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Newsletter
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| The good news is that on 22nd February it was announced that
B&NES Council had been unsuccessful with its invest to save bid to
government for £480,000 to develop a feasibility study and environmental
impact assessment for an incinerator based waste park at Keynsham.
Disappointingly, it was also reported that Richard Robertson, Acting
Head of Waste Management, was "looking for another invest to Save bid to
establish the viability of the project"!
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| I immediately despatched a circulating letter to those Councillors
"who may not yet have ruled out incineration as a waste disposal option"
I enclosed a video copy of the HTV programme A Burning Issue , a
copy of the Ecologist article "No-one ever Died from Dioxin" plus
relevant extracts from our newsletters to help them to make up their minds.
The bad news is that at the Waste Management Sub Committee meeting on 28 March, the Conservative and Labour Councillors all voted down, once again, a Liberal Democrat proposal to scrap the incinerator option. |
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After more than 3 months, I have finally been sent a copy of the invest to save bid. You will recall (Nov/Dec 99 newsletter) that this was promised on 11 November,1999 at the Council's presentation to FoE groups. It reveals that the details given to us at the presentation were, to say the least, not an accurate reflection of the bid. The cost of the project was not, as we were told, £50m to £70m. It was £100m! We were told that B&NES, as lead authority, would not have to commit any of its waste to the incinerator, thus enabling it to be free to develop its recycling performance above its current aspirational target of 50%, eg to 80%. There was nothing in the bid about this. On the contrary, the bid assumed that B&NES would incinerate 50,000 tonnes per annum. This represents 65% of its waste and assumes that its recycling rate would not exceed 35%!! The estimated life of the incinerator was 25 years. So whither (wither!) even the 50% stated B&NES aspirational recycling target? The cost forecasts used also are highly misleading. An incinerator is justified by claiming that landfill costs will increase hugely, with the landfill tax increasing by 340%. So far the Government has announced an increase of only 50% to 2004. Landfill gate fees are also forecast to rise by about 300% when in reality gate fees are currently falling! It would appear that there are lies, damned lies and B&NES incineration - sorry "energy from waste" - presentation statistics. |
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They have used a variety of mixes of feedstock in the trials, including horse manure, shredded green waste, shredded paper, sewerage crumble (yum yum), shredded straw, food waste/kitchen scrapings, seaweed & driftwood.
They report that the system really does make compost in 24 hours.
"The machine accelerates the composting process by slowly and continuously turning the feedstock, encouraging the microbial activity, and the sealed unit enables the temperatures to rise quickly and be maintained."
"The analysis results to date show that the compost produced during the trials can be used as a soil conditioner."... "Controlling the feedstock will produce specialist composts as required."
"The system uses 3 phase power and the price of supply varies by customer type. The trials show that the average cost of operating the 5 cubic metre BioQuickReactor is approximately £1.25 per hour; between £4.00 & £6.00 per tonne."
The report concludes:-
"The BioQuick Reactor provides an excellent process for recycling organic waste into a viable compost product. It is simple to operate and the very small footprint means that it can be easily installed in industrial, commercial and agricultural sites, Analysis shows that it can reduce waste disposal costs while increasing the amount of organic waste diverted from landfill. The primary government target for waste management is to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by 60% by the year 2005."
[For the full report and futher information please contact: Glynis Squires or Angus Cunningham 01225 723668 glynis@hinton-organics.demon.uk]
Councillors look to Council Officers for guidance. It is only relatively recently that this guidance has been firmly towards incineration.
Check whether your Councillors still support incineration and, if they do, make them aware of the misleading guidance they have been given. They can check for themselves by asking to see the Spend to Save bid.
Also, if you live in Lansdown Ward, Bath, there is a Council By-election Thursday 4th May. Check your candidates' views on incineration.
Terry
The following week, on 28th March, a report on the Council's Garden Waste Kerbside Collection trial was made to the Waste Management Sub-Committee. Apparently my 25% success rate - four sacks put out for collection, one sent for composting and three sent to landfill - must have been an aberration.
A profit of £2,105 was made on the sale of sacks Receipts were £3,286, sacks cost £403, stickers cost £778. ) This almost covered the cost (£2,242) of additional vehicle hire (£1672) and composting charges (£570).
