papers!

Ok, so we have all been told not to believe everything we read in the newspapers, but just how accurate are the UK news reports on Climate change? There seems to have been a big increase in the coverage of climate change, this is most likely due to many events that have happened over the past 8 years. Such as the G8 meeting at Gleneagles, the release of Al Gore’s film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and the release of the Stern Review. From week to week we see various reports on climate change in both the UK tabloids and broadsheets. It can be very difficult to decide which of these reports is fact or fiction, especially if you do not really understand what you are reading about. I believe it also depends on which type of paper you have brought. It would appear to me that broadsheet papers are aimed at an academic market and can often contain lots of scientific facts and research, making them more reliable than tabloid papers.

Tabloid papers on the other hand appear to aim themselves at the working class reader and although they are looking at similar aspects of climate change they tend not to be quite as scientific. They seem to rely on satire and much more accessible language to sell their papers and make them easier to read and understand. This has consequences though, as on many occasions papers such as The Sun and The Mirror have been said to be contributing to ‘climate complacency’ and misrepresenting climate change in some of the UK’s most widely read papers. Some research carried out by the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute found out that about a quarter of coverage in four UK tabloids from 2000 through to 2006 misrepresented ‘wide scientific agreement’ about Green House Gases having a large role in global warming.

News papers say they are just trying to cover a crucial area, but all I can see they are doing is scaremongering and making issues out to be far more devastating than they perhaps are. This in turn is leaving people feeling helpless against the fight of climate change. If you look at the tabloids such as the Daily Mail or the Sun you would be likely to spend longer looking for an article involving climate change than what you would if you looked at a Broadsheet like The Independent or The Guardian.

More often than not at the present the issues surrounding climate change relate back to sustainable development. No matter whether the article is about ecological issues or cultural and social problems involving climate change it always seems to be linked with sustainable development. An article in The Independent recently looked slashing the University of East Anglia’s carbon emissions. This Norwich based University is diving in to an £8million project to help it become the most sustainable campus in the country. They are going to have a biomass power station built on campus which will be powered using locally-sourced woodchips. Hopes are that it will reduce the Universities carbon emissions by up to a third after 2 years, making the University much more sustainable. More and more newspapers are looking at similar issues, where by reducing problems such as CO2 emissions we can start taking more action to help our planet and work towards a more sustainable future.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/power-station-to-slash-university-of-east-anglias-carbon-emissions-969244.html

Where would we be without private cars? For many people the private car is there only mode of transport. There are lots of locations which have poor public transport leaving the car as the only option for many. I can speak from experience on this situation as I live in a small village in North Norfolk where public transport is very limited. With a bus service that only runs through the village two or three times a week I have no other way to travel into work or nearby towns or villages therefore relying on my car.

Up until I was 17 I was dependent upon my parents for transport. Now however I have my own car and with my brother also being 17 and needing to get to work we have a total of 5 cars in the family. This is extremely unsustainable, but I am guessing we are not the only household that is in this situation. My car is petrol and not the most economic. It is too big and generally unsuitable for my needs. Making me just another one of the statistics leading to the rise in C02 emissions.

Of course public transport, walking, cycling or even car sharing are fantastic ideas in theory, but for many people these are not realistic options. For example if I was to car share a lift to work it would mean someone coming 15 miles out of there way just to get me. Therefore it is not about whether the private car is a good choice as for many it is the only choice.

This is why I believe there has not been much progress in reducing C02 emissions from private cars. In 2005 the average car was emitting 162g of C02 per kilometre. The European commission is hoping that by forcing carmakers to increase the fuel efficiency of new cars by 20% by 2012 it can reduce these C02 emissions to 130g/km.

It would appear that we are already taking a step in the right direction. There are new cars appearing on the market with great efficiency. Such as the new Volkswagen Blue Motion, a low C02 emissions car with good efficiency and the Peugeot 308 HDi diesel family car, also highly efficient in low C02 emissions. The Volkswagen Polo 1.4 TDi blue motion 3dr has a 1422cc engine and emits just 99g/km and the Ford Fiesta Econetic 1.6 TDGi DPF 3dr has a 1560cc engine and only emits 98g/km. These two cars are highly efficient in comparison to the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti with 5748cc emitting 470g of C02 per km or the Bentley Arnage 6761cc emitting 465g/km. There are some links below which have further information on some of the cars.

The Volkswagen Blue Motion Polo

These new economic cars could really help to lower our C02 emissions. If we try to educate more people on the situation then maybe we could increase the use of public transport and other more sustainable ways of travel such as car sharing when possible and If we all try to walk or cycle when we can maybe together we can make a difference today ready for our future.

www.carpages.co.uk/C02/
www.volkswagen.co.uk/bluemotion
www.peugeot.co.uk/308