Right, this time I'm doing it properly. Having just moved house, it's a good time to get into a new routine. It was World Veganism Day on 1st November so I turned vegan that day and intend to stick to it. It's really just a case of being organised and knowing where to shop. And while I'm still not impressed by vegan parmesan, most vegan alternatives are fine. So I can now watch my personal carbon emissions drop dramatically :)
A nice quote I saw yesterday which helps me along:
"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and just because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
Edward Everett Hale, author, 1822-1909.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Compulsory recycling in Waltham Forest
To follow on from the previous post, we yesterday visited the waste and recycling people at Waltham Forest. They moved to compulsory recycling for all households that have access to a kerbside scheme (so it excludes all flats) on September 10th. And unlike Barnet, they opted to make it compulsory to recycle all materials that the borough collects, down to batteries and shoes. But, similarly to Barnet, it isn't really enforced. They will not start monitoring who is and isn't recycling until November, and even then it will only be around four Recycling Assistants for the entire borough. So they are really just using the fact that they are calling it 'compulsory' in order to raise awareness, and watch their recycling rates suddenly jump up. A useful tactic. Unfortunately though, they - like us and Barnet - have not yet even begun to crack how to get businesses recycling and composting though, and that is a massive issue.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Review into Haringey's waste and recycling
I went with Cllr Bob Hare and a couple of Council officers to Barnet this morning to look at how they do their recycling services. This is part of the scrutiny review that I am chairing into how Haringey should do its waste and recycling when the contract is renewed, with the aim to improve the service for residents, improve our recycling rates, encourage waste minimisation, and ensure value for money for the Council (and, ultimately, the Council-taxpayer). As well as Barnet, we are going to Waltham Forest tomorrow, and have already been to visit the Hornsey Reuse and Recycling Centre here in Haringey, talked to recycling collectors on their rounds, and heard presentations from Haringey's recycling people and various other stakeholders. We have also, just yesterday, started residents' focus groups, and intend to have a business focus group as well. We have also produced a questionnaire which is being handed out at Area Assemblies, the first one being West Green and Bruce Grove Area Assembly last Thursday, which had a positive response from residents. And finally, I am awaiting responses from other councillors for a survey I have sent out to them. And anyone who knows anything about how scrutiny reviews are done will know that doing all this is not the usual way of working! We are trying to break out of the routine of only doing reviews around a meeting room table.
I was very impressed by Barnet's recycling services. We chose them as one of the boroughs we wanted to visit because they have very high recycling rates (despite, as we learned today, not yet having a doorstep collection for plastics or cardboard, unlike much of Haringey), and also high levels of resident satisfaction of the service. We visited their depot and their recycling collection centre, and talked to the officers who told us about how their recycling scheme works. They collect "source-separated", meaning that the recycling is separated into different materials by the recycling collectors when they are doing their rounds, as opposed to "co-mingled" which Haringey offers, which means that everything is put into the recycling truck together then sorted elsewhere by machines. They explained that doing it source-separated leads to a better quality of product and higher revenue for the Council. They also explained about how their compulsory recycling scheme works in Barnet, although it turns out that it is 'compulsory' only in a very loose sense - it is only compulsory to recycle cans, paper and glass, and only if you have a Council-provided doorstep box service, therefore blocks of flats and flats above shops are not included. They have two Recycling Assistants who go round with collectors and make notes of properties who have not recycled for three weeks running, then send them an encouraging letter. If the residents still don't recycle, they get another letter and possibly a visit, from which most people start to recycle at least a bit. So really, it seemed, the use of the word 'compulsory' is only there to get it firmly into people's mindsets that they should be recycling, rather than being harsh. And looking at a graph of recycling rates over time in Barnet, it is clear that rates increased significantly when it was made compulsory.
All this is very interesting, and we are considering everything. But Barnet is a very different place to Haringey in terms of its type of population and types of properties, so it is only what is right for Haringey that we will be making recommendations on. And I think this is a discussion which is going to have to reach far beyond the realms of this little review.
I was very impressed by Barnet's recycling services. We chose them as one of the boroughs we wanted to visit because they have very high recycling rates (despite, as we learned today, not yet having a doorstep collection for plastics or cardboard, unlike much of Haringey), and also high levels of resident satisfaction of the service. We visited their depot and their recycling collection centre, and talked to the officers who told us about how their recycling scheme works. They collect "source-separated", meaning that the recycling is separated into different materials by the recycling collectors when they are doing their rounds, as opposed to "co-mingled" which Haringey offers, which means that everything is put into the recycling truck together then sorted elsewhere by machines. They explained that doing it source-separated leads to a better quality of product and higher revenue for the Council. They also explained about how their compulsory recycling scheme works in Barnet, although it turns out that it is 'compulsory' only in a very loose sense - it is only compulsory to recycle cans, paper and glass, and only if you have a Council-provided doorstep box service, therefore blocks of flats and flats above shops are not included. They have two Recycling Assistants who go round with collectors and make notes of properties who have not recycled for three weeks running, then send them an encouraging letter. If the residents still don't recycle, they get another letter and possibly a visit, from which most people start to recycle at least a bit. So really, it seemed, the use of the word 'compulsory' is only there to get it firmly into people's mindsets that they should be recycling, rather than being harsh. And looking at a graph of recycling rates over time in Barnet, it is clear that rates increased significantly when it was made compulsory.
