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On 13th Nov 2019 the Sustainable Living group of the Highgate Society brought together speakers to explore what happens to waste in North London, and whether residents can improve the recycling rates.

Ursula Taylor of the North London Waste Authority explained how the authority deals with waste, Carina Millstone of Feedback talked about Food Waste, Andrea Speranza of TRAID talked about clothes waste and Jasmine Cockcroft of Plastic Free Crouch End talked about Plastic waste.

What Happens to North London Waste?

The North London Waste Authority has a schematic explaining what happens to the streams of a) mixed recycling, b) garden recycling, c) food recycling and d) general waste.

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The outputs shown are a) metal recycling markets, b) repeat manufacture into plastic, c) new plastic products, d) insulation, e) road surfaces, f) compost, g) fertilizer, h) electricity and emissions and i) heat.

According to the \’Lets Recycle News\’ here the NLWA contracts for recycling processing will be renewed in Dec 2019. Biffa at Edmonton will sort >120,000 tonnes of commingled material per year and Bywaters at Bromley by Bow will sort apx 30,000 tonnes of commingled material per year.

The contract includes the requirement for \”improved reporting and traceability for end destinations for recycling\” which should makes it easier for residents in the 7 NLWA Boroughs to monitor responsible disposal of their recycling, with maximum reuse and minimum sent to unsuitable destinations.

http://www.nlwa.gov.uk/about/north-london-waste-authority/ lists the councillors representing each Borough to raise any suggestions or concerns.

Food Waste

Carina Millstone of Feedback talked about wasting less food as a household action to address the climate crisis.

She emphasised the importance of avoiding over purchase of food, and choosing community supported agriculture, box schemes and farmers markets above supermarkets.

She suggested that people could challenge supermarkets on how they deal with waste food.

And also called for donations to Feedback https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/feedback-donate

FOOD WASTE FROM CAFES IN HIGHGATE - click here
A short survey around Highgate revealed many positive approaches to food waste – as well as some bad practice of binning.

Encouraging pot luck end of day sales with 90% discount. The Sustainable Living team spent just £12 to provide a tasty selection of random food items from 3 local outlets using the Too Good to Go app.

Giving away. One outlet gives to Olio, a peer to peer give away app, three outlets give to local charities, two give to homeless people and three give it to their staff.

Disposal. Two had contracts with ethical waste companies for the residual food waste ie First Mile Recycling and Paper Round. One outlet showed that they had a special bin for coffee grounds which were collected separately.

Clothes and Fashion

Andrea Speranza of TRAID talked about ways to reduce the mountain of clothes that find their way into the waste stream.

Her talk can be found at https://prezi.com/view/s3zdOuEngv43b0hH2X7d/

Her top five messages are:

Help TRAID to put back into use the 123 million items of clothing that are sitting unworn in London\’s wardrobes; passing on clothes for someone else to use is something we can all do to make a difference.
Extending the life of clothes by an extra 9 months would reduce clothing waste footprint by around 20-30% each.
Ensure that there are enough textile recycling banks in your local community.
Spread the word about the Environmental Audit Committee’s recommendations in its “Fixing Fashion” report: ask your MP to support the EAC ‘s recommendations.
Around 166 million items of clothing could be re-used if repaired: learn, share and promote repair skills.

SWISHING AND GIVING - click here

Plastic Waste

Jasmine Cockcroft of Plastic Free Crouch End talked about the work being done around Crouch End and Haringey.

The talk is here

Jasmine left 5 top actions that people can take

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and also an excellent quick guide to compare the carbon footprint of various swaps. See below Swap or Not

SWAP OR NOT - click here
Plastic Free Crouch End has investigated the pros and cons of the well intentioned swapping from plastic to an alternative – sometimes not as beneficial as assumed!! $\"\"$

For the full guide click on Swap or Not

Swapping purchases of water in plastic to refills in public places.

North London is dotted with old public water fountains – that are dry. Some are still in use, and the Mayor of London is installing new ones.

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RECYCLE OR NOT - click here
The NLWA advises on what can be recycled, and each local authority issues its own advice – not necessarily consistent even though they all go to either Biffa or Bywaters to be sorted and baled or rejected.

The advice posters for Camden, Haringey and Islington are below.
Plastic bags may fall into the categories below:
- Recycle bag/skip
- Food waste ie industrial composter
- Own home composter
- General waste
and sometimes have an accepted symbol, that the recycling plants may or may not adhere to.

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The advice is that, when in doubt, put it in the general waste.

BURN OR NOT - click here
Electricity and heat were the subject of discussion, with an information leaflet being available from NLWA about the new Eco Park at Edmonton contrasting with a link publicised to a Stop Edmonton Incinerator organisation https://stop-edmonton-incinerator.org/

Another useful view on burning is from the London Assembly Environment Committee’s Waste: Energy from Waste – Feb 2018, which advocates maximum recycling rather than burning any more waste than necessary. The London Assembly site explains that

\”London homes create approximately 3.6 million tonnes of waste each year. Of this, only 33 per cent is recycled, which is well below the national average of 43 per cent. Much of this waste goes to landfill and incineration. The capacity of landfills accepting London’s waste is expected to run out by 2026 and London’s waste bill is now in excess of £2 billion a year and rising.\”

The challenge is to massively increase recycling rates, where a typical housing estate has this sort of approach to \’recycling\’:

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LANDFILL AND THE OCEANS - click here
Putting waste in landfill is a last resort, other than sending it to countries that can\’t handle it, or letting it get into our oceans.

The NLWA aims to minimise landfill. Apart from the loss of land any organic matter releases methane,which is even worse for climate change than CO2. And there can be poor supervision of landfill sites, once the profit motive has ceased. eg

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Waste getting into the Oceans is not from the NLWA disposal process, but can still come from North London in terms of plastic from litter, washed clothes, cosmetics and tyres and brakes. Friends of the Earth published Reducing household contributions to marine plastic pollution report\’ in Nov 2018 detailing how waste gets into the oceans and recommending actions.

Surfers Against Sewage is a leading organisation that co-ordinates community action against plastic pollution, such as the Plastic Free Crouch End group.

North London Waste Authority

Ursula Taylor of North London Waste Authority updated the audience on the aims and activities of the North London Waste Authority. Her slides are here

NLWA covers Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest, with two councillors on the board from each Borough. The councillors on the NLWA board from each Borough are at http://www.nlwa.gov.uk/about/north-london-waste-authority/

Ursula provided links to the Wise Up to Waste information site with a section on Reuse, including Repair Cafes and Swishing. Ursula had 5 top messages for the audience:

Start with Stopping!
Recycle Right
Make Do and Mend
Sharing is Caring
Pass It On

LESSONS FROM THE EVENT

For the responsible North London resident and business

If in doubt put in general waste
Black trays can\’t be identified as plastic by the automation
Vegware can\’t be identified as compostable in food waste by the automation
Compostable generally means in an industrial composter, not for home composters
Discounts on bringing your own cup has a positive effect, but perhaps charging extra for requireing a cup could be more effective
Co-mingled usually achieves higher recycling rates than multiple single streams and is easier to collect
No glitter
No oil or food on items
caps to be separate

For the Waste administrators

Dedicated collection per specialist items are more valuable but require more outlets to set up dedicated collection points eg coffee cups, coffee grounds, wrapping paper for recycling.
Real time end to end view of the route from premises to final disposal fate would enable responsible residents to recycle more.

For the unconcerned litterer

What would motivate the change in behaviour that is needed of residents who litter and dump good stuff?

For the powers that be

What would motivate a UK wide relentless focus on minimum waste and treatment of waste to minimise the climate crisis and to protect our land, air and waters rather than the ever changing profit focus?

Highgate Society Public Events

What Happens to North London Waste?

Food Waste

Clothes and Fashion

Plastic Waste

Swapping purchases of water in plastic to refills in public places.

The challenge is to massively increase recycling rates, where a typical housing estate has this sort of approach to \’recycling\’:

North London Waste Authority

LESSONS FROM THE EVENT