Agenda item

How can we help local communities in South West Wiltshire to be more environmentally friendly and live more sustainably?

The Board heard from Richard Meaburn – Deputy Branch Manager in Waitrose, Salisbury, who shared information on the work they were doing to reduce plastic waste.

 

Since Blue Planet 2 was aired, Waitrose had seen an 800% increase in enquiries about plastics.

 

·         Plans to eliminate plastics in our processes.

·         First supermarket to stop selling products with microbeads.

·         Looking at stopping selling products with glitter.

·         Swopped from plastic cotton buds to paper.

·         Customers have started to bring in their own re-usable containers to take away their mince / meat / fish products from the counters.

 

Grants were available to support projects to reduce plastic waste.

 

Reducing food waste was a positive step for the environment and local communities.

 

In February 2016 we launched the misshaped fruit and veg range and were looking to roll out an extended range.

 

Love food hate waste, we have lots of hints, tips and recipe ideas in our newspaper. 

 

Food waste in our operations – working hard to predict the needs, but there will always be some wastage, looking to donate the food we cannot use to charities and local groups.

 

More information is available online at Waitrose.com Info

 

Nadder Community Energy – Richard Ecclestone

Why is this a problem? Its not just about climate change, it is about the 3 crisis:

 

1.    Climate crisis

2.    Resource crisis

3.    Biodiversity crisis

 

The solutions:

 

1.    What can they do?  - Government is the biggest lever, it can influence positive activities and behaviours.

 

2.    What can we do? - We can work together as communities. Local activism.

 

3.    What can I do? - Might seem insignificant, but lost of people doing it can make a huge difference.

 

I do not think the Government is doing enough in the UK. We will not hit the targets, with the continuing subsidization of the fossil fuel.

 

Work out what your carbon footprint is, there are many sites online where you can calculate this. Then you can work out what you can do to reduce that.

 

Ways to reduce your carbon footprint –

 

·         Take less flights – think about carbon offsetting

·         Purchase your energy from 100% energy renewable suppliers

·         Drive less – use public transport

·         Make your next vehicle an electric vehicle – use a bike or walk

·         Eat less meat – especially beef.

·         Buy less stuff – lots we buy we don’t need and it doesn’t make us happy.

 

Push for change

Some ideas:

 

·         Get active – join a local group

 

·         Solar installations such as at St Peters School, Wilton

 

Wilton – Laura Toomhunt

I started a few projects in the Wilton area:

 

·         Wilton Facebook page

 

·         Book Bunker

 

·         Greener Wilton. Started going out and putting up carrier bag holders, asking people to re-use and refill the used bags.

 

We asked business owners to start to think about their wastage, however they are not likely to show interest unless it saves them money. Hoping Greenerwilton can liaise with them to find ways to reduce their waste.

 

Book Bunker – find single typed recyclables that can be collected for charities.

We collect pens for a school who are then able to get money back. Water filters and batteries could also be collected, we offer a drop off point at the book bunker, outside my house.

 

Reduce the time we spend trying to recycle these items. There are a lot of older people where I live who like to be involved but do not want to have to travel in to Salisbury to recycle.

 

Hoping to work with seeds4success and do litter picks in the summer. The children are really important, we need to teach them to do it for themselves.

 

Hopefully we can come up with a few initiatives where we all live. You need to set the examples, people from the parish councils can help.

 

I post my successes and my failure for all to see. If we can get more people in the community involved the better.

 

The Chairman added that The Council was also playing a role, there would be a replacement of street lights with LED bulbs, over a 2-year programme and were also looking at setting up a task group to use the black plastic in repairing potholes.

 

Questions:

 

• We should be more careful with what we do with our water, and try not to use too much of it.
• We need to look at textiles that are not made of non-natural materials, we could stop using fabrics with plastics in it.
• If you are over 60 you will remember when everything came in paper bags, there wasn’t a bit of plastic in sight.
• Sell the idea to the young people, the local communities working with young people in schools.
• Coffee shops create huge amounts of waste.
• If we don’t produce it in the first place we wont have to get rid of it.
• Waitrose – there are lots of things that are required for food hygiene, but also lots we don’t need.
• Richard Buddon – congratulate the speakers –  the polluters should pay to recycle schemes. Plastic film is at the bottom end of the chain and a big problem.  It was for Waitrose and other businesses to insist the manufacturers take them back.
• Waitrose had saved 51m tonnes of paper cups going to landfill, since introducing their reusable cups.
• From the supermarket we produce plastic waste, we work with a charity organisation, they trialled separating hard plastic and plastic film. They had homeless people sifting through the materials, they were fed, watered and housed as part of the process, they were turning away from that work to go back on the streets, due to the smell and disgusting things they were finding in there.
• Lucy Stone - When we install the solar panels and they are generating energy we will go and run sessions for the children to educate them.
• Nadder Community Energy – run by volunteer directors. As well as getting a return on their investment some goes to a pot for funding.
• There were a group of residents in Tisbury setting up a re-use shop.
• Peter Edge – In Wilton, we are indebted to Laura for the work she is doing, we are hoping to be the first eco town in Wiltshire.
• Eco bricks can be filled with non-recyclable plastic and used for building.
• New builds should have solar panels.
• Litter picks and allotments should be encouraged.
• Listed buildings – the planners should take that into consideration to allow them to have double glazing.
• In France – have compostable bags, and refill buckets. There as less litter and less advertising. Young people are bombarded with marketing to make them want these items that come in packaging.