All this is very interesting, and we are considering everything. But Barnet is a very different place to Haringey in terms of its type of population and types of properties, so it is only what is right for Haringey that we will be making recommendations on. And I think this is a discussion which is going to have to reach far beyond the realms of this little review.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Packaging has gone bananas
Apologies for the terrible, and very obvious, joke. But look at this AWFUL picture!
The Local Government Association has today said that supermarkets must reduce the amount of packaging on their products if we are to meet our recycling targets. If we miss the EU recycling targets, local authorities will be blamed and fined heavily. Supermarkets must stop this NOW.
I have also found this Facebook group called Buy it Naked!
The Local Government Association has today said that supermarkets must reduce the amount of packaging on their products if we are to meet our recycling targets. If we miss the EU recycling targets, local authorities will be blamed and fined heavily. Supermarkets must stop this NOW.
I have also found this Facebook group called Buy it Naked!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Lets not turn the clocks back
Just found this story. Apparently, turning the clocks back each winter increases how much energy we use in Britain by 2%, causing millions of tons of extra carbon emissions. Should we not therefore begin a campaign to stop this pointless habit?
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Haringey in London's top three for energy efficiency
I'm afraid I'm being a bit lazy (well, it is 1am, and I've still got work to do), so here is just the press release....
"Haringey Labour's housing boss Councillor Isidoros Diakides has welcomed the publication of new figures showing Haringey is in the top three in London for improving domestic energy efficiency. The figures, published by the Association for the Conservation of Energy, show that since 1996 Haringey has made a 25.9% increase in domestic energy efficiency in the borough and is on track to achieve a 30% reduction by 2011.
Councillor Diakides said "This is something we have prioritized and put real effort into. Domestic energy use accounts for over a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions. It's important that people realize that tackling climate change isn't just about international agreements or individual actions - local councils have a responsibility as well. What's more, improving energy efficiency in people's homes keeps their bills down and makes it cheaper for people to stay warm in winter."
David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, said "Labour is committed to fighting climate change and at the same time helping people to cut the cost of staying warm at home. It was the Labour government that cut VAT on fuel, Labour that introduced Winter Fuel Payments, and it's Labour that here in Haringey is delivering one of the best performing authorities in London for improving energy efficiency in people's homes."
"Haringey Labour's housing boss Councillor Isidoros Diakides has welcomed the publication of new figures showing Haringey is in the top three in London for improving domestic energy efficiency. The figures, published by the Association for the Conservation of Energy, show that since 1996 Haringey has made a 25.9% increase in domestic energy efficiency in the borough and is on track to achieve a 30% reduction by 2011.
Councillor Diakides said "This is something we have prioritized and put real effort into. Domestic energy use accounts for over a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions. It's important that people realize that tackling climate change isn't just about international agreements or individual actions - local councils have a responsibility as well. What's more, improving energy efficiency in people's homes keeps their bills down and makes it cheaper for people to stay warm in winter."
David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, said "Labour is committed to fighting climate change and at the same time helping people to cut the cost of staying warm at home. It was the Labour government that cut VAT on fuel, Labour that introduced Winter Fuel Payments, and it's Labour that here in Haringey is delivering one of the best performing authorities in London for improving energy efficiency in people's homes."
Saturday, October 13, 2007
All this arguing
All this talk about inheritance tax and stamp duty just makes me sigh deeply. How does talking about all this help the poor and vulnerable people in our society, or around the world? The only thing it proves is that our electoral system is wrong, because it leaves us all fighting over the votes of a handful of middle class voters in marginal seats - the sort of people who want public services to be well-funded but don't believe that they should have to pay for it because they are not rich.
And if we make middle class people better off, such as by lessening the tax 'burden' (this word being used all over the place at the moment, rather than 'duty' or 'responsibility'), then it only ends up increasing inequalities in our society. And with every increase in prosperity, we are increasing our production of greenhouse gas emissions, such as through extra travel. This increase in emissions in turn means that the world's poorest people are, in the long term, being hurt even more.
As a democratic socialist party, and one which claims to care about the environment, we should be carrying out actions which will minimise inequalities, both in the short term and the long term, both within our country and around the world. A proportional electoral system would help us do this.
Furthermore, much of the argument is over parties 'stealing' ideas from each other. This sort of discussion is pointless, time-wasting nonsense. As if nobody in the Labour Party, or indeed nobody in the Tory Party, has been talking about green taxes for the last few years, and we are just 'stealing' ideas from the Lib Dems (who could of course be said to have 'stolen' the idea from the Green Party). And if you really believe that something is the right thing to do then you should rejoice when anyone takes up the issue, rather than want to keep it all to yourself.
And if we make middle class people better off, such as by lessening the tax 'burden' (this word being used all over the place at the moment, rather than 'duty' or 'responsibility'), then it only ends up increasing inequalities in our society. And with every increase in prosperity, we are increasing our production of greenhouse gas emissions, such as through extra travel. This increase in emissions in turn means that the world's poorest people are, in the long term, being hurt even more.
As a democratic socialist party, and one which claims to care about the environment, we should be carrying out actions which will minimise inequalities, both in the short term and the long term, both within our country and around the world. A proportional electoral system would help us do this.
Furthermore, much of the argument is over parties 'stealing' ideas from each other. This sort of discussion is pointless, time-wasting nonsense. As if nobody in the Labour Party, or indeed nobody in the Tory Party, has been talking about green taxes for the last few years, and we are just 'stealing' ideas from the Lib Dems (who could of course be said to have 'stolen' the idea from the Green Party). And if you really believe that something is the right thing to do then you should rejoice when anyone takes up the issue, rather than want to keep it all to yourself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