Costs not covered were
As, to quote the Operations Director, "This will obviously involve an entirely new collection system", it is not immediately apparent what purpose the present B&NES- wide trial is serving, other than to show that a small number of households will pay £1.25 to get a sack of green waste composted.
The £4,000 spent on fitting small cages to the refuse collection fleet could have been more usefully put towards a small trial targetted on one area (or possibly two areas, city and rural) as has been done with extensions of the current excellent recycled waste kerbside collection.
Terry
However, the government is seeking to weaken the Bill. Please write
to Michael Meacher on the lines of the following as soon as possible.
"Michael Meacher MP
DETR, Eland House
Bressenden Place
London SW1E 5DUDear Mr Meacher
The Government stated in an adjournment debate on Newspaper and Magazine Recycling on 12 April that it would prefer voluntary targets on newspaper recycling rather than mandatory targets.
I believe that voluntary targets will not be enough. A voluntary agreement with the newspaper industry would soon reach a ceiling due to the current waste paper reprocessing capacity. The Recycled Content of Newsprint Bill, on the other hand, would lead to new investment in reprocessing capacity and therefore the possibility of greater recycling.
The Bill would require newspaper publishers to ensure 80% recycled content by 2010 and require newspaper and magazine publishers to collect and recycle 65% of the volume of paper they put on the market by 2016.
We need MUCH higher levels of recycling. When looking at the size of the problem we are facing - we are the fifth largest consumer of paper in the world and our desire for ever more paper is leading to wildlife being devastated and contributes to climate change - we need to be bolder in our solutions. We need a solution which will lead to the greater recycling that can only be reached from new investment in reprocessing capacity that would be reached with the Bill.
We urge you to support the mandatory targets in the Recycled Content of Newsprint Bill, which would bring real benefits to wildlife and the economy.
Yours sincerely...."
There is a real groundswell of support for an anti-globalisation movement. At the moment it remains a loose coalition of individuals and groups.
To keep in touch join the Anti-Globalisation Network. The Co-ordinator is
Chris Keene
90 The Parkway
Canvey Island SS8 OAE
Tel 01268 682820 Fax 0128 514164 Email chris.keene@which.net.
A danger is that agreements with similar provisions to those intended at Seattle will be pushed through bilaterally or through other international agreements.
The WTO must be subjected to a fundamental process of democratisation to allow meaningful participation by civil society and developing countries. There are extremely weak mechanisms for accountability of governments to their parliaments and little public debate on issues that affect most members of society For example, thirty poor developing country members cannot afford a permanent representative at the WTO.
As a first step, the EU must give up on introducing the new issues of investment, competition and government procurement into the WTO. (The objectives of the failed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI)). The need is to strengthen regulation of multinationals, not restrict the role of governments.
International trade rules need to serve higher objectives such as the reduction of poverty and promotion of sustainable development rather than just liberalisation of trade, which has become an aim in itself.
FoE is supporting War on Want's campaign for the Tobin Tax. This tax would be a small levy on all speculative international currency transactions. Up to $2 trillion a day is traded, and only 5% of this is necessary for financing trade. All the rest is speculative activity. The Tobin Tax is designed to discourage this kind of speculative currency trading that has contributed to recent crises in Indonesia, Brazil, Russia and other countries.
The tax would also provide a new and independent source of global revenue. A 0.25% tax could raise up to $250 billion per annum, which could be used for social development and poverty reduction. In March 1999 the Canadian Parliament passed a vote in favour of enacting the Tobin Tax.
Ask you MP to sign the Tobin Tax Early Day Motion 312
For more details of WoW's campaign see its website www.waronwant.org Tel 02076201111
On 10th April the Department for International Development (DFID) held a regional Development Policy Forum in Bath at the Guildhall. George Faulks MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for International Development was on the panel with a number of DFID officials.
150 people attended from a wide ranging number of organisations including, Oxfam, WDM, UNA, Christian Aid, Actionaid, Jubilee 2000, Trade Unions, Amnesty, Greenpeace, envolve, ethnic groups, local government, universities and schools Susan Traill and I attended for Bath FoE.
The Forum considered three themes:-
World Trade Organisation; Corruption and `Aid Untying'. An encouraging consensus of opinion evolved. The forum workshops produced some detailed and forthright statements and questions for the Minister. DFID were left in no doubt about the demand for major WTO reform. Total disagreement was expressed with the DFID assumptions on economic theory, its support for trade liberalisation and its reliance for measuring progress on GDP, which does not reflect quality of life.
