Evergreen Online
The Newsletter of Wirral Environmental Network
February - April 2005
Evergreen Online The Newsletter of Wirral Environmental Network |
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February - April 2005 |
| 1. Rubbish: England "to hit recycling target" 2. Do You Value Wirral's Trees? Wirral Tree Wardens 3. Ecology Begins At Home: Book review by Jim O'Neil |
Rubbish |
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The 17% target is set in line with the European Union directive on landfill, and rises to 25% by the end of 2005/6. Environmental group Friends of the Earth has welcomed the improvements but called for higher recycling targets. The figures for each local authority in England come ahead of more detailed information for 2003/04 out later in the spring. The municipal waste management survey will show the amount of waste generated and recycled or composted - rather than just percentages. Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Margaret Beckett welcomed Tuesday's figures. "This is positive news. England looks certain to meet its national recycling and composting target, the first time such a target has ever been met," she said. "While there is still a lot of work to do to raise levels of recycling even higher, this is a strong indication that the nation is adjusting to more sustainable waste practices." Residents in Fylde Borough Council made the biggest leap. Nearly 30% of household waste was recycled or composted, 19% more than in 2002/03, mainly as a result of increased composting. Defra figures show Liverpool City Council recycled just 4% of its waste - an increase of 2% - despite a target of 8%.Cllr Paula Keaveney said that when the Liberal Democrats took control of the city council it made policy areas like schools, not recycling, a priority. But, she said, kerbside recycling had been introduced and she was "optimistic" there would be good progress. The government has warned councils that fail to meet recycling targets will face action from Environment Minister Elliot Morley. A Defra spokeswoman said: "We don't want to hit people over the head but offer a more supportive role helping councils adjust to the new waste challenges." Defra figures for 2002/3 show household rubbish accounted for 88% of municipal waste at 25.8m tonnes - up 0.2 million tonnes from the previous year. Britain is also near the bottom of the class compared with the rest of Europe's recycling performance. Stella Bland, of environmental charity Forum for the Future, said that looking at waste reduction was the key to recycling as much waste as other European countries. "We would like to see variable charging so that local authorities are given the ability to charge households according to the amount of waste they create," she said. Friends of the Earth's recycling campaigner Georgina Bloomfield welcomed improvements from some local councils but called on the Government to set more ambitious recycling targets for 2010 (currently 30%) and 2015 (currently 33%). "This country still languishes a long way behind many of our European neighbours. The government must set more ambitious recycling targets," she said."We should be recycling at least 50% of our rubbish by 2010, an achievable target that would give us a recycling record to be proud of." TOP FIVE IMPROVERS |
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Do you value
Wirral's trees ? |
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Around the UK over 7000 voluntary Tree Wardens are active in local networks working as individuals or in groups. A voluntary Tree Warden Network covering the Wirral Borough Council area is in the early stages of formation and is hosted by Wirral Environmental Network (WEN). Interested ? Get in touch and join in. The Tree Council was founded in 1974. It has helped to set up over 120 Tree Warden networks, working in partnership with Parish Councils, Local Authorities, Wildlife Trusts etc, involving a total of around 7000 voluntary Tree Wardens active in their local areas. Tree Wardens are valuable to their communities in many ways. You do not have to be an expert. What is important is that you should genuinely care for trees and your environment. What do Tree Wardens do? * Receive training usually through BTCV or Wildlife Trusts Examples of Tree Warden activities in Cheshire:
Could you do any of these things in your local area ? Please get in touch with us. Find general information about Tree Wardening on www.treecouncil.org.uk
If you want to find out more about what’s going on
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Ecology Begins At Home (book review) |
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Archie Duncanson is man who believes that we all have a choice in life and has put his believe into practice. In a new edition of “Ecology Begins at Home” (Green Books, ISBN 1-903998-45-X, paperback £4.95) he sets out the ways in which he stopped and thought about his lifestyle and the choices possible in terms of everything from buying food in the supermarket to turning off lightbulbs. There is nothing startlingly innovative in terms of strategy, but he has a knack of bringing it home to each of us. The main thrust of the book is that we simply need to stop and think before we act – not stress about it, or procrastinate or panic if we get it wrong, just keep our brains on line, thus saving money – usually ours. The text is arranged in three parts. Part One is subtitled “I decided to do something about world pollution”, Part Two is “Practical Tools for a Sustainable Life” and Part Three contains useful “Eco-checklists”. It is one man’s personal account of the way he has changed his life and sometimes I do mean personal – for example, rubbing his own urine into his hair to kill dandruff is a little extreme, to say the least. Others ideas are more practical – put on a sweater rather than turning up the central heating, or walk if you can rather than driving to save petrol. I have not followed up all of the ideas in it and Archie himself says
that you may not wish to do everything, but he recommends that you experiment
– new products, new buying habits, making your own, and see what
a difference you can make to your lifestyle - and your wallet. It won’t
take you long to save the £4.95 |