Celbridge Tidy Towns Waste Minimisation Strategy for 2007

 

Waste minimisation was introduced in 2006 as a new category in the

Tidy Towns Competition in an effort to encourage Tidy Towns committees

and the communities that they support to get involved in projects that will

reduce waste and encourage recycling. Celbridge Tidy Towns has

thoroughly investigated our waste minimisation potential and has come up

with the following strategy for 2007. We feel confident that these initial

steps will lay a foundation that will create a greater environmental awareness

among not only our volunteers but also among all residents in Celbridge.

 

1) Waste Segregation Initiative

Celbridge Tidy Towns has both a summer and winter litter collection

schedule which consists of volunteers simply being supplied with a black

bag, gloves and litter-picking grabbers. During the summer there are both

Tuesday evening and Saturday morning clean-ups. During the winter we

operate a Sunday morning Main Street cleaning rota comprising of 40

volunteers in groups of 5-6 who rotate the cleaning of the Main Street once

every 7 weeks. Our 5 approach roads are also covered during the winter by

smaller groups of 2-3 volunteers who live near each road who take turns

performing weekly clean-ups.

            We have closely estimated that on an average two hour clean-up of

litter black spots around Celbridge involving 8-10 volunteers, that the litter

collected can weigh as much as 150 kilograms. That is approximately 15

black bags per collection with each bag weighing 10 kilograms.

            Up until now the litter collected has been disposed, unsegregated, in

one of the following three ways:

1.         in volunteers’ own household bin

2.         black bags piled at collection point pre-arranged for

         Kildare County Council to collect

3.         Kildare County Council have also provided Ceibridge

Tidy Towns with dedicated bins of which we

currently have six, stored in volunteers homes but

exclusively for Ceibridge Tidy Towns use

 

The Tidy Towns Competition’s new emphasis on Waste Minimisation

has prompted us to create a simple and affordable yet highly effective

way to reduce our waste output by at least 40%. We have piloted a

programme, which involved the purchase of a 100-litre GardenViews

Multi-Barrow, inside which is placed two separate 50 litre bins.

(Please see enclosed photos.) The total cost for both the multi-barrow

and bins was 40 euro. This was astronomically less than the quotes we

obtained for similar trolleys to do the same job of over 1,000 euro

each! The smaller bins inside the multi-barrow are used to segregate

recyclable waste such as glass, cans and paper from non-recyclables.

We then use our own private household recycling bins to dispose of

paper and aluminum cans. All glass recovered is brought to our local

bring centre. In addition to fulfilling our waste segregation needs, the

multi-barrow also provides an ergonomic alternative to the normal

backbreaking “black-bag” approach to litter collection. The two-

wheeled multi-barrow carries up to 150 kilos and stands upright

unaided to allow volunteers to rest from time to time. It also allows

volunteers the extra space to take away larger items we encounter on

clean-ups, such as advertising posters, planks of wood and larger

sheets of cardboard.

            The pilot programme has been very successful to date and our

volunteers are highly interested in an easier and more environmentally

friendly way of collecting litter and beautifying Celbridge. We hope

to secure funding to purchase at least 20 of these multi-barrows to

work toward a great level of waste minimisation for 2007.

 

2) Campaign to Create a Greater Public Awareness of

    Local Recycling Facilities

 

In an effort to encourage the residents of Celbridge to recycle as

much of their household waste as possible, Celbridge Tidy Towns will

be conducting a campaign to inform the public about local recycling

facilities and the materials that the various bring centres recycle.

            Celbridge currently has two main bring centres. One is located

on the grounds of the Celbridge GAA club. The other is in the car

park of the Setanta House Hotel. Both centres recycle glass and drinks

cans. There is also textile recycling in the car park of McNamee’s

Pub. Alternatively, we urge textiles and bric-a-brac to be taken to

either Mrs. Quin’s Charity Shop or St. Raphael’s Charity Shop to

ensure the most trustworthy allocation of such items. I recycle

regularly and only recently learned about the bring centre at the GAA

club so we feel it would be beneficial to present a comprehensive list

of recycling facilities in Celbridge to the public. Facilities, which even

fewer residents may know about, are the larger bring centres in the

area which are located in Kilcullen and Ballymount. These centres

offer a much greater range of cost-free recycling options including:

plastics, glass, paper, cardboard, drinks cans, textiles, batteries and

wood.

            Ceibridge Tidy Towns plans to inform the residents of

Ceibridge about these facilities through various media. Firstly, one of

our volunteers has graciously offered to design and maintain a

Ceibridge Tidy Towns website. This website will be our main source

of communication and advertising and will come online in the next

two weeks. The internet will be a highly useful tool to educate

residents about waste minimisation by providing links to Bring Centre

webpages, where residents can explore what these facilities have to

offer. Also, links to websites such as RaceAgainstWaste.ie and

Enfo.ie can provide residents with other, more in-depth waste

minimisation strategies. We will also be using the Ceibridge Tidy

Towns website to post announcements regarding any updated

recycling news, such as the recently approved planning permission

which was granted to Tesco to construct a new store in Ceibridge, a

project that will include yet another Bring Centre. Because the

Ceibridge Tidy Towns website is new, we intend to publicise it

through such media outlets as the Open Door Parish Newsletter and

the Liffey Champion as well as the Celbridge.ie website, which is

maintained by Kildare County Council.

            We feel that our most powerful tool in waste minimisation is

educating the general public and we are confident that this recycling

awareness campaign will help us to achieve the goal of increasing

recycling participation among the residents of Celbridge while

instilling a greater sense of environmental responsibility in both the

young and old.

 

3) Spring 2007 Composting Workshop

 

In keeping with the previous theme of reducing household

waste, Celbridge Tidy Towns plan to sponsor a composting workshop

in the spring of 2007. Although we have already been in discussions

with Kildare County Council’s Environmental Officer, Dara Wyer,

about the details of such a workshop, we will also work over the

quieter winter months to secure both a venue and representative to

conduct the workshop.

 

Recycling and waste minimisation are positive steps that we can take

to help the environment. Celbridge Tidy Towns have accepted the

new challenge presented by the Tidy Towns Competition to instill a

greater sense of environmental awareness in the community by

preaching the benefits of recycling while simultaneously practicing

what we preach. We encourage the residents of Celbridge to think

about the waste we create and take responsibility for what happens to

it.

 

 

Photos of Multi-barrow

On the next page are photos of the Multi-barrow and inner bins. These

photos were taken Sunday November 12th 2006. I was part of a crew

of four people who took part in the Sunday morning Main Street

cleaning between 7:3Oam-9am on that day. Of the litter you see in the

Multi-barrow, here is a breakdown of waste segregation for that day:

            Total weight of litter I collected:             10 kilograms

            Unrecyclable waste:                              6 kilograms

            Aluminum cans & paper:                       2 kilograms

            Glass:                                                   2 kilograms

 

Therefore, I was able to recycle 40% of the litter I collected due to the

Multi-barrow. If  I had only been carrying a black bag for collection, I

would have put all of the glass into the Kildare County Council bins

on the Main Street, as it would have been too heavy to carry and I

would also have not segregated the cans and paper. So the

effectiveness of this programme is easy to see.