A new White Paper on International Development is planned. An outline paper "Globalisation and Development" setting out the broad structure and policy area has been issued. Free copies are available from DFID 020 7917 7000. email enquiry@dfid.gov.uk and website http://www.dfid.gov.uk
Views and comments should be sent by 31 May 2000.
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Several questions arose during the debate regarding the funding, targets, timescales and the number of people to be affected and these will be addressed in the committee stage. What matters is that the House of Commons has now decided to support the principle of the Bill, ie ending fuel poverty.
The Bill requires the Government to design and implement a national strategy to end fuel poverty. Studies show that under a 15 year programme, tackling 7.5 million homes it would:-
Reduce the number of winter deaths. In the winter of 1998/99, the Government recorded 49,000 "excess winter deaths" in England and Wales alone. The figures highlight what many have called a "national scandal" which is far worse than in other European countries. For example, Norway and Sweden, despite colder climates, see their winter death rate rise by about 10% compared to a 30% rise in the UK.
Save the NHS money and reduce the winter bed crisis. Currently the NHS spends £1 billion a year treating people with cold-related illnesses. Preventing these people falling ill by keeping them warm would save money and ease the annual winter crisis pressure on beds.
Create almost 30,000 jobs. Jobs would be created through the installation of insulation and heating systems.
Help to reduce pollution and climate change. Stopping the wasteful burning of fuel will help to reduce pollution.
Pay for itself over 15 years. The Bill would pay for itself through the savings in jobs created and the NHS and public sector housing repairs.
Terry
The Government finally published its long-awaited Draft Climate Strategy on 9th March, 18 months after the original consultation paper. The draft UK programme sets out a range of policies and measures to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and five other gases over the next decade. The key areas for action include renewables and combined heat and power generation, energy efficiency in the domestic sector, the new Climate Change Levy on non-domestic energy bills and, hopefully, some action on transport. FoE has welcomed the proposals but is disappointed that the government has still not fulfiled its Election Manifesto commitment to a 20% cut in CO2 emissions over the next decade. Mr Prescott says he "could only promise 17.5% at this point". However, this is still a "draft" strategy and there are opportunities to improve the plans between now and the end of the year. The formal consultation period comes to an end on 2 June 2000. For a copy of the consultation paper phone 0870 1226 236 fax 0870 1226 237 or visit http://www.detr.gov.uk. There is also a 16 page summary available. Terry. |
I have had a response to my letter to the Prime Minister - from the Export Credit Guarantee Department. They say "We are aware of the concerns that exist about this project, and no decision has yet been taken regarding ECGD support ... Before a decision is made....we will need to see how a number of key issues are addressed, in particular:
Terry
Some good news on GM - the Church of England Ethical Investment Advisory Group' has recently recommended that "it is not yet appropriate to grant tenancies for crop trials on Church land given the uncertainties caused by the lack of an ethical framework" Terry |
| The aim of Home Zones is to create "priority for children,
pedestrians and cyclists".
The Department of the Environment (DETR) have said that they are prepared to consider sanctioning advisory 10 mph speed signs for the 9 pilot Home Zone schemes. The signs would be "advisory" signs (i.e. the text `max speed 10' and `home zone' in a black box, not mandatory ones (ie `10' in a red circle). However, this is still a major step forward. Neither Bristol nor B&NES is included in the local authorities home zone pilot scheme. But a home zone is being actively considered in Bristol. B&NES is considering its own Home Zones insofar as itsCouncil Strategy 1999 to 2000 includes "exploring the feasibility of pilot testing "Home Zones" in at least one area". For more information contact the Childrens' Play Council: http://www.ncb.org.uk/cpc.htm Tel 020 78436016 |
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Please write (again) to Nick Brown, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Tony Blair PM at the House of Commons, asking them to support the Bill.
Most of the activities will be happening on the two Saturdays 17 nd 24. Please let Liz or Terry know if you would like to get involved.
Terry
During the day, you will have the opportunity to comment on:
Terry
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Our air quality conscious cat Nero wonders if anyone has spotted that
those posters saying
VOTE
Can with just a little fold be made to read VOTE